E-learning and its hybrid counterpart-B-learning-have become standard tools in higher education. The development of information and communications technologies (ICTs) and their application to education has made this possible. Among ICT technologies, the learning management system (LMS) has been the most important development. Teaching labs have also undergone a technological evolution, enabling them to be used online while interacting closely with LMSs. This paper presents a set of procedures that ease the integration of Java and JavaScript laboratories with LMSs in order to obtain adaptive learning contents, which are presented customized to students based on their likes and results. It describes innovative tools implemented by us as a Java package, a JavaScript library, and associated resources that achieve an advanced Lab-LMS integration in a shared content object reference model (SCORM) environment. These resources simplify communications between the elements of an SCORM content package, including the embedded Web laboratory, and the LMS where they are hosted. This paper describes the tools, procedures, and discusses its possibilities and advantages, and shows the results of several use cases of Web Labs delivered to undergraduate engineering students at University of Jaén that prove the validity of the proposal obtaining adapted learning and good results.

Online laboratories are useful and valuable resources in high education, especially in engineering studies. This work presents a methodology to create effective laboratories for learning that interact with a Learning Management System (LMS) to achieve advanced integration. It is based on pedagogical aspects and considers not only the laboratory application itself but also related resources that complement it. The methodology is flexible, covers all possible cases, and it is structured in stages that can be used with any system architecture, standards, or type of online laboratory (virtual, remote, or hybrid) because it abstracts technical aspects at a high level. This methodology facilitates the creation of new online labs so that any teacher, even those without specialized knowledge, can clarify many of the questions that may arise and gain understanding of how to implement an effective online laboratory with LMS integration to assist learning. As an example and validation of the methodology, this work describes a laboratory developed as a Shared Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) package which is hosted in the institutional LMS at the University of Jaen. The laboratory was presented to 338 students taking an Industrial Automation class, and student evaluations were quite positive.

Laboratory work is essential in most applied science and engineering specific coursers. The continuous advances in Information and Communication Technologies be able the use of online laboratories (OLs). Their use is increased due to the advantages they offer compared to conventional laboratories, as unfortunately verified during Covid-19 pandemic. OLs and Learning Management Systems (LMSs) are key technologies in the learning process field. Normally, the integration of OLs with LMSs is carried out using proprietary or ad-hoc solutions. Furthermore, there are standards that can be used for this integration, such as: LTI, IEEE P92741.1 (xAPI), SCORM and IEEE1876. This work elaborates a survey which has been provided to the experts of online laboratories for them to complete. Gathered information allowed authors to diagnose the level of knowledge and use of the main standards for creating and integrating OLs. In fact, the analysis of this information confirms that there is a lack of criteria for selecting one standard against the others and how use it in the online laboratory development. This work gives guidelines for selecting the most appropriate standard according to desired characteristics of the online laboratory under development.

Web-based laboratories have been used as valuable resources to support teaching for many years. The methodology and operation of laboratories over the Internet have changed considerably since the early implementations. In fact, one of the last steps taken related to this issue has been the integration of laboratories and Learning Management Systems (LMS). In this paper we present methods that facilitate the development of virtual and/or remote labs software to interact with Learning Management Systems using Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), the most important standard for e-learning content. A virtual lab model is developed to show how the methods are used in order to integrate the virtual lab software with the LMS via SCORM.

This paper outlines a new procedure for building educational Web Laboratories (WebLabs). These WebLabs are based on JAVA and are offered to learners from Learning Management Systems (LMSs). The Virtual-Remote Laboratories (VRL) are JAVA Applets embedded in Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) packages that are able to interact with the LMS where they are hosted. This interaction is based on the exchange of information defined by the Run-Time Environment (RTE) and the Run-Time Navigation (RTN) SCORM data models. Both models are managed by the LMS where the SCORM content has been loaded. There are three types of data: read-only, write-only and read/write. In addition, a new JAVA package called scormRTE is presented; it has been developed to facilitate the VRL-LMS information exchange. This package enables a JAVA applet to manipulate directly all the elements of RTN and RTE data models. For the validation, a VRL, created with Easy Java Simulations (EJS), has been developed using this proposal. This VRL has been embedded into a SCORM package in order to build a virtual WebLab about dynamic system modeling. In particular, it is the modelling and identification of a car's suspension dynamics. This WebLab is used in an Industrial Automation course that is offered in several Engineering Grades of the University of Jaén. It is available in the institutional LMS.

ResumenLos laboratorios Web (WebLabs) son recursos cada vez más utilizados en las carreras técnicas universitarias. Cuando se presentan integrados en un sistema de gestión de aprendizaje (LMS, Learning Management System) se obtienen una serie de ventajas para alumnos y docentes entre las que destaca el hecho de mostrarse en un entorno conocido y la posibilidad de personalizar la experiencia gracias a la identificación de usuarios que realiza el LMS. Este trabajo muestra un WebLab sobre control Proporcional-Integral-Derivativo (PID), un contenido fundamental de las asignaturas de Automática que se encuentra en todos los grados de Ingeniería Industrial. Este WebLab ha sido desarrollado mediante una metodología innovadora con la que se obtiene un recurso de aprendizaje eficaz basado en un paquete SCORM (Shared Content Object Reference Model). SCORM es el estándar de contenidos de e-learning más utilizado y es compatible con la mayoría de los LMS del mercado, esto permite que el WebLab pueda ser reutilizado fácilmente en diferentes entornos LMS. El WebLab contiene un plan de aprendizaje que incluye una serie de recursos de utilidad docente como teoría de control PID, pruebas de evaluación, un laboratorio virtual de control PID de un motor de corriente continua y experimentos personalizados para cada alumno cuyos resultados son almacenados en el LMS. Este WebLab se ha presentado en el LMS institucional de la Universidad de Jaén a 340 alumnos de la asignatura “Automática Industrial” en el curso 2014-15. Los datos de uso han permitido realizar diversas evaluaciones que demuestran que los alumnos que lo han completado han obtenido un rendimiento excelente en el propio WebLab, han conseguido unos resultados muy superiores al resto de alumnos en la evaluación final de la asignatura y lo han valorado muy positivamente. También se ha demostrado la reusabilidad del WebLab en diferentes LMS compatibles con SCORM (ILIAS y Moodle) analizando los problemas que se han planteado en este sentido.AbstractWeb laboratories (WebLabs) are education resources that are increasingly used in university technical grades. When they are presented integrated into a learning management system (LMS) several advantages for students and teachers are obtained, e.g. laboratories are shown in a familiar environment and the experience can be customized thanks to the user identification performed by the LMS. A Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) control WebLab has been created in this work, PID control is a fundamental content of the Automatic subjects found in all grades of Industrial Engineering. This WebLab was developed through an innovative methodology that generates an effective learning resource based on Shared Content Object Reference Model (SCORM). SCORM is the more used standard for e-learning contents; it is compatible with most LMS market, this way the WebLab can be easily reused in different LMS environments. The WebLab presented in this paper is based on a learning path that includes a series of useful learning resources such as PID control theory, assessment tests, a PID control virtual laboratory (VL) of a DC motor and customized experiments for each student whose results are stored in the LMS. This WebLab has been presented in the institutional LMS of the University of Jaén to 340 students of the subject “Industrial Automation” in the 2014-15 course. Several evaluations have been performed from the data obtained in the WebLab. Evaluations have shown that students who completed the WebLab have achieved excellent performance in the WebLab itself, they have achieved higher results than remaining students in the final evaluation of the course and they have highly positively valued the WebLab. It has also demonstrated the reusability of the WebLab in different SCORM-compliant LMS (Moodle and ILIAS) analyzing the problems that have arisen in this regard