Work-in-progress: Integrating a remote laboratory system in an online learning environment

The possibility to include practical training sessions in online learning systems is important to increase the value of engineering courses. This paper presents a work in progress focusing on integrating a remote laboratory system in an existing online learning environment so that, through the use of a simple web browser, students can develop both theoretical and practical skills at the same time. The proposed architecture builds on our Free Architecture for Remote Education (FARE), which is a learning management system designed to foster collaboration and sharing of resources between participants. We seamlessly integrate in FARE all the necessary software for practical remote laboratory experiences. We believe that this synergy can provide significant advantages on traditional remote laboratory approaches: integration and automatic resource reuse can help students to have a simplified interaction with the laboratory and focus on the most important parts of the practical activities.