Interest in, and use of, remote laboratories has been rapidly growing. These laboratories provide remote access, via the internet, to real laboratory equipment. Under appropriate circumstances they can support or even replace traditional (proximal) laboratories, provide improved access at reduced cost, and encourage inter-institutional sharing of expensive resources. Most attention to date has been on the development of the core infrastructure that manages access and interaction, and to a lesser extent consideration of pedagogic issues such as which learning outcomes are best suited to this modality. There has however been a recent recognition of the importance of also considering how collaboration and supervision can also be supported. In this paper we discuss a novel approach to the integration of support for multi-user distributed access to a single laboratory instance. The approach retains the benefits of the lightweight client inherent in the underlying architecture.

The original version of this article unfortunately contained an incorrect text. Monash University and the University of Melbourne should be "two Australian universities."Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Lecture capture (LC), the process of recording face-to-face lectures for future viewing, has become a common technology in Western universities in the twenty-first century, yet research on its effectiveness has lagged behind its implementation. Despite the rapid, widespread implementation, research regarding the impact LC has on pedagogy and student attainment is limited and not conclusive in its findings. It is still unclear if there is a causal or a correlated relationship between attainment and usage of LC. This systematic review sought to collate and compare the current literature on the efficacy of LC in tertiary mathematics education and provide practical advice for institutions that use or plan to use LC. The literature is consistent in the opinion that students and administrators positively view LC for its utility and flexibility despite the moderately strong evidence that most institutions face attendance drops. However, most students do tend to see attending lectures/watching recordings as an “either-or.” The literature predominantly reports a negative association between attainment and the use of LC as a substitute to live lectures. The proportion of students who choose to skip live lectures has steadily increased over the last decade as the student campus culture adjusts to LC. Within this group, LC is used imperfectly, providing false benefits and promoting surface learning strategies. There is evidence that regular use of LC by this large group of students may diminish the quality of their learning. We offer research-informed, evidence-based recommendations to mitigate the unplanned and counterproductive impact of LC implementation.

Curtin University of Technology's Engineering faculty addresses its students as 'student engineers'. There is a subtle but important distinction between an engineering student and a student engineer. It is a challenge to have our students make that distinction and to engage with the processes of professional engineering practice. This paper reports on an innovative first year 'Engineering Foundations: Principles and Communications (EFPC)' unit that embeds the acquisition of communication skills in a technically based project. The project revolves around two engineering constructs: a popsicle stick bridge and a mousetrap-powered car. The design and construction of each construct is conducted by different teams of students-each team designs a bridge and constructs a car, or vice versa. Each team follows recognised procedures of process and communication for the design, tendering and production of the projects. Requiring students to work both as designers and constructors introduces them to the different communication requirements of each role. More powerfully, they also assume the role of client for each others' engineering project, providing a valuable alternative perspective. Within this technical context the unit also teaches students to write engineering case study reports, give professional presentations on their project and work in teams. These are all principal skills that are essential in the real engineering world. The project has led to significant improvements in students' communication skills, as well as their perceived learning outcomes. It has introduced students to essential lifelong learning skills and has challenged them to become effective communicators, better team players and more professional in their approach to engineering projects.

Remote laboratories are a mature technology that is becoming increasingly prevalent in the delivery of undergraduate engineering degree programs. While the literature has moved to the point where the educational value of these laboratories is being evaluated, there is presently no framework provided to help academics determine the suitability of a particular laboratory experiment for conversion to the remote-access mode. This paper analyses a second-year fluid-mechanics laboratory to determine its suitability for such a conversion, and then draws from this analysis three key factors that can be used as a preliminary framework for making generalised decisions regarding the suitability of any laboratory class for use in the remote mode.