What is a virtual computer lab for education?

A virtual computer lab for education is an online platform that allow students to access a remote computer and use its software and resources as if they were working on a physical computer located on campus.

eduLAB offers virtual computer labs for education, and we often get asked what a virtual computer lab is. We hope this information helps you decide whether virtual computer labs are suitable for your educational institution.

These virtual labs can be accessed from any device with an internet connection, making it convenient for students to complete coursework from anywhere, at any time.

The virtual computer lab platform that eduLAB provides comes with progress monitoring functionality for learners to capture evidence of their work, which allows lecturers/trainers to see the progress of learning. Furthermore, lecturers can monitor the attendance of the lab activities and help students in real-time by accessing the student’s lab environment.

Virtual computer labs can also be used to supplement physical computer labs by providing additional capacity for students to access resources. For example, if a physical computer lab is full, students can use a virtual lab to complete their coursework.

Virtual computer labs are often used in education to provide students with a consistent lab learning environment regardless of the devices students use, their access to specialised software, and complex networks, or operating systems that may not be available on their personal devices. For example, a student might need to:

• use software such as Tableau or MATLAB for big data or statistics activities
• learn about cyber security, next generation firewalls or virtual private networks for networking activities or
• troubleshoot common problems of different operating systems such as Windows or Linux for an ICT activities.

If you would like to see a virtual computer lab demonstration, please feel free to contact eduLAB.