Abstract:

Due to the limited laboratory space that research infrastructures usually have, it is not possible to supervise a large number of students on-site in practical workshops. Here we present a first attempt to improve accessibility to hands-on atomic force microscopy (AFM) workshops. A special software called AeroAdmin was implemented and installed on the control computers of the AFM microscopes available at the Research Institute of Electron Microscopy and Materials of the “Universidad de Cádiz”. As a result, remote exercises (with the access code provided by the program) were carried out at the “Universidad de Cádiz” as part of the course 8209B06_010 - AFM Training Workshop of the following PhD programs: Doctorate in Nanosciences and Materials Technologies, Doctorate in Manufacturing, Materials and Environmental Engineering and Doctorate in Energetics and Sustainability Energy, on the other hand, in the Master's Degree in Industrial Engineering on Metallotechnology and Materials Engineering.

Students have access to the special AFM image processing software "Nanoscope" without having to purchase a license to install it on their computer. This has facilitated autonomous learning. By remotely accessing the computer to control the AFM microscope on which the software license is located, students have been able to correct possible artifacts to optimize the image obtained during the practical sessions and determine from it some basic surface properties, the distribution of mechanical, electrical, magnetic or thermal parameters, depending on what is required in each case. The assessment of practical skills has been improved so that teachers can monitor the assigned task and evaluate the academic activity carried out remotely in real time.

The academic activity carried out remotely through access and interaction with the AFM has proven to be an effective solution, both for the immediate supervision of a large number of students in practical workshops and for the assessment of practical skills in real time.

Keywords:

Distance learning, remote learning and evaluation.