Abstract:

The tests performed during laboratory practices of Soil and Rock Mechanics (SARM) of Civil and Geological Engineering studies in the University of Alicante are developed by a laboratory technician with the support of the teacher’s oral explanations. Consequently, the interaction of the students with the laboratory is very low, limited to photograph the performance of standardized procedures and take note of the tests partial values for the further development of their laboratory report. Furthermore, most of the tests require several days (even weeks) for completion and as a consequence it is unfeasible to fully complete the tests in one lab session. As a consequence, in this paper we show the implementation of a virtual classroom for SARM lab, describing the technological resources available to the students, which provide an orderly and detailed implementation of the different geotechnical standardized tests of the SARM labs. Thus the students can perform the practices from anywhere, as often as required, manage the display of the different tests procedures and even perform and accelerated view of long duration tests.

Keywords:

Soil and rock mechanics, laboratory practices, virtual laboratory, educational technology resources.