A technological acceptance of remote laboratory in chemistry education

Students’ Technological Acceptance of Remote Laboratory

Students’ technological acceptance of remote laboratory in Chemistry education was analysed based on the data collected from the questionnaire. In this study, TAM was used to evaluate the students’ technological acceptance of remote laboratory. TAM consists of four constructs which are perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), attitude toward use (ATU) and behavioural intention (BI). Table IV shows the distribution of items and the mean for each of the constructs in the questionnaire.

Table IV. Questionnaire Data Analysis Based on TAM constructs

Construct	No. of Item	Mean	SD
Perceived Usefulness (PU)	3	2.97	0.59
Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU)	3	3.14	0.60
Attitude toward Use (ATU)	3	3.30	0.53
Behavioral Intention (BI)	3	3.11	0.58

The mean values for the four constructs ranged from 2.97 to 3.30. According to Wong and his colleagues (2013), a mean value of more than 2.50 indicates a positive response to the scales in the study. The standard deviation (SD) showed a narrow spread around the mean. ATU construct had the highest mean which was 3.30 (SD= 0.53). The mean for PEOU construct and BI construct were 3.14 (SD= 0.60) and 3.11 (SD= 0.58) respectively. PU construct had the lowest mean which was 2.97 (SD= 0.59).

In this study, ATU construct had the highest mean scores (3.30) among the four constructs in the TAM survey. This indicated that students have a positive attitude towards the use of remote laboratory. Users’ attitude towards the use of technology is a major predictor for future implementation of technology use (Myers & Halpin, 2002). According to Park (2009), attitude has a significant impact on users’ acceptance of technology. Thus, students’ positive attitudes indicate their technological acceptance of remote laboratory in Chemistry education. Overall, the survey on students’ technological acceptance of remote laboratory showed a positive response from the respondents.

Besides, PU construct measured the degree to which a student believes that using remote laboratory will enhance his or her performance (Davis 1989; Teo, Wong & Chai, 2008). Previous study showed that remote laboratory can help students to support their learning experiences (Sauter et al., 2013). It helps to enhance the development of students’ knowledge and skills related to the experiments and thus enhance their application of the existing knowledge and skills (Maxwell, Orwin, Kist, Maiti, Midgley & Ting, 2013). However, PU construct had the lowest mean scores (2.97) in this study. Student respondents in this study had limited knowledge on remote laboratory due to limited remote laboratory in Chemistry education (Tho et al., 2016). Hence, they were unsure whether the remote laboratory could improve their Chemistry performance, increase their productivity, and enhance their effectiveness in Chemistry.

Technological Acceptance of Remote Laboratory among Chemistry Lecturers and Laboratory Assistants

Technological acceptance of remote laboratory in Chemistry education among Chemistry lecturers and laboratory assistants (pseudo named as THxx) was analysed based on interview questions through coding and grouping method. A total of four (57.10%) respondents had mentioned that they would accept the implementation of the remote laboratory in Chemistry education. The rest (42.90%) of the respondents mentioned that they would consider the implementation of the remote laboratory for particular experiments in Chemistry education. From the interview with respondent TH02, he accepted the future implementation of remote laboratory in Chemistry education and mentioned that students should expose to the latest technology so that they would not face the culture shock wherever they go. The following transcription is a part of the interview with respondent TH02.

TH02: …Of course we have to… so that we exposed to the students to the latest technology… Because when you go to, for example industry, where ever they go, there will not be a culture shock in their work.

However for some of the respondents, they would accept the remote laboratory based on suitability. From the interview with respondent TH03, she accepted the implementation of remote laboratory in Chemistry education only for the experiments which are difficult or dangerous to carry out in the traditional hands-on laboratory.

TH03: …melibatkan eksperimen eksperimen yang..ah..sangat membahaya… contohnya macam melibatkan.. ah.. chemical chemical yang membahaya. Okay, melibatkan ah.. apani..gas contohnya, pemanasan yang tinggi, kan? Melibatkan tekanan yang tinggi. Ah. Itu kena.. kena.. boleh! Saya setuju la, guna remote laboratory ini.
(Translation: I agree to use remote laboratory if involves dangerous experiments like dangerous chemical, heating using high temperature, high pressure.)

Overall, none of the respondents rejected the future implementation of remote laboratory in Chemistry education during the interview sessions. All of them gave positive responses on the technological acceptance of remote laboratory in Chemistry education and those qualitative data are consistent with the findings obtained from the TAM survey.

Advantages of Remote Laboratory

The opinions of Chemistry lecturers and laboratory assistants towards the advantages of using remote laboratory were analysed based on interview questions. On the other hand, the opinions of Chemistry students towards the advantages of using remote laboratory were analysed based on the open-ended question in the questionnaire by using coding and grouping method.

Flexibility
Remote laboratory provides flexibility in terms of time and place. From the interview with respondent TH04, he mentioned that remote laboratory is a suitable alternative for schools that have financial constraint on carrying out the experiments in which the students can have the opportunity to conduct the real experiment through the Internet any time and any place (Fallon, 2013). The following transcription is part of the interview with respondent TH04.

TH04: …This remote laboratory could be an alternative in teaching chemistry education and teaching chemistry experiment… I think for such school especially schools with money constraints, not able to provide experiments apparatus for example, I think this is a good advantage. This is a good alternative... Students…although they can't perform the real experiment, this remote laboratory could be an alternative… No matter the students are from city or from rural area… I think they would learn this technique… this remote laboratory very fast… No matter where they are… They could adapt with the technology. So I think… perhaps with this remote laboratory… they could learn…may be better.

From the interview with respondent TH01, she mentioned that saving time is one of the advantages of remote laboratory in which students can just control the experiment remotely at home. According to Mokhtar, Mikhail and Joo (2014), students can carry out their learning and conduct laboratory experiments comfortably from home for example during weekends without extra travelling as long as they have a computer with Internet access. The following transcription is part of the interview with respondent TH01.

Researcher:    So, what are the advantages that you can imagine for the remote lab?
TH01:              I can imagine the lab without student... (laughing)
Researcher:    Ah?
TH01:              I can just imagine the lab without students, everything can control at home, so they just.. Saving time...and may be save money.

From the interview with respondent TH03, she mentioned that remote laboratory enables time saving and it would be suitable for long distance learning students. Distance learning students are able to apply the knowledge they gained and carry out experiments in a similar fashion to on-campus students, without the need to be physically located in the laboratory (Alkhaldi, Pranata & Athauda, 2016). The following transcription is part of the interview with respondent TH03.
TH03: So advantages ya, kelebihanya. Of course la kelebihannya pertama kalau you buat remote lab ni jimat masa la… Tenaga mengajar tak perlu ramai la kan? … And then.. ah.. pasal remote laboratory ini sesuai untuk.... long distance student... apa ni…
(Translation: The first advantage of remote laboratory is it can save time. Less tutor is needed. Remote laboratory is suitable for long-distance learning students.)

Apart from that, from the open-ended question in the questionnaire, most of the student respondents also mentioned several advantages of remote laboratory in terms of flexibility (Table V). They stated that remote laboratory enables time saving as they do not need to spend time in travelling to the laboratory and they can conduct the experiment anywhere.

Table V. Students’ Opinions on the Advantages of Remote Laboratory: Flexibility

No.	Students’ Opinions
1	Experiment can do anywhere or anytime
2	Can conduct the experiment in anyplace in the world
3	Do not waste time to go to lab / Save time

Thus, remote laboratory is very convenient and flexible to use in which it offers an opportunity to every student to access the remote laboratory experiment without time and place restriction (Fallon, 2013).

Cost Efficiency
Remote laboratory enables cost saving and is cost effective (Chan & Fok, 2009; Fallon, 2013; Nafalski et al., 2016; Župerl & Virtič, 2013). From the interview with respondent TH01, she mentioned that using remote laboratory would be cost saving, chemical saving and strengthening the bonding between universities and institutions. This is supported by Khattar and his colleagues (2016) in which remote laboratory opens the door to possible collaborations between universities and institutions. By sharing the resources, most of the expensive equipment can be shared among universities and institutions and thus an item of equipment can be utilised more effectively with maximizing the number of students in use of remote laboratory (Cooper & Ferreira, 2009; Župerl & Virtič, 2013). The following transcription is part of the interview with respondent TH01.

TH01:             I can just imagine the lab without students, everything can control at home, so they just… Saving time...and maybe save money.
Researcher:    Save money?
TH01:              Ya. Probably because... if we need to allocate for all students to come here and then we need to prepare for each batch or each group for that. But if we use for this, may be the chemicals will be less, the costs will be less... It could be save money, save chemicals, save time... And maybe then we can just close the bond in between two countries, between two universities, between two schools, so it's more internationally.

Besides, from the interview with respondent TH06, he mentioned that the way in conducting experiment will be more accurate and the errors such as parallax error can be reduced by using remote laboratory. According to Župerl and Virtič (2013), the expenses of equipment and processing material can be reduced, especially when most of the human errors are eliminated through the remote laboratory. The following transcription is part of the interview with respondent TH06.

TH06: …remote lab… Kalau dibuat... Kelebihan nombor satu ialah, dia mengajar cara yang lebih tepat. Maksudnya students menggunakan camera kan, jadi dia akan tengok, tak ada orang parallax lah, kita boleh avoid parallax tu…
(Translation: The advantage of remote laboratory is that it is more accurate. Students use the camera and observe, nobody will have parallax error, so we can avoid the parallax errors.)

Based on the open-ended question in survey questionnaire, some of the student respondents also mentioned several advantages of remote laboratory in terms of cost efficiency (Table VI). They stated that by using remote laboratory, most of the errors in experiment can be avoided for example parallax error when doing the measurement. They also stated that some of the experiments that cannot be carried out in our country can be carried out through remote laboratory.

Table VI. Students’ Opinions on the Advantages of Remote Laboratory: Efficiency

No.	Students’ Opinions
1	Can avoid human errors in experiment / More accurate
2	Can conduct experiment with other countries / Can go through many experiments that we cannot do in our own country

Thus, remote laboratory enables cost saving and effective in which sharing remote laboratory with other universities or institutions can lead to improved utilization levels, sharing costs and students are able to access a much broader range of laboratory apparatus (Lowe, Yeung, Tawfik, Sancristobal, Castro, Orduña, et al., 2016).

Risk-free Environment
Laboratory can be made safer for students through remote laboratory (Ogot, Elliott & Glumac, 2002). For the interview part, none of the respondents mentioned that safety is one of the advantages of remote laboratory. However, based on the open-ended question in survey questionnaires, a lot of the student respondents listed the advantages of remote laboratory in terms of safety (Table VII). They stated that it would be safer to students by using remote laboratory as most of the accidents in the laboratory can be prevented. They also stated that they are not exposed to toxic chemicals and it is easier or safer for the students to conduct the experiments which are dangerous.

Table VII. Students’ Opinions on the Advantages of Remote Laboratory: Risk-free

No.	Students’ Opinions
1	Prevent any accident during the experiment / Safer to students
2	We don’t have to face toxic chemicals/ Tidak terdedah kepada bahan-bahan beracun
3	Memudahkan pelajar membuat eksperimen terutamanya eksperimen yang bahaya (Translation: The students can carry out the experiment easier especially dangerous experiments)

Thus, remote laboratory enables students to avoid injuries that would happen in traditional hands-on laboratory, hence provides a risk-free environment.

Disadvantages of Remote Laboratory
The opinions of Chemistry lecturers and laboratory assistants toward the disadvantages of using remote laboratory were analysed based on interview questions. On the other hand, the opinions of Chemistry students toward the disadvantages of using remote laboratory were analysed based on the open-ended question in the questionnaire survey by using coding and grouping method.

Lack of Skills and Experiences
From the interview sessions with seven respondents, most of the respondents mentioned that lack of skills and experiences are the main disadvantages of remote laboratory. From the interview with respondent TH05, she mentioned that the disadvantage of remote laboratory is students would lack of skill in assembling the apparatus and they would lack of experience for the trouble shooting in laboratory. The following transcription is part of the interview with respondent TH05.

TH05: …So means that they lack of skill... yeah lack of skill in assembling the apparatus. And then they also like a... they don't have the experience for the trouble shooting. When you do the experiment, sometimes you learn from your experience right? …last time I do like this and... I got it wrong... so that's one of the trouble shooting you know. And then they will learn from that. But this one is already set up, everything is already set up and everything is already program like smoothly program, so they just click it to see the.. I mean the result…

Based on the open-ended question in the questionnaire, student respondents listed several disadvantages of remote laboratory (Table VIII). They also stated that lack of experience in handling real experiments, lack of psychomotor skills and lack of experience in trouble-shooting are the main disadvantages of remote laboratory. Students cannot touch the physical instruments and the real equipment by themselves. They cannot develop their psychomotor skills in laboratory management due to insufficient experiences in handling real apparatus or equipment. According to Ogot, Elliott and Glumac (2002), this leads to insufficient experience of students with typical experimentation tasks such as trouble-shooting experimental apparatus problems.

Table VIII. Students’ Opinions on the Disadvantages of Remote Laboratory: Lack of Skills and Experiences

No.	Students’ Opinions
1	Less experience in handling real experiment
2	Lack of hands on trouble shooting and debugging experience
3	Students do not know the true techniques to handle equipments/ Kurangnya kemahiran psikomotor
4	Tidak dapat menghidu, menyentuh produk (Translation: Cannot smell and touch the product)

Internet Connection Problem
Apart from that, based on the open-ended question in the questionnaire, most of the student respondents also mentioned that the problem with the Internet connection is one of the disadvantages of remote laboratory (Table IX). They stated that a strong Internet coverage is required to conduct the experiment through remote laboratory. They were worried that some of them might not have Internet connection or if they do, it is not possible to conduct experiments through remote laboratory with a weak internet connection.

Table IX. Students’ Opinions on the Disadvantages of Remote Laboratory: Internet Connection Problem

No.	Students’ Opinions
1	Need strong Internet coverage / Cannot be used if no Internet connection
2	Some students do not have Internet connection

Thus, everything has its pros and cons. Remote laboratory is not a perfect laboratory since the activities through remote laboratory may be affected by certain constraints such as Internet problem (Tho & Yeung, 2016), lack of experiences in handling real experiments and trouble-shooting problems in traditional hands-on laboratory.