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R. P. SINGH, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of California, Davis, CA 95616

The goal of this paper is to demonstrate how to take the role of Internet in teaching to another level, that of empowering the student to conduct "hands-on" experiments through the Internet. The term "hands-on" in the context of the Internet implies that a student carries out various tasks required in an experiment, while the apparatus that is being manipulated, in a live mode, may be located halfway around the world. In this paper, we will demonstrate that this innovative capability recently advanced by our group has considerable merit in enhancing student's learning.

This demonstration experiment is designed to measure psychrometric properties of air at the inlet and exit of a heater, as required in analyzing a food dryer. The student controls the experiment remotely by switching on the heater and the fan using an Internet browser. After a period of equilibration, data on psychrometric properties of air are collected and downloaded as a text file on the student's computer for further analysis.

Internet-assisted laboratory exercises offer unique opportunities to develop educational materials for the new generation of computer-savvy students. These exercises provide an increased level of inter activity between a student and the educational materials provided on the Internet. Development of such experiments is expected to harness the innovative creativity of food science educators on a truly global basis.