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The Student Technology Fee Program funded the initial development of the ILN, based on a Fall, 2000 proposal developed by Huxley College, the Department of Chemistry, and Scientific Technical Services (SciTech). Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the project, we have leveraged these funds through a variety of external grants to more than double the amount of the initial award. An ILN Working Group, including representatives from Huxley College, the Department of Chemistry,SciTech, and Academic Technology and User Services (ATUS), targeted high-use instruments for replacement and upgrading. This review concluded that approximately 1,200 students could initially benefit from the ILN, with that number increasing as the ILN matures. The earliest phases of ILN development involved negotiations to purchase scientific instruments and to allow the instrumentation software to be loaded onto computers in university computer laboratories. The next phase involved installing, testing, and learning how to use the new instrumentation and establishing a university-wide file sharing structure for data generated by the instruments. Individuals from a wide variety of academic departments were once again involved in this process. The primary goal of the early ILN was to develop a system that allows students to conduct more realistic laboratory experiments by generating a wider variety of sample types. Teaching laboratories served as testing grounds to evaluate the initial ILN . One issue that became immediately apparent was the need to develop a common file structure to handle the large amount of data generated from these laboratories. It was decided to create files for each ILN class on a common drive on the network (usually the S drive). Data from specific instruments are automatically sent to these folders, providing unlimited access to students on- and off-campus. Once fully-developed, the ILN will make instrumentation available to other institutions and schools. Continued Evolution and New Challenges A true virtual laboratory will allow faculty, students, and researchers to share expertise, data, knowledge, and a variety of materials. Although the early development of the ILN allowed for the exchange of data between laboratory instruments and users, the system initially did not allow for the sharing of expertise between users and the sharing of classroom materials, such as laboratory manuals. After experimentation with a number of Web-based tools, these limitations were overcome. About | Contacts | Using ILN | Resources Supported by Copyright © 2008 Western Washington University
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