This paper presents the salient features of web-based interactive manuals for laboratory-based subjects and compares them with traditional laboratory manuals. The manuals utilize the latest developments in web applications, JAVA programming and pre-designed spreadsheets with the objective of reducing the time taken for students to perform the mundane and laborious calculations and plotting of graphs. The students can therefore utilize the time in the laboratories on the analysis and discussion of results besides performing the actual experiments. Moreover, the web-based interactive manuals incorporate virtual experiments, digital pictures, animated GIF files and quick movies to familiarize the students with the experimental set-up before performing the physical experiments. The proposed approach is applicable for laboratory-based subjects, which are not amenable to be converted completely to virtual laboratories.

The world-wide-web has been used extensively for putting up details of the organization of a laboratory subject as well as the related handout in HTML or PDF format and relevant software and programs. The existing application is thus confined to the transmission of information. The present paper describes an interactive web-based manual for laboratory work related to the subject of Dynamics. The students could have a better understanding of the experiment before the class by the inclusion of digital pictures of actual setup or video clip on the use of certain equipment. During the class, Java Applets are used to perform the laborious or repeated calculations as well as the finding and plotting of the least square line. Students can therefore spend more time on the analysis and discussion of results with the instructors or teaching assistant in the class.