CyberLab is a research and development center in the School of Engineering and Technology at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). The lab provides research and intellectual support for the design, development and implementation of innovative educational technology. It also builds connections between the university and industries to transfer research outcomes into practice.
The CyberLab is staffed by faculty, project coordinators, researchers and student interns from diverse academic backgrounds. They come from backgrounds such as information technology, educational technology, computer science, multimedia design and production.
Since it was first established, the CyberLab has been successfully facilitating the development of innovative online technologies. Past projects include: Oncourse, ANGEL Learning and Epsilen. Currently, CyberLab is providing research and instructional design support for the design, development and implementation of the academic social networking system, CourseNetworking (CN).
The mission of the CyberLab at IUPUI is to provide academic support and innovative talent to real world projects to ensure productivity and business success. To fulfill this mission, the CyberLab conducts applied research on education and technology to enhance understanding of learning needs and to foster best practices in the application of new technology. As a connector between the academy and industry, the CyberLab actively encourages students to apply their scholastic knowledge and skills in preparation for their future careers.
The CyberLab, previously called WebLab, opened at IUPUI in 1996 and until now, served as a research and development laboratory for the campus, employing personnel directed by computer technology professor Ali Jafari. In the past, the CyberLab developed products such as: Oncourse, perhaps the first-ever enterprise course management system currently used by all eight IU campuses; ANGEL, an upgrade of Oncourse, which became its own company; and Epsilen, a learning management system that enabled ePortfolio and global networking functions. The CyberLab's current focus is supporting the development of CN and offering online pedagogy and instructional design input in the process of launching hybrid courses, online courses and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) hosted on CN.