Virtual Laboratories and the Future of Education

Students can improve their skills and knowledge in a virtual laboratory, performing practices safely and very realistically. Imagine being able to use a virtual lab to learn about plant cells, perform a nutritional assessment through body composition, learn about enzymatic applications of biotechnology, practice electrotherapy, or understand electromagnetism, optics, and mechanics using virtual instruments. The possibilities are endless.

Education through laboratories plays a vital role in the development of our students (Sheppard et al., 2008). Beyond concepts and principles, laboratories help students develop fundamental professional skills such as problem-solving, application design, and fault identification (Feisel & Rosa, 2005; Wankat & Oreovicz, 2015). However, the use of laboratories in education may be limited by multiple factors, including the cost of equipment, the time required to perform an internship, and infrastructure (Abdulwahed & Nagy, 2014; Achumba et al., 2013; Bhargava et al., 2006; Magana & Coutinho, 2017). To reduce these limitations, educators continuously look for emerging technologies that enable more inclusive, creative, and effective labs. Among these technologies, virtual laboratories are becoming very popular in engineering and science education (Potkonjak et al., 2016).

“Virtual laboratories help students improve their skills by safely emulating real lab practices in a digital environment.”

The scientific literature mentions multiple advantages of virtual laboratories compared to traditional practical laboratories (de Jong et al., 2013; Heradio et al., 2016). First, virtual laboratories usually require less investment and resources. Second, they can be used remotely. Third, they encourage students to learn concepts and principles through simulations and representations of abstract phenomena. Finally, virtual laboratories are flexible and allow students to modify the values of the different variables studied and explore experimental results more quickly than in a traditional or remote laboratory. A common criticism of virtual labs is the use of ideal data that usually does not reflect the uncertainty and nuances of the real world. Likewise, these laboratories generally lack the sense of reality to immerse students in more authentic experiences.

Although many virtual laboratories focus on developing in students the conceptual understanding of a particular phenomenon or theory (Hawkins & Phelps, 2013; Kollöffel & de Jong, 2013; Tatli & Ayas, 2013; Zacharia, 2007), in most cases, the characteristics associated with equipment, configuration, environment, and experimental procedures are neglected. Virtual laboratories are appropriate in most science-based courses, usually resulting in equivalent learning improvements compared to traditional hands-on labs. However, it is essential to consider the learning that students wish to develop. Otherwise, this approach could hinder the development of fundamental skills in some areas of study, such as engineering education, communication, collaboration, security, design of experiments, and learning from failure.

Virtual laboratories for health courses.

Currently, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual laboratories seem to be ubiquitous at all educational levels (Glassey & Magalhães, 2020). Thanks to their use, many institutions could provide quality education, even while enduring the terrible consequences of the pandemic (Ray & Srivastava, 2020). However, while virtual laboratories no longer present limits in terms of applicability and usability, a great deal of effort is required to create new ones that are more realistic and capable of developing skills additional to conceptual understanding. In addition, it is essential to explore more contextual pedagogical approaches with virtual labs. More research is required to measure the learning efficiency of such laboratories, identify opportunities, and define trends for future research and development.

To contribute to these efforts, the Institute for the Future of Education (IFE) Living Lab & Data Hub recently formalized a collaboration agreement with ALGETEC (a Brazilian EdTech specialized in developing physical and virtual laboratories) to promote educational innovation through the launch of two calls for research and development. These calls aim to measure the impact of introducing multidisciplinary virtual laboratories in higher education and creating innovative pedagogical resources for developing new and disruptive virtual laboratories. Consult here to learn more about the IFE Living Lab & Data Hub and our calls for research and development.

Discover the virtual laboratories on Platform A!

Today, ALGETEC offers a portfolio with more than 700 virtual laboratories for teaching Natural Sciences, Health Sciences, Engineering, and Humanities. In addition, it is the only company worldwide producing physical laboratories. It develops virtual laboratories, impacting more than 600 thousand students and collaborating with more than 250 public and private educational institutions in Latin America, North America, and Africa. ALGETEC’s philosophy focuses on a better learning experience by developing virtual labs that resemble real lab practices. Therefore, all the data they use in their virtual labs are collected from conducting actual experiments in physical labs. If you want to know more about this outstanding EdTech, consult here.

The main advantage of virtual laboratories is that students are in a safe environment, allowing them to practice and make mistakes without risk. In addition, students can access the virtual labs directly from their Learning Management System (LMS), repeat experiments as often as needed, and practice anytime. Generally, a virtual laboratory complements the physical lab. Students can start by learning procedures and experimenting in a digital environment and then continue testing and developing their manual skills in a real lab. It is how virtual laboratories contribute to creating the future of education.

About the authors

Genisson Silva Coutinho (genisson@algetec.com.br) is the Founder of ALGETEC “Technological Solutions in Education” in Brazil. He is also an Associate Professor and Director of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials at the Federal Institute of Science and Technology of Brazil. Genisson earned his Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Purdue University. His specialties are engineering education research, educational innovation, product design and development, finite element analysis, experimental stress analysis, product lifecycle management, automation, and digital technologies.

Luis F. Morán-Mirabal (lmoran@tec.mx) leads calls and technology-based research projects at the IFE Living Lab & Data Hub. Luis F. obtained his Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences from Tecnologico de Monterrey. He has taught higher education courses at Tecnologico de Monterrey and worked in different companies coordinating areas of Continuous Improvement, Finance, Human Resources, Strategic Planning, and Business Intelligence. His research interests include educational innovation, multimodal learning analytics, and the use of technologies in higher education.

References

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Achumba, I. E., Azzi, D., Dunn, V. L., & Chukwudebe, G. A. (2013). Intelligent performance assessment of students’ laboratory work in a virtual electronic laboratory environment. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, 6(2), 103–116. https://doi.org/10.1109/TLT.2013.1

Bhargava, P., Antonakakis, J., Cunningham, C., & Zehnder, A. T. (2006). Web-based virtual torsion laboratory. Computer Applications in Engineering Education, 14(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1002/cae.20061

De Jong, T., Linn, M. C., & Zacharia, Z. C. (2013). Physical and virtual laboratories in science and engineering education. Science, 340(April), 305–308.

Feisel, L. D., & Rosa, A. J. (2005). The Role of the Laboratory in Undergraduate Engineering Education. Journal of Engineering Education, 94(1), 121–130. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2168-9830.2005.tb00833.x

Glassey, J., & Magalhães, F. D. (2020). Virtual laboratories – love or hate them; they are likely to be used more in the future—education for Chemical Engineers, 33(January).

Hawkins, I., & Phelps, A. J. (2013). Virtual laboratory vs. traditional laboratory: which is more effective for teaching electrochemistry? Chemistry Education Research and Practice, pp. 14, 516–523. https://doi.org/10.1039/c3rp00070b

Heradio, R., De La Torre, L., Galan, D., Cabrerizo, F. J., Herrera-Viedma, E., & Dormido, S. (2016). Virtual and Remote Laboratories in Education: a Bibliometric Analysis. Computers & Education, 98, 14–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2016.03.010

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Wankat, P. C., & Oreovicz, F. S. (2015). Teaching engineering (2nd ed.). Purdue University Press.

Zacharia, Z. C. (2007). Comparing and combining real and virtual experimentation: An effort to enhance students’ conceptual understanding of electric circuits. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 23(2), 120–132. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2006.00215.x

Edition by Rubí Román (rubi.roman@tec.mx) – Edu bits and Webinars Editor – “Learning that inspires” – Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education of Tec de Monterrey.
Translation by Daniel Wetta.