ABSTRACT
Aim of this study is to compare the laboratory anxiety levels and attitudes towards laboratory skills of students who participated in online education only and those who participated in online education and laboratory exercises in the Covid-19 pandemic. The study is in the quantitative research method. The second and third grade students attended the training directly and online but fourth grade students participated in the training only online in the pandemic period (total 250 students). The scales that 180 students answered without error were evaluated. It has been revealed that anxiety levels of the students who could not participate in the laboratory exercises in pandemic period were higher than the anxiety levels of the students who participated in the exercises. The laboratory skill attitude of the fourth grade students is more negative than the laboratory skill attitude of the second and third grade students. There is an inverse and significant relationship between students' laboratory skill attitudes and laboratory anxiety.
ABSTRACT
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the sophomore class of 2021 spent very little time on campus as freshmen and missed the benefits and advantages of in-person learning. Three labs were added to a required sophomore biomedical engineering (BME) course, Biochemistry and Molecular Engineering. The objectives of these labs were three-fold: (i) reinforce the content presented in the online lecture, (ii) provide students with hands-on laboratory skills, and (iii) offer students engaged in an online course in-person experiences and the corresponding academic and social benefits. The objective of this course is to develop critical thinking, teamwork and collaborative skills, as well as the ability to use physical laboratory equipment to obtain and analyze data. We eliminated some of the homework problems to account for the time spent in preparation for lab, the lab sessions, and writing the post-lab reports. The labs accounted for 10% of the total grade and included a prelab quiz, a post-lab report, and one or two exam questions for each lab. The three labs were: 1. Introduction to Pipetting 2. DNA Extraction, PCR, and Gel Electrophoresis 3. Bacterial Transformation with a Plasmid After completing the labs, a student survey indicated that over 80% of students agreed or strongly agreed that they felt confident using all these techniques. Comparing confidence levels, 63% of the students were somewhat familiar with pipetting prior to Lab 1 which increased to over 90% post-lab. After Lab 2 (DNA extraction, PCR, and gel electrophoresis), confidence levels more than doubled, from 40% in pre-lab survey results to 86% afterwards. Student confidence in the final lab, which involved using a plasmid for genetic transfection of bacteria, went from 33% pre-lab to 81% post-lab. While the prelab census indicated that a significant percentage of the students had some prior lab proficiency in high school, a quarter of the students lacked experience in pipetting and a majority of the students were unfamiliar with PCR/gel electrophoresis and plasmids. As one student noted, “The labs were a good way to build basic lab skills and exposure for students who were previously unable to work in a college lab”. By the end of the course, 87% agreed or strongly agreed that “Gaining hands-on lab skills is an important part of this course. I believe it should be continued, possibly with more labs, in future years.” In addition to gaining hands-on laboratory experience, students enjoyed working with their classmates in-person and benefited from “learning by doing”. Student comments strongly indicated that the labs reinforced the lecture content. The labs “helped me retain the information better than simply reading about it.” The combination of replacing homework with labs, and reducing the total amount of time per week students spent on the course, did not result in significant differences in the quiz scores from pre-pandemic years. Given the success of this year's lab experiences, we plan to update the labs and include additional topics for future course offerings. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic challenged the status quo of higher education practices. With the transition to remote learning, students and faculty faced several challenges while making great strides in equalizing education access. Although theoretical aspects can be easily taught online, practical experiences are difficult to convey without dedicated laboratories and equipment. This is especially true in biological studies, where practical laboratory training significantly impacts the Student’s professional development. Presented here is an overview of some of the available resources that faculty can implement in their remote teaching curricula, a discussion on a possible approach toward creating in silico practicums, and potential challenges that could be experienced in creating such virtual laboratories (VL). To prevent another interruption in academic training, higher education institutions (HEIs) should focus on designing, developing, and implementing practical educational material. We propose that these resources be free and open-source, allowing for a global effort to create a standardized practical curriculum for basic biological technical skills. Copyright © 2022 Myburgh.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic related measures had augmented the rise of online education. While online teaching had mitigated the negative impacts from educational institutional closures, it was unable to displace hands-on biomedical laboratory practical lessons effectively. Without practical sessions, there was concern over the imparting of laboratory skills even with video demonstrations. To investigate the effectiveness of different delivery modes in imparting laboratory skills, theoretical and practical student assessments were analyzed alongside an anonymous survey on their motivation and prior experience. The undergraduate students were exposed to (1) instructor-live demonstration; (2) video demonstration or (3) no demonstration prior to the practical test which was a plasmid extraction. Significantly higher mini-prep yields and purity were found for both instructor-live and video demonstrations compared to no demonstration. Comparison with pre-pandemic theoretical assessment performance showed no significant differences despite longer contact hours during pre-pandemic times. Prior lab experience and motivation for selecting the course did not significantly affect student mini-prep yields. In conclusion, our findings suggest that video demonstrations were as effective as instructor-live demonstrations during the pandemic without noticeably compromising the teaching and learning of biomedical laboratory skills.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Education, Distance , COVID-19/epidemiology , Educational Measurement , Humans , Learning , Pandemics , TeachingABSTRACT
This study examined the interaction between cognitive style-gender within Virtual Laboratories (VL) and its influence on students of health college's Laboratory Skills (LS) and Cognitive Load (CL) during the Corona pandemic. This research method is a combination of quasi-experimental research and survey research; consisting of two male and two female experimental groups (contemplative and impulsive). Each group had 20 students from General Health colleges. In the third level, with the microbiological course, eight experiments were studied by a Virtual laboratory (Praxilabs) during the eLearning study in 2020's first semester. Results showed that VL-using Students of General Health colleges studying microbiology had better CL and LS, besides significantly distinguishing between males and females using VLs in CL and LS where males benefited more. Also, a significant difference was established between CS (contemplative/impulsive) VL-using students in CL and LS to the benefit of the contemplative cognitive style. There LS significantly differ due to gender-CS interaction; however, CL does not have any differences because of this interaction.