Virtual Laboratories as Interactive E-Learning Resources: Benefits and Limitations

Laboratories are integral part of the curriculum. With the advancement of technologies especially information and communication technology there is a pace for the designing and development of virtual labs. There are different types of online labs which are accessible through digital devices over internet. Virtual labs based upon 3D simulations are very close to the traditional or physical laboratories. Due to interactivity, such labs can give a pre-lab hand-on practice of experiments in a safe, secure and self pace environment. Purpose of the study is to investigate advantages and disadvantages of the virtual labs with the emphasis on their limitations. Keywords: Virtual Labs, 3D labs, Interactive Labs, e-learning, distance learning, remote labs

INOVASI VIRTUAL LAB SEBAGAI MEDIA PEMBELAJARAN DI SMP DAN SMK ISLAM ASY’ARIYYAH IBRU KECAMATAN MESTONG

ABSTRAKPenggunaan media pembelajaran yang berbasis virtual lab sangat minim digunakan di sekolah, hal ini disebabkan para guru belum mengetahuinya, terutama di SMP Islam Asy’Ariyyah dan SMK Islam Asy’Ariyyah Kecamatan Mestong Muaro Jambi yang menyebabkan kurang optimalnya proses pembelajaran fisika di kedua jenjang pendidikan sekolah tersebut. Pengabdian kepada masyarakat ini memiliki tujuan untuk mendemonstrikan penerapan dan mengadakan pelatihan kepada guru-guru di sekolah tersebut dengan membuat media pembelajaran yang berbasis virtual lab yang telah didesain oleh dosen di lab fisika FKIP universitas Jambi. Pelaksanaan pengabdian pada masyarakat ini terdiri dari beberapa tahap yaitu studi pendahuluan yang terkait dengan analisis situasi di sekolah dan analisis permasalahan mitra, diantaranya adalah kurangnya pengetahuan guru membuat dan pengguanaan media pembelajaran yang berbasis virtual lab. Program dilakukan adalah demonstrasi, workshop dan membuat media pembejaran berbasis virtual lab. Dari hasil pengabdian ini diperoleh tanggapan dari guru bahwa guru sangat antusias mengikuti program yang telah dilaksanakan, guru telah dapat menggunakan virtual lab. Kata kunci: virtual lab; SMP islam asy’ariyyah; SMK islam asy’ariyyah. ABSTRACTThe use of virtual lab-based learning media is very minimal in use in schools, this is because teachers do not know it, especially in Asy'Ariyyah Islamic Junior High School and Asy'Ariyyah Islamic Vocational School, Mestong Muaro Jambi District which causes the physics learning process to be less than optimal at both levels of school education. This community service has the aim of demonstrating the application and providing training to teachers at the school by creating learning media based on virtual labs that have been designed by lecturers at the physics lab of the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Jambi University. The implementation of community service consists of several stages, namely preliminary studies related to situation analysis in schools and analysis of partner problems, including the lack of knowledge of teachers in making and using virtual lab-based learning media. The programs carried out are demonstrations, workshops and making learning media based on virtual labs. From the results of this service, a response was obtained from the teacher that the teacher was very enthusiastic about participating in the program that had been implemented, the teacher had been able to use the virtual lab. Keywords: virtual lab; asy'ariyyah islamic junior high school; asy'ariyyah islamic vocational school.

The effect of colloids practicum e-module to improve students’ interest on virtual lab during the covid-19 pandemic

Practical learning which is generally carried out in the laboratory is one of the important lessons in the science learning process, especially chemistry. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused practical learning activities to not be accommodated in real laboratories. This situation encourages the creation of practical learning innovations, namely the use of virtual labs. In this study, students' learning interest in the use of virtual labs is described which is integrated with the use of e-modules on colloidal material. Based on the results of data analysis, 74.55% of students were interested in using the virtual lab, 10.90% very interested, 12.73% quite interested, and 1.82% lack of interested. These data indicate that the majority of students can make good use of the virtual lab and are able to optimally elaborate on the learning process. However, virtual labs are not intended to replace real laboratories but can be used as supplements and media to support learning in real laboratories.

A Critical Review of Teaching With Virtual Lab: A Panacea to Challenges of Conducting Practical Experiments in Science Subjects Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic in Rural Schools in South Africa

This paper is based on a systematic literature review of published research on the educational application of Virtual Lab. The paper focuses on the use of the mobile Virtual Lab application for learning science practicals in rural school context. This paper analyses the theoretical aspects of using VL in teaching and learning of science practical experiments. The previous studies published in national and international journals and conference proceedings on science education and technologies in education, and regarding the benefits of using VL in science education, are discussed as references for integrating VL in teaching of science practicals in the rural school context. A systematic review method was adopted in this paper to explore articles that focus on Virtual Labs and the use of Virtual labs in teaching and learning. However, the aim of this paper is to provide science teachers in rural schools and education policy makers with a better understanding of the constraints and the benefits of using VL technology in mediating learning of science practical experiments and encourage teachers to adopt the use of VL as technology for conducting science practical experiments. In addition, this paper also addresses the possible factors that may affect learners’ learning of science practical experiments using VL technology in rural school educational settings, giving educational policy makers and curriculum developers enlightenment as to the effective integration of VL technology in science education. We conclude by providing suggestions and recommendations on the use of VL in teaching and learning of science practical experiments in rural schools beyond COVID-19 pandemic.

Teaching Lab-based Courses Remotely: Approaches, Technologies, Challenges, and Ethical Issues

Online learning has gained substantial traction since the popularization of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) over the last decade. After the dawn of the Covid-19 pandemic, online learning has become an indispensable mode of modern-day education. All educational institutions around the world are now compelled to switch to online classes as a physically safer and more flexible option for teaching and learning during the pandemic. Although many studies have examined the effectiveness of this online T&L mode, almost no attention has been paid to the use of virtual laboratories, which are an important means of teaching practical skills and complicated theories for science and engineering subjects. Like other online methods that have their particular advantages and disadvantages, the utility of virtual laboratories is detracted by the fact that they lack some of the qualities present in the actual experiments seen in traditional learning classrooms. In particular, virtual labs are not as effective as authentic lab experiments in developing soft skills that are typically acquired from students’ teamwork activities, in addition to lacking the ability to assess the various levels of knowledge acquisition, content mastery and student attention in class. Hence, the aim of this paper is to address these issues about the utility and drawbacks of virtual labs in achieving the long-term goals and learning outcomes of STEM education. In addressing these issues, the paper highlights the varying technologies, such as gaming and virtual reality, used by different educational institutions as substitutes for physical engineering laboratories. The final section of the paper discusses some of the ethical issues related to online learning for science and engineering subjects.

TESTING THE EFFICACY OF VIRTUAL LABS IN INDIA FOR SIMULATION OF OPTICS EXPERIMENTS AT THE UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL

Laboratory experimentation isan important ingredient of every undergraduate program in science education. The use of virtual and remote laboratories (VRLs) offers several benefits to students, teachers, and instructors. It can mitigate the high costs of procurement of apparatus in traditional labs and can support distance and blended learning. The recent outbreak of Covid-19 has resulted in isolating the students from labs which have made such online laboratories imperative even in the traditional offline education system. They offer a possible alternative to conventional hands-on labs. Such online mode imparts freedom to teachers as well as students to define their experimental goals and objectives. This paper tests the efficacy of the Virtual Labs platform for conducting simulated experiments onlinein the field of Optics. The learning outcome of the students who employ the same to simulate experiments online is analyzed. The main objective is to explore the limitations posed to the users of such an online lab platform in terms of designing the experimentsand visualization of the experiment results and offer suggestions to make such VRLs more efficacious, versatile, and user-friendly.