Virtual practicals

Project: Transformation of hands-on practical courses to virtual labs during the Corona Pandemic (and beyond)

The Corona Pandemic hit the biology practical courses with 400 students in the middle of the first experiments. These courses train students in lab techniques and prepare them for the third study year, which focuses on experimental work in research groups. Within days, DBIOL developed an online alternative focused on experimental design and data evaluation. The lecturers teamed up with the DBIOL Center for Active Learning (CAL) to design 28 virtual modules in different areas of biology that allowed to run the practical courses entirely remotely. While lecturers defined the course content, CAL identified suitable videos, figures, publications, and data, developed introductory texts and questions, and combined the material in a didactically meaningful manner.
Going forward, online modules now remain an inherent part of the DBIOL practical courses beyond the current pandemic. These modules serve to prepare and wrap-up the practical days in a "remote onboarding" → "on campus" → "remote debriefing" format. We believe that such structured “onboarding” and “debriefing” formats facilitate and motivate student engagement, and our experiences show that more than 80% of the students take part in these activities. A combination of online and in-lab activities benefits both students and lecturers in terms of flexibility, time-management and feedback, and may be a suitable way to maintain high-level in-class experiences while having to cope with increasing student numbers and limited lab infrastructure in the future.