We have been exploring two different platforms for virtual lab experiments, namely Second Life and Flash.
Flash seems to be winning out as the preferred option for students but I won’t pre-empt the results of the detailed study currently being carried out by Dr Stephanie Henderson-Begg and Paula Booth. To see the Flash version of PCR and electrophoresis experiments go to:
To see the same experiments in Second Life, create an avatar (if you haven’t already got one) from http://www.uelconnect.org.uk/secondlife/register4sl.php and go to UEL HABitat as per info on this post, enter the lab and follow the instructions.
An allied aspect of the virtual lab activities is to make what we do available to a wider audience and so contribute to other open resources in similar areas. Both the Flash and SL experiments are now publicly available as is another Flash resource on general lab skills developed via LTARG funding earlier in the year:
As some of you know, we’ve recently taken delivery of quite a few of these and several staff are using them actively. Just a couple of pointers to avoid disappointment or embarrassment in front of a class:
1. Check before you use a lecture room whether Turning Point is installed – the University menu install option does not work on quite a few machines, so either use the supplied CD (inside the boxes) or install it from our supplier’s website:
N.B. You will need to register to do this but your details will not be passed on.
2. Some features such as 3D charts are only available with the latest version of Turning Point and this may well not be the version installed in the lecture room. So either check in advance or avoid using 3D charts – the standard charts are just as effective.
For useful tips on using clickers see these web resources provided by Southampton University:
This video clip gives a brief glimpse of the varius areas of the polyclinic in which two areas (herbal medicine and physiotherapy) now have prototype virtual patients for student use.
Physiotherapy students are presented with a series of patients with respiratory conditions and interact with the patient, charts and other data to devise a treatment plan. They present the treatment plan via a quiz in the office adjoining the ward. Herbal medicine students are similarly presented with a range of patients in an outpatient clinic setting and come to working diagnsoses having talked to the patient, read their notes, looked at test results etc.
So far this sounds like many other ‘virtual patient’ and healthcare sims that are out there but a distinguishing feature of this one is that the patient cases can be added by academics via a web editor thus bypassing the need for non-SL literate staff to learn new skills. They can concentrate on developing the cases and facilitating students. It is still early days but we are hopeful that this model can be further developed for use in other healthcare areas as well as possibly for other subject areas that lend themselves to the same scenario or problem based approach.
A further aspect of this phase of development, has been to move the molecular biology laboratory and CSI facilities from the main UEL island to their own buildings on UEL HABitat.
Following on from the initial HEA Bioscience paper ‘The Learning Gains and Student Perceptions of a Second Life Virtual Lab’, the PCR and electrophoresis experiments have been replicated in Flash and a study is currently underway to compare the relative merits of a 3D virtual world platform over a more conventional 2D one for this type of learning activity.
To use the polyclinic and the CSI house your avatar needs to join the relevant group. Please contact r.heaney@uel.ac.uk or IM Maisy Carter in world if you would like an invite. We will also provide access to the web-based Case editing system on request.
We had a productive meeting with all concerned (or nearly all) yesterday to review progress on UEL HABitat and agree timescales for the completion of phase 2.
The physiotherapy and herbal medicine patient cases are developing well and should be ready on schedule for testing with students in semester A.
The back end editor looks very straightforward for the amateur user without being overly simplistic in results.
Playing back audios and videos can be a challenge at times when one format works on one computer and not the next as we have discovered through the development of multimedia resources for students.
This is where VLC Media Player comes into the picture. It is available for download for both Windows and Mac OS and the best thing is that it’s free! Although It’s not the playback solution to all, it is capable of reading and playing most audio and video formats out there. See link below to download a copy.
All queries on the operation of UEL Plus and Turnitin should be sent to the e-learning mailbox elearn@uel.ac.uk where a Learning Technology Technician (LTT) or member of the Learning Systems Team will process the request. If the request is urgent, please mark the email as such but do not abuse this by marking everything as urgent. Urgent requests will be prioritised. If the problem cannot wait for an email response, then you can use the elearning telephone line 020 8223 7812 which will be covered in normal working hours with a voicemail option outside these hours.
New staff should still be directed to the LTA for 1:1 induction sessions but bearing in mind the limited availability of the LTA in schools, this will generally need to be agreed in advance.
Continue to contact your LTA about more general matters or to discuss potential projects and initiatives. Please note however, that if a particular issue can be dealt with by attending a central staff development session, then staff are expected to attend
We are now developing a separate island for Health & Bisoscience – UEL HABitat which includes the original activities but also has a polyclinic for use by health care students (physiotherapy and herbal medicine initially) to diagnose and treat virtual patients. In conjunction with our developer Gemixin Ltd we are aiming to produce an editable virtual patient system to which academics can add cases to suit particular learning needs. This system will be independent of Second Life and its application could extend beyond patient scenarios to other problem base learning situations. Other such systems already exist but by all accounts are not very user friendly. Our aim is to produce something that anyone can use after a very basic introduction. One of the biggest issues with developing learning activities in Second Life (or other virtual worlds) is the reliance on specialist skills which are beyond the reach of most educational budgets. We hope that some sustainable solutions of value to the wider community will emerge from our current investigations for which we are very grateful to have some one-off internal funding.
The prototype VP should be in pilot in Semester A 2009/10.
We started in January 09 by creating a building on UEL’s main island on Second Life with a virtual laboratory for PCR and electrophoresis experiments as well as a crime scene house (apartment) for use by forensic students. This video provides an outline of the first phase including evaluations of the student experience.
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