Virtual Labs
Joshua Kerns
Horward Hughes Medical Institute
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http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/vlabs/
Transgenic Fly
Bacterial Identification
Cardiology
Neurophysiology
Immunology
Contents of cardiology lab
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3 patient simulations
Heart exam with stethoscope & audio
Echocardiogram
MRI
EKG
Pedigree chart
Medical information guides
Quizzes
Diagnosis
Pros/ Cons of Cardio Lab
Pros
• Images
• Audio elements
• Good explanations of quiz
answers
• Quizzes
• Allows for schedule
flexibility
Cons
• Sharing the answers
• Monitoring work done
• Image size, too small?
• Audio, loud enough?
Research on effectiveness
Clinical Nurse Specialist
Issue: Volume 23(3), May/June 2009, pp 151155
Carnevale, Dan. "The Virtual Lab Experiment:
Some Colleges Use Computer Simulations to
Expand Science Offerings Online." The
Chronicle of Higher Education 49.21 (2003).
Academic OneFile. Web. 20 Apr. 2010.
Demonstrating the Effectiveness of an Online, Computer-Based Learning
Module for Arterial Blood Gas Analysis
• Purpose: determine effectiveness of a computer-based
learning module for ABG interpretation
• Design: Pretest & posttest used to assess nurses’ ability after
using module
• Setting: 2 community hospitals in Illinois
• Sample: 58 staff nurses
• Method: Subjects take pretest, module & posttest
• Findings: knowledge increased significantly
• Conclusions: Online continuing education can overcome some
barriers to traditional
Demonstrating the Effectiveness of an Online, Computer-Based Learning
Module for Arterial Blood Gas Analysis
• PreTest & PostTest – 7 clinical scenarios
• Module – 61 slides (PPT)
• Limitations –
– recall bias
– A few very high pretest scores
– Small sample size
The Virtual Lab Experiment: Some colleges use computer
simulations to expand science offerings online
• Chemistry - BYU
• Microbiology – U of Texas, Galveston
• Physics – U of NC, Greensboro