Biological Sciences
Virtual Labs for GE Biology
Robert Desharnais & Paul Narguizian
California State University, Los Angeles
Course Redesign Models
Motivation
General education (GE) laboratory courses are a bottleneck
for progress to graduation. At CSULA, a life science course
with lab is required of every student. Enrollments in labs
are limited to 24 students and each lab must be staffed by
an instructor. Labs are taught in specialized facilities which
are limited in availability. Many students are unable to
register for these courses until their senior year.
Model 1 – All Labs Online
Model 2 – Hybrid Flipped Lab
 All labs were offered online Fall 2013 & Winter 2014
 Flipped lab model: guided assignments at home and
higher-level group activities aided by instructors in lab.
 Drop-in help center staffed 30 hours/week
 Nine virtual labs were employed, one for each week of
the academic quarter excluding one.
 Handout guided students though experiments designed
around course concepts.
 Students answered multiple choice questions to assess
their learning
 For 3 labs, students addressed a scientific problem by
o formulating a hypothesis;
o designing and carrying out experiments;
o analyzing the results;
o writing a brief scientific report.
Addressing the Bottleneck
 Off weeks, students worked on individual virtual lab
assignments similar to Model 1.
1. Use of on-line labs reduced costs:
Track A
Juniors
Intro to virtual lab
Intro to virtual lab
3
Group report in lab
Online exercises
4
Online exercises
Group report in lab
7
Group report in lab
Online exercises
Group report in lab
8
GE biology courses are a challenge for non-science majors.
Labs are intended to involve students in doing science, but
most wet labs are “cook-book” activities. The labs lack
engagement and an opportunity for creativity
Virtual labs provide an environment for students to explore
scientific concepts by designing and carrying out their own
experiments. They provide a hands-on opportunity for GE
students to “achieve an understanding and appreciation of
scientific principles and the scientific method” as specified
in the CSU General Education Breadth Requirements. They
are also less costly and can allow increased number of
course offerings to relieve graduation bottlenecks.
Contact Information
Robert Desharnais & Paul Narguizian
RDeshar@CalstateLA.edu
PNargui@CalstateLA.edu
GE students using FlyLab to conduct genetic experiments.
No lab
Online exercises
6
Seniors
Track B
2
5
Sophmores
“Fun, interesting, and relevant to what we were learning in class.”
“I liked the ease at which the experiments were manipulated, as well
as the simple yet deep control of the experiment.”
“Really simple to use, and you can go at your own pace.”
 Class was divided into two tracks, A and B, which met
asynchronously throughout the quarter:
1
Freshmen
“I liked the fact that the virtual labs can be taken at home. It gave me
a sense of independence. It made it possible for a lot of people to take
this much needed course to graduate.”
 Student met in-person every other week during Spring
2014 in the physical lab facility where
o instructor introduced lab topic and software;
o students discussed in groups their answers to the
individual virtual lab assignments;
o students worked in groups to formulate hypotheses,
design and carry out experiments, analyze results,
and produce a brief scientific report.
Week
BIOL 155 Enrollment by Class Level
“I liked the opportunity to put into practice what we were discussing in
class and see the results for myself.”
Online exercises
Online exercises
Group report in lab
Online exercises
Group report in lab
9
Group report in lab
Online exercises
10
No lab
Group report in lab
Costs of Different Lab Models
$140
Cost per Student
We redesigned a GE biology course by using existing webbased software to replace traditional wet labs. Two new
modes of lab instruction were compared to the traditional
offering: (1) all labs online with a “drop-by” help center and
(2) a hybrid “flipped lab” model with two tracks of online
and in-person labs alternating every week. Both modes
included a face-to-face lecture. Engaging inquiry-based
exercises were developed around each online activity.
Assessment involved the tracking of students’ attitudes and
performance using grades and pre-post-class surveys.
Student Comments
$127.39
$120
$100
$80.57
$80
$60
$36.84
$40
$20
$0
Wet Labs
Online Labs
Flipped Labs
2. More students were served:
Number of GE Biology Students Enrolled
1400
Numer of Students
Abstract
N = 1139
1200
1000
800
600
N = 455
400
200
0
AY 12/13
AY 13/14
3. There was a positive impact on time to graduation:
Spring 2013
Spring 2014
Online Labs That Were Used
Freshmen
Sophmores
Juniors
Seniors
CardioLab
cardiac physiology
DemographyLab
human demography
Enzymes
enzymes & pH
EvolutionLab
natural selection
FlyLab
genetics of inheritance
Animal Behavior
isopod behavior
For more information, visit the Course Redesign ePortfolio
for this project at: http://tinyurl.com/vlab-ePort
Frog Dissection
animal anatomy
Acknowledgements
This project was supported by the CSU
Enrollment Bottleneck Solution Course
Redesign with Technology program.
PopEcoLab
population ecology
TranslationLab
the genetic code
More Information