Abstract:

The use of virtual laboratories has grown exponentially since 2020 when they were key learning resources in the period of confinement. These virtual labs help educational institutions to extend their reach, reduce costs, improve student learning and offer more accessible hands-on training to future scientists. Since then, the use of various platforms has grown in our institution, especially in the Biomedical Sciences School. In this work, a quantitative analysis of the perception of students and teachers, of 8 different degrees in the area of Health, with the use of 17 of these tools was carried out. Specifically, the students' perception of the use of the most widely used platforms, Learning Science and Labster, is analyzed. Additionally, a comparative analysis of the perception by degree and the perception of teachers regarding the use of the tools is analyzed. To study the impact on learning, the grades obtained in certain learning objectives or practical skills by students who have used the virtual platforms were compared with the grades of students who have not used these platforms in previous academic years.

To get data related to the student´s perception after the implementation of these platforms, students were asked through Blackboard to respond individually to an anonymous questionnaire of 14 Likert-type questions. The questions were divided into two different blocks; the first block of indicators refers to the learning process with the use of platforms and the second block refers to satisfaction with the use of the platform (navigation, language, accessibility to graphical information, and interactive elements). All answers were scored 1 to 5 (first block: 1 completely disagree and 5 completely agree and second block: 1: totally unsatisfied and 5: completely satisfied). To collect data related to teacher’s perception of these platforms, teachers were asked to respond to an anonymous questionnaire of 6 Likert-type questions. A total of 796 student questionnaires and 89 teacher questionnaires were analyzed in this study.

The results of the study showed that 78% of students were agree or totally agree with the usefulness of these platforms in their learning process and 80% of students are satisfied or completely satisfied with the experience. Comparing the overall satisfaction and the usefulness of the platforms for learning, significant differences were observed between students of different degrees. The lowest satisfaction results belong to students of the degree in Dentistry (59% agree or totally agree) vs students of other degrees (96%-75% agree or totally agree).

Regarding the teacher's perception, 79% were agree or completely agree with the use of virtual platforms. Data also revealed that asked teachers agree on the usefulness of these tools to reinforce students´ learning but they do not recommend its use as a replacement to face-to-face sessions in the laboratory because it can not ensure the acquisition of laboratory skills.

Keywords:

Virtual laboratories, virtual simulation platforms, Undergraduate learning, perception, impact on learning.