Virtual Labs-Studios-Shops Do you ever use labs, studios, or shops with your students? Do your labs lack state of the art software? Does your program lack enough studio space to meet student demand? Do have shops with dangerous equipment? Have you ever considered virtual labs, studios, or shops?
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For applied programs, students need spaces with special equipment or software to simulate real industry spaces. For life sciences, this may be a chemistry lab with bunsen burners and test tubes or even a full hospital room, pharmacy, or vet clinic. For fine arts, craft and design, interior design, or architecture, students need studios to create and build their artwork and designs. For performance arts, students need studios and stage rooms to practice acting, singing, and dancing. For the technical trades, students need workshops with specialized equipment to practice using machinery and tools. For some fields like police foundations, students need gymnasium space to practice skills like running and weight training. For many disciplines, students need computer labs with specialized software to practice their applied computing skills. For language arts, students may use computer assisted language labs (CALL) with specialized software for listening and speaking activities.
Variations None.
Examples Use your imagination. What kinds of labs, studios, or shops could your students participate in virtually? What would be an appropriate virtual lab, studio, or shop for your students? Only you know what would be authentic to your field of study, your curriculum, and your students. To get started, consider these ideas: Visual Arts •Dance •Theatre •Song •Musical instrument Health & Community Studies •Child care •Courtroom •Aquarium •Hospital Science & Technology •AutoCAD software •Chemistry experiments •Mathematical modelling 32
•Welding techniques Business Administration •Retail •Restaurant •Medical office •Bank Humanities & Social Sciences •Language software •Creative writing •Archaeology •Astronomy
Merits For most fields, we repeat the same live demonstrations over and over; these are definitely worth capturing for posterity. While a virtual lab, studio, or shop can only supplement the live environment, there are times when a virtual experience is ideal. Practicing in a virtual environment, can improve safety in a live lab, studio, or shop. Being able to preview and review before a live lab, studio, or shop may increase the mastery of skills sought while ensuring access for students studying remotely or those with learning disabilities or language barriers. Finally, solving problems in a virtual space can build a community practice amongst participants. Safety and Sustainability. Although at some point in a program, students may need to do a hands-on lab, virtual labs are cost-effective and safe (Carnevale, 2003). Students can use a virtual lab, studio, or shop to prepare safely for an in-class lab, studio, or shop. Simulations mitigate the risk of burns, cuts, and other bodily harms as well as damage to equipment until students are ready to practice in a real environment. A virtual lab, studio, or shop reduces general supplemental costs of materials. Further, a virtual lab can reduce the need to use animal subjects for experimentation (Carnevale, 2003; Venneman & Knowles, 2005). A virtual lab, studio, or shop may also reduce pollution and environmental stressors associated with burning fuel, firing a kiln, or using metal ores. Accessibility. Virtual labs, studios, and shops meet the any time, any place, any pace, any path need of adult learners who may live in remote areas, have long commutes, caregiver commitments, jobs, and mobility issues. Being able to practice their lab, studio, or shop components at home creates access for students who might not otherwise be able to attend school (CAST, 2012; Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012). As part of the 33
cycle of learning, a virtual lab, studio, or shop can prime a student for in-class activities. Students can preview a demonstration multiple times before practicing in a real lab, studio, or shop. It can assists those with learning disabilities and even English as a Second Language (ESL) learners who may need more time to process the content or the language. Not only can previewing and reviewing the virtual lab, studio, or shop increase safety, but it can also help with the mastery of learning new skills. Community of Practice. In the same way that we capture live demonstrations, students can capture their own demonstrations to submit as an assignment or share in an efair. For example, students can collaboratively record music with Apple GarageBand or JamStudio. Students can do theoretical applications online with each other, their professors, or community partners, before coming to campus for lab, studio, or shop. In art education, the online exchange between artists, and possibly the community, may be richer than an inclass or in-person experience, in particular in terms of art critique and closing the digital divide (Chilton, Gerity, LaVorgna, & MacMichael, 2009; Heidi, 2011). Such experiences and artefacts would complement an eportfolio entry as well.
Challenges We can create a very simple virtual lab, studio, or shop with simple video recording equipment or a very complex simulation using sophisticated software. However, even the most elaborate virtual reality cannot entirely replace the live environment. Virtual worlds still lack sensory information such as smell, taste, and touch. While virtual labs, studios, and shops, may increase safety and decrease costs, eventually students must practice in a real world environment to be job ready. We can supplement virtual labs, studios, and shops with in-class practice and off-campus opportunities. Authentic. At some point in a program, students will need to demonstrate their skills in a live environment with real subjects or materials, possibly in front of real examiners. In addition to virtual software and take-home web lab kits, students may need to come to campus for a supervised wet lab or use another supervised lab at an approved test centre. For the trades, students may need to demonstrate their skill in front of an examiner, for example, welders must demonstrate their weld to receive their ticket. Work integrated learning such as field placements, internships, practicums, and co-operative (co-op) education, all offset this need to practice skills, competencies, and benchmarks in a real live environment beyond a virtual lab, studio, or shop.
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Sensory. A virtual lab, studio, or shop lacks some of the sensory experiences of a real live class. For example, we cannot smell, touch, or taste in the virtual environment. On the other hand, students can replay a virtual demonstration for sight and sound as often as they wish. They can also slow down the speed or pause the demonstration as needed. Again, we can supplement the virtual preparatory experiences with live labs, studios, and shops on and off campus.
Instructional Design Use a backwards design approach. First, start with your learning outcomes. Second, create your assessments. Third, plan your instructional activities. Finally, choose a technology to enhance the lesson. Design. Consider your curriculum; look carefully at your accreditation standards, graduate attributes, program learning outcomes, course learning outcomes, and lesson learning outcomes. Will a virtual lab, studio, or shop fulfill the learning outcomes? How will you prepare students to participate in a virtual lab, studio, or shop? What technologies will you and your students need to learn in order to complete a virtual lab, studio, or shop? Will a virtual lab, studio, or shop enhance the learning experience? Develop. Browse the Internet for sponsored or hosted virtual labs, studios, or shops in your field. McGraw-Hill has bioscience labs like frog dissection software. Pearson Education has labs like MyVirtualChild and Mastering Biology Virtual Labs. In addition to the leading textbook providers in higher education, there are dozens of organizations that provide virtual labs such as NASA and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Biointeractive content. There is also virtual reality training like the VRTEX Virtual Reality Arc Welding Trainer by Lincoln Electric. Create your own virtual lab, studio, or shop. Using simple video camera equipment, you can capture a live demonstration of a lab, studio, or shop to post in the learning management system (LMS) for preview and review. With screencast software, you can capture a live demonstration of how to use computer software, process manual calculations, or make drawings. Consider adding your own bumpers for branding and even hosting a YouTube channel with all of your demonstration videos. With more complex simulation software, you can even create a computerized simulation game or app. Deliver. Decide what students will do before, during, and after the virtual lab, studio, or shop. Before the lab, studio, or shop, students might read an article, listen to a podcast, or watch a video. During the live lab, studio, or shop, students complete their task or exercise. 35
After the live lab, studio, or shop, students might present their solution or creation through a paper, presentation, or podcast. The virtual lab, studio, or shop should be authentic, active, and applied.
Technology There are many ways to capture a live demonstration of a lab, studio, or shop work. You can record a demonstration using simple built-in video cameras on mobile devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptops or higher end video cameras and tripods. Swivel cameras will follow your movements. Ideally, save your video as an MP3 file to upload to the learning management system (LMS); to a YouTube, Vimeo, or iTunes channel; or to social media blogs like like Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. If you have found a sponsored demonstration hosted on YouTube or another website, you can embed that video in the LMS. For a sponsored textbook lab, studio, or shop, you might also be able to embed this into the LMS. Encourage your students to capture their own demonstrations and share in an efair or eportfolio.
References
Carnevale, D. (2003). The virtual lab experiment. Chronicle of Higher Education, 49(21), p.A30-32. Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST). (2012). Universal Design for Learning. Retrieved from http://www.cast.org/index.html Chilton, G., Gerity, L., LaVorgna-Smith, M., & MacMichael, H.N. (2009). An online art exchange group: 14 secrets for a happy artist’s life. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 26(2), p.66-72. Heidi, M. (2011). Shifting the curriculum: Decentralization in the art education experience. Art Education, 64(3), p.33-40. Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Venneman, S.S. & Knowles, L. (2005). Sniffing out efficacy: Sniffy Lite, a virtual animal lab. Teaching of Psychology, 32(1), p.66-68. Weinstein, M. (2011). Focus on games & simulations: Trends+technologies+case studies. Training, 48(6), p.51-58.
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Paula Ogg © 2020 Photography by Jonathan Eger