While Matthew Kirkham was skeptical about virtual labs at first, his mind was changed when he found that students thought they were “useful and engaging” and virtual labs helped him increase students' understanding of the theory behind the labs.

Read on to read more about:

• Student data answering, "Was Labster a good tool to increase understanding of the course content?"
• Kirkham's considerations about how many modules to use and whether to go synchronous or asynchronous
• The ways Labster is used (to enhance theoretical knowledge, expand access to lab experiences, and more!)

Matthew Kirkham at Karolinska Institute, Sweden, started using Labster as part of the undergraduate course he directs in 2020. In 2022, he received course development funding combined with the biomedicine program to increase the number of licenses for lab simulations. Matthew developed a module called Experimental & Methods in Cell Biology within the biomedicine program at Karolinska Institutet. This integrated Labster, course labs, and theory to increase students’ experimental biology skills. 

While Matthew was skeptical about virtual labs at first, his mind was changed when he found that students thought they were “useful and engaging” and virtual labs helped him increase students' understanding of the theory behind the labs. 

Faculty bio: Matthew Kirkham is a Course Director in the Biomedicine Program at Karolinska Institute & Deputy Director of Education at the Cellular Molecular Biology Center (CMB).

Problem to solve: Matthew Kirkham wanted to improve the practical training and understanding of methods and theory in the biomedicine program.

Solution: Chose Labster after asking students how they prefer to learn and observing success with techniques such as Cell Culture.

Labster simulations used:

• Cell Culture Basics: Plate, split and freeze human cells
• Experimental Design
• Western Blot Transfer: Prepare for protein detection
• Fluorescence-automated Cell Sorting (FACS) 
• Regeneration Biology
• Signal Transduction
• Pipetting: Mastering the technique
• Confocal Microscopy

‍

Ways Labster is used:

• To enhance theoretical knowledge: “It is difficult to have course labs to re enforce  all the theoretical lectures, but Labster simulation can help because they combine both practical elements and theory.”
• To expand access to lab experiences: as stand-alone labs when you don’t have access to high-end lab machinery
• As preparation for a real lab, “dress rehearsal “
• To refresh students' knowledge from a previous course or lab

‍

‍Prep for wet labs

“Labster offers a lot to the course, and especially in preparing the students to do the cell culture at the beginning - they all find it much better and they are much more aware of how a lab should work. So if you can find a simulation that works very closely with the lab that you are going to do, it’s a really good way to prep the students.”

Piloted by students

Matthew Kirkham piloted Labster with a subset of students in the summer of 2020 and found that they liked the virtual labs, especially the ones that aligned with the wet labs. For example, they have 3 wet labs related to cell culture that align with Labster’s virtual lab “Cell Culture Basics”. Students really liked this lab.

Kirkham’s considerations

• How many modules: “Is one too little or is ten too much? In the end, I went for 4 modules: 2 mandatory virtual labs and 2 recommended.”
• Synchronous or not: “Should I have everyone in the computer room, doing them altogether, or everyone doing them on their own deadline? I chose to go asynchronous”  

Students were asked if virtual lab simulations are a reasonable way to study biomedicine? Their responses:

• “It did give us useful information on the methods and taught us a lot”
• Over 50% said “It’s good when it’s complementary to physical labs, but I think an important distinction is that they should not replace physical labs”

‍