Virtual Laboratories in Biotechnology are Significant Educational Informatics Tools

With recent advances in information and communication technologies (ICT), visual perception of knowledge has been crucial in education system. In developing nations, such as India, Government has added initiatives for improving the quality of education, by providing computer-based education to geographically constrained and economically challenged areas, at a minimal cost. For augmenting laboratory training, a national mission project, Virtual laboratories, was launched by India's Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)'s National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NME-ICT). Through user-interactive animations, mathematical simulations and remote experiments, over 360+ experiments for more than 30 topics, web-based labs were developed and deployed in science and engineering discipline for usage by student-teacher communities. Using pedagogical aspects, this paper reviews the impact of virtual laboratories as an adaptive learning tool and its role in knowledge transfer in a blended classroom environment using cell biology and molecular biology virtual tools. Studies indicate the use of ICT-based virtual lab repository in complementing laboratory skillset and as teaching tools for disseminating online education via Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

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