Dundalk IT Virtual Laboratories team hosts celebration of project success

The Dundalk IT Virtual Laboratories team recently hosted a capstone event at the Gateway Hotel, celebrating 4 years of project success in bringing digital learning tools to DkIT science students. In collaboration with students and Enterprise partners in the Biopharmaceutical and Pharmaceutical sectors, the virtual laboratory team has brought virtual lab resources to more than 600 undergraduate students since 2021. In attendance were the members of the DkIT Virtual Laboratories team, DkIT academic and administrative staff that supported the project, School Management, Enterprise partners from WuXi Biologics, Almac and NIBRT, EdTech partners Labster and academic collaborators from Maynooth University and TUS.

The event was hosted at the Gateway Hotel on April 10th, and featured talks from the project co-leads Dr. Bernard Drumm and Dr. Ronan Bree, who highlighted the importance of practical laboratory skills to the employability of DkIT students and how the Virtual Laboratories project originated with a view to enhancing student success.

Dr. Drumm commented “As our Enterprise partners in the room know well, the reason our science students are so employable is because of the level of practical skills they obtain during their studies. We don’t teach students about science, we teach students how to DO science. Our project sought to determine if virtual lab tools, such as simulations, digital notebooks and videos could further enhance these skills.”

Dr. Sinead Loughran, Enterprise Liaison on the project, noted how the team had organised 18 Enterprise-Student events over the course of the project, leading to tangible benefits for both Enterprise partners and students, with many students using lessons from virtual labs to help them in their entry to the workplace. Dr. Bridget Kelly, Student Liaison introduced two 3rd year Science student who spoke about their first-hand experience using the virtual lab tools provided by the team, highlighting the potential benefits and limitations of their use. 

This was exemplified by Dr. Caoimhin Griffin who presented the key data from the teams recent published data from the project. Dr. Griffin drew on years of data collection and analysis from survey and focus group analysis of hundreds of students over multiple disciplines since the study began. Dr. Griffins’ analysis demonstrated that DkIT students felt using virtual labs as pre-lab exercises boosted their confidence in face-to-face practicals and provided valuable flexibility to revisit important concepts and techniques in a safe, non-time limited manner. However, students emphasised the primary focus of practical classes should remain on face-to-face teaching, with the value of peer-learning, instructor guidance and feedback being essential elements for mastering skills in science laboratories. Find out more about the study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39887303/

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Dr. Drumm (co-academic lead) commented on the event: “This celebration is the culmination of nearly 5 years of work by the Virtual Laboratories team. None of this would be possible without our academic teams collective efforts and endless support from IT, administrative staff and School / Departmental management, Together, we have taken a student-centred, evidence based approach to evaluate the potential use of virtual lab tools to enhance practical lab skills in our DkIT students. Our students that spoke so eloquently at this event, show better than anyone that virtual labs can complement but should not replace in person laboratory instruction. The connections we have made with Enterprise, the lessons we have learned as educators and our published data on the use of digital tools will have lasting impact beyond the current scope of this project, and will inform our use of digital learning tools far into the future.”