You know better than anyone how challenging it can be to find high quality virtual labs that actually help your students develop the practical skills and knowledge they need for advanced coursework.
But what if you had virtual genetics labs purpose built for the discipline, designed specifically to help your pre-health, biology, and nursing majors meet your course objectives, competencies, and gain the skills needed to pursue careers in their respective fields? It would mean you no longer have to pull curriculum from other disciplines or spend your valuable time developing these learning activities on your own. It also means you have more time for feedback and deeper analysis, and your students have more opportunities to apply their skills—the higher impact practices that build critical thinking and problem solving skills as well as fuel student growth.
A Virtual Genetics Lab that Better Prepares Health Science Majors
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this hard anymore!
Not surprisingly, student demand continues to increase for online options. In fact, last year, institutions reported a 36% growth in fully online programs and 20% growth in hybrid programs, which makes sense when 77% of students say they decide on the online modality before any other factor, such as school or program.
Now consider how important pre-health science, biology, and nursing is to the future of our population. Expanding access to science education in the field of genetics through more on-campus, hybrid, blended learning or fully online learning experiences might just be one of the most powerful opportunities we have! Doing so not only expands access but you have a chance to grow enrollment in these important disciplines.
With the highest quality curriculum developed by PhD scientists, you can use our virtual genetics labs to:
- Improve skill building: Help students build practical skills applicable to careers in health sciences, regardless of where they’re learning from
- Increase readiness with pre-labs: Reinforce critical concepts and prepare students before in-person labs in a low stakes environment
- Enrich the learning experience: Supplement with other hands-on lessons in biomolecular techniques, mitosis and meiosis, Mendelian genetics, blood analysis, DNA extraction lab & more
- Balance costs and increase accessibility: Expand access to the field, keep costs reasonable, and balance the time spent on campus for hybrid students with convenient, accessible & efficient ways to engage in quality learning experiences
Aligned to learning objectives for 200-level courses and focused on today’s innovative technology in the field of genetics, these labs help students learn fundamental concepts in an interactive way and gain exposure to cutting edge technologies like CRISPR, so they can achieve course competencies and feel confident pursuing advanced coursework.
Putting 3 Virtual Genetics Labs Under the Microscope
To give you an idea of the kinds of virtual genetics labs your students could participate in, we’re highlighting three examples below.
Karyotyping
In this virtual genetics lab, students use a digital interactive to create a karyotype from a set of chromosomes. They then analyze three provided karyotypes for the presence of genetic disease.
Lab Learning Objectives
- Define karyotyping, chromosome, monosomic, and trisomic.
- Explain how karyotyping is used to test for genetic disease.
- Describe human genetic diseases resulting from chromosomal abnormalities.
- Perform karyotyping on a set of chromosomes.
- Analyze a series of karyotypes for potential chromosome disorders.
Population Genetics
In this virtual genetics lab, students use a simulation to model genetic drift of two alleles in a population for 10 generations. Students calculate the expected genetic frequencies for a population at equilibrium and compare the expected values to the observed data.
Lab Learning Objectives
- Define evolution, natural selection, population, and allele.
- Discuss how genetic drift, mutations, and natural selection affect the gene pool of a population.
- Explain how the Hardy-Weinberg equation is used to calculate genetic frequencies.
- Model genetic drift of two alleles over multiple generations.
- Predict genotypic frequencies using the Hardy-Weinberg equation.
- Compare a population at equilibrium to one subjected to natural selection.
Recombinant DNA, CRISPR, and Genetic Engineering
In this virtual genetics lab, students will use a virtual lab bench to create a recombinant plasmid and insert it into a prokaryotic cell. They will also synthesize a gRNA sequence used in CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing.
Lab Learning Objectives
- Discuss genetic engineering applications in food production and medicine.
- Describe how recombinant DNA is produced and utilized in the laboratory.
- Explain how CRISPR techniques are used to edit gene sequences in living organisms.
- Create a recombinant plasmid and insert into a prokaryotic cell using a virtual lab bench.
- Edit a gene sequence in a living cell using CRISPR techniques on a virtual lab bench.
In addition to karyotyping, population genetics, and CRISPR, students can explore labs in:
- DNA, RNA, and Protein Synthesis
- Patterns of Inheritance
- DNA Extraction, Amplification, and Analysis
- DNA Replication, Mitosis and Meiosis
- Phylogenetics
When you use these virtual genetics labs, you have an opportunity to shift labs online in a rigorous and interactive way, while improving access to the discipline and increasing affordability for students. They can also serve to supplement your hands-on learning so students feel more prepared before they set up their lab bench–whether that’s on campus or at home. In fact, blending virtual labs with hands-on can serve many purposes, including helping you reinforce key concepts, providing a low stakes environment for students to repeat experiments, and better preparing students for more advanced coursework in genetics, nursing, biology or other health sciences.
A Better Virtual Genetics Lab Option to Support the Health Sciences
From ensuring quality and rigor to aligning your lab and lecture materials, we know there are a lot of moving parts you have to think about when it comes to your lab courses.
That’s why we make delivering high quality genetics labs easy and engaging! With a 3-phase process that includes research & development, review & testing, and Quality Matters certification, our labs are turnkey ready to help your students acquire the critical knowledge and skills for careers in medical research, engineering, and diagnosing & treating diseases. Quick to implement and no need for large and expensive equipment, you can deliver the kind of lab that helps students gain the knowledge and skills needed to pursue careers in the health sciences.
At the same time, you have the opportunity to expand access to an important discipline that continues to be in high demand while boosting enrollment. With the right partner and a comprehensive approach to shifting science lab courses online, you can be sure you’re giving students the kind of online learning experience that helps them apply concepts to the real world while driving better student outcomes.
Learn more about our genetics labs here
