Publication

Abstract : To augment laboratory education quality, India’s Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)’s National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NME-ICT) launched virtual laboratories project to enhance university and college practical skills. Online labs aim to provide an advanced training environment for teachers and students for solving some of the geographical, social, and economic challenges faced by science and technology education, especially in India. As a vision to provide sustainable laboratory skill education,virtual labs were developed and deployedas a supplementary e-learning material. Pedagogical studies were carried out among teachers and students of various universities from urban and rural areas of India, and indirect data were collected from online users. This paper reports on how virtual labs were perceived in improving teaching and learning experiences for providing a better education beyond the limits of a physical laboratory setting. Paper analysed effectiveness of virtual labs in comparison to traditional labs and analysing its role in providing equity in education (bridging the urban and rural gap in education). Direct and indirect feedback indicated both teachers and students, especially from geographically remote institutes, employed virtual labs education in the role of laboratory skills via simulations and animations. With appropriate design incorporates, the ICT-based labs can augment student’s performance in blended education and reduce teaching time.