First-person video experiences as a vicarious, virtual alternative to in-person basic science labs

Abstract

Objective The global COVID-19 pandemic required the teaching of basic science instructional laboratories be done in a remote, online format termed emergency remote teaching (ERT). The aims of this study were to: (1) share strategies for ERT of basic science instructional laboratories and (2) assess student perceptions of the experience of virtual demonstrations that were recorded from the first-person perspective of the professor. Methods Laboratories for courses in gross anatomy, neuroanatomy, and clinical microbiology were adapted to ERT by creating videos that allowed the students to view the laboratory activities through the eyes and hands of the faculty. A unique 5-question survey instrument was created to collect students' perceptions of gross anatomy, neuroanatomy, and clinical microbiology virtual lab experiences. Percentage of responses were calculated for 4 close-ended questions. Qualitative content analysis was conducted on the single open-ended question. Two additional close-ended questions were used for assessing perception of gross anatomy labs only. Results Videos of gross anatomy, neuroanatomy, and clinical microbiology laboratory activities mimicked the student experience through the camera lens as labs were performed by faculty members engaged in either dissection, viewing structures or doing experiments, respectively. In all 3 basic science courses, over 70% of students strongly agreed or agreed that the videos created a sense of being in the laboratory. Conclusion Use of video technology allowed faculty to mimic the student experience of being in basic science laboratories, and, importantly, allowed the student to virtually participate in the learning experience.

From Videogames to Teaching — Different Camera Perspectives in an Interactive Synchronous Online Tutorial

“…This is in line with Burnham et al [ 3 ]: “To best mimic the [face-to-face] student experience, camera position presented the first-person perspective of the faculty member with the faculty member’s hands in view” [ 3 , p. 8]. The first-person perspective is very common in video games, as gamers often prefer this perspective to immerse deeper into the game.…”

Instructors and Underrepresented Students in Microbiology: Educational Digital Tool Use, Trends, Perceptions, and Success

“…The identification of digital tools, such as immersive virtual reality (VR) (Wilkerson et al, 2022), virtual simulations (Guzman-Cole et al, 2022Tripepi, 2021), videos of laboratory activities and dissections (Burnham et al, 2023;Jayanth et al, 2022), Researcher Avatar (RA) activity (Galvadon et al, 2022), Storyline 360 interactive lab activities (Sweeney et al, 2022), and at-home microscopes or lab kits (Lionetti et al, 2022;Guzman-Cole et al, 2022), used during the pandemic has been shown to provide adequate and valuable alternatives to in-person lab instruction. Additionally, online labs allow students to work at their own pace in distractionfree learning environments while preserving the educational goals of biology lab courses (Sweeney et al, 2022).…”