Using Labster to improve Bioscience student learning and engagement in practical classes

Background: Virtual laboratory simulations can be used to provide students with an introduction to the laboratories; further they allow students to have safe and 24 h access to learn laboratories skills. The Labster simulations contain theoretical questions which must be correctly answered before the user can progress to the next stage. Further supplementary theory is available throughout the simulation. Following pilot studies last year; we now report on 2 cohorts of students who used the Labster simulations within core modules. We have used thes Labster simulations in a core level 4 Biochemistry module (207 students used out of 350 on the module) and level 5 Molecular Biology and Genetics module (26 students of 68 registered on the module copleted a survey). Students completed surveys with Likert type responses to determine how the students felt that the virtual simulations had enhanced their theoretical knowledge and prepared them for practical classes. Future work: Labster simulations have been favourably reported on by students in both level 4 and 5. However a challenge remains to encourage all students to complete the simulations. Participation was greater in the level 4 module where the Labster Learning Outcomes aligned more closely to the module Learning Outcomes

Addressing the challenges of delivering a laboratory class when students are miles away

Background: The global Covid-19 pandemic instigated many challenges for Higher Education teaching, especially for Life Science students who need learn a range of laboratory techniques and gain psychomotor skills as part of their degree course. These laboratory-based skills are required by professional bodies and bioscience employers. Even before the pandemic it had been observed that the student laboratory experience could be impeded by several factors, including but not limited to; cost of specialized equipment; time available; scheduled access hours; student numbers and requirement for group work. Outline: During the pandemic on-site laboratory sessions were dramatically changed to allow social distancing; risk assessments reduced both the capacity and time available for laboratory use to enable rigorous cleaning between classes. These new conditions refocused the laboratory scenarios to allow cross-module and degree course relevance. Emphasis for on-site attendance was always placed upon feeling safe, so that no student felt pressured to attend the University, also it was recognized that many students might have returned to families during the pandemic either in the UK or overseas. Therefore, laboratory teaching was filmed with SMOTs™ cameras, which allow close-up filming from multiple angles, and live streamed to students watching from home who could participate remotely through chat threads. To prepare students for on-site or live-streamed laboratory sessions, completion of relevant virtual laboratory simulations was required. During the laboratory classes supplementary virtual laboratory simulations, quizzes, videos, and relevant background information, provided via the VLE, was deployed. The laboratory sessions were directly followed with tutorials either on-site or online.Methodology: Students experiences of these sessions were collected via Likert type surveys which included free text responses and VLE login attendance data. Academic staff viewpoints were obtained via reflective in-progress feedback on the sessions and follow-up questions. Preliminary findings: Students who did not wish to travel to the University, valued the opportunity to attend live-streamed practical sessions appreciating the chance to engage with questions, comments, and requests. The quality of infrastructure is critical for a good experience (multiple camera set-up and internet) for both students and teaching staff, together with trained camera operators. Critical reflections from staff revealed the importance of having an academic staff member focused on the online attendees whilst another colleague attended to students physically present; this was pertinent to both the laboratory and subsequent tutorial. Reflections Making Connections, Innovating and Sharing Pedagogy21 on the live-stream recordings revealed dead-time and sessions were adapted to include online activities (short virtual laboratory technique simulations, videos, quizzes) to reduce drop-out of on-line students.Summary: Covid-19 has impacted on-site laboratory teaching sessions, paradoxically it has forced a greater focus on what is taught, allowing more explicit linkage of subjects across modules and degree courses. Collaborating with NHS biomedical scientists has enabled employers to be introduced during the breakout tutorials enhancing student awareness of real-world scenarios, broader employment and graduate requirements. Moreover, adapting laboratory teaching for students simultaneously online and on-site has allowed greater accessibility for student learning and engagement

Evaluating the benefits of virtual training for bioscience students

Virtual laboratory simulations are commercially available to train students; these creative resources are available to complete remotely without traditional time and safety restrictions of laboratory-based practical classes. We introduced a Health and Safety virtual laboratory simulation to a core large first-year science module. Having surveyed students using a combination of Likert-type responses, multiple answer questions and free text responses, students reported that it had increased understanding and knowledge. Additionally, students reported that the laboratory simulation was motivating and had increased confidence for actual practical classes. We also surveyed students one year after completing the simulation finding a similar pattern of responses; the simulation had been useful, increasing confidence and knowledge about Health and Safety. Our data show that the virtual laboratory simulation improved student understanding and was still perceived to have been useful one year after completion, providing evidence of a longer term impact of the simulation on student learning

New ways of working in School of Life Sciences

New ways of working in School of Life Sciences Caroline Smith and Sarah Coleman (School of Life Sciences) In this presentation, we will present staff and student views of synchronous online and onsite teaching, and whether this mode has proved more inclusive and sustainable. From initial surveys, the online teaching had been welcomed because it had enabled a more flexible timetable. However, with the fully online learning, the sense of community had diminished and resulted in limited access to specialist resources. Based on these findings, a new timetable has been launched which includes both on-site and online teaching. We will present the findings of staff and student experiences of this new delivery and will also discuss some of the barriers which have been encountered

Using virtual reality laboratories to improve engagement and understanding for wet laboratory practical sessions

University of Westminster has a large entry intake into its various Bioscience degree pathways. Incoming students have a wide range of entry qualifications and laboratory experience. Practical sessions are expensive and take time and often require students to work in groups. Further, many current cutting edge biological techniques are often too time consuming or too expensive to run as a large scale taught practical session. To try to improve student confidence and engagement in actual practical classes we have made a range of virtual laboratory simulations available to the students. Thus, the virtual laboratory is used to provide context and as an alternative learning experience to the theory taught in class. The aim of this study is to evaluate if such virtual simulations promote student learning; and whether the rationale for academic staff deployment of such resources align with student reasons for utilizing. Virtual laboratory simulations have been embedded into a number of foundation, undergraduate and post-graduate modules, for both formative and summative assessment. Students self-reported that the simulations improved understanding through survey responses. We report how this questionnaire data is enriched with qualitative data from small group interviews from students, these have focused on on student engagement and whether these virtual laboratory simulations have enhanced learning. Moreover, we examine the student reasons for engaging with, or not, such resources

Employer and work-based student perceptions of virtual laboratory teaching and assessment resources

Training in laboratory competency is an important part of biomedical student skill acquisition in preparation for both the workplace and accreditation. Virtual laboratory simulations are currently used in core modules at University of Westminster to prepare biomedical science students for laboratory sessions. These simulations are used for formative and summative assessment and incorporate questions on theoretical aspects, in addition to simulating laboratory techniques. Whilst analysis has been carried out on student learning with virtual laboratory simulations, the impact of these on work-based students and the opinions of employers has not been evaluated.Students undertaking core first year modules include part-time attendance work-based students and part-time distance learners, who are mostly employed in diagnostic laboratory settings. Part-time work-based students and distance learners often need to be more efficient and maximise their use of available study time than their full-time student peers. The aim of this study was to collect the views of the work-based students and their employers on these virtual laboratory simulations through semi-structured interviews to evaluate the effectiveness of these teaching tools for work-based students. This report presents the comments of part-time students, distance learners and employers relating to the use of virtual laboratory simulations highlighting key similarities and differences. The consensus is that use of the virtual laboratory is helpful and can supplement but not replace practical classes and employer-led training. At present there is no appetite amongst employers to use these simulations to replace competency testing. Whilst virtual laboratory simulations are recognised to have benefits, there are caveats related to both cost/ benefit and to how they should be deployed

Selective binding of synapse-associated protein 97 to GluR-A alpha-amino-5-hydroxy-3-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate receptor subunit is determined by a novel sequence motif.

A family of four closely related PDZ domain-containing membrane-associated guanylate kinase homologues (MAGUKs) is involved in the regulation of the amount and functional state of ionotropic glutamate receptors in excitatory synapses. To understand the mechanisms that determine the specificity of these interactions, we examined the structural basis of the highly selective association between the ionotropic GluR subunit GluR-A and synapse-associated protein 97 (SAP97). The C terminus of GluR-A bound to the PDZ domains of SAP97, but not to those of three related MAGUKs, PSD-93, PSD-95, and SAP102. Experiments with single PDZ domains indicated that the strongest contribution was by the second PDZ domain. Unexpectedly, mutation analysis of the GluR-A C terminus revealed that a tripeptide sequence SSG at position −9 to −11 plays an essential role in this binding, in addition to a C-terminal type I PDZ binding motif (leucine at C terminus and threonine at the −2 position). Analysis of the in vitroMAGUK-binding properties of a GluR-D mutant with a one-residue deletion at the C terminus provides further support for the view that an SSG sequence located N-terminally from a type I PDZ binding motif can mediate selective binding to SAP97 and suggest the existence of a novel variation of the PDZ domain-peptide interaction

Dynamic visualization of membrane-inserted fraction of pHluorin-tagged channels using repetitive acidification technique.

Background Changes in neuronal excitability, synaptic efficacy and generally in cell signaling often result from insertion of key molecules into plasma membrane (PM). Many of the techniques used for monitoring PM insertion lack either spatial or temporal resolution. Results We improved the imaging method based on time-lapse total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy and pHluorin tagging by supplementing it with a repetitive extracellular acidification protocol. We illustrate the applicability of this method by showing that brief activation of NMDA receptors ("chemical LTP") in cultured hippocampal neurons induced a persistent PM insertion of glutamate receptors containing the pHluorin-tagged GluR-A(flip) subunits. Conclusion The repetitive acidification technique provides a more accurate way of monitoring the PM-inserted fraction of fluorescently tagged molecules and offers a good temporal and spatial resolution

Cysteine 893 is a target of regulatory thiol modifications of GluA1 AMPA receptors

Recent studies indicate that glutamatergic signaling involves, and is regulated by, thiol modifying and redox-active compounds. In this study, we examined the role of a reactive cysteine residue, Cys-893, in the cytosolic C-terminal tail of GluA1 AMPA receptor as a potential regulatory target. Elimination of the thiol function by substitution of serine for Cys-893 led to increased steady-state expression level and strongly reduced interaction with SAP97, a major cytosolic interaction partner of GluA1 C-terminus. Moreover, we found that of the three cysteine residues in GluA1 C-terminal tail, Cys-893 is the predominant target for Snitrosylation induced by exogenous nitric oxide donors in cultured cells and lysates. Co-precipitation experiments provided evidence for native association of SAP97 with neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and for the potential coupling of Ca2+- permeable GluA1 receptors with nNOS via SAP97. Our results show that Cys-893 can serve as a molecular target for regulatory thiol modifications of GluA1 receptors, including the effects of nitric oxide.Peer reviewe

Developmental switch in the kinase dependency of long-term potentiation depends on expression of GluA4 subunit-containing AMPA receptors

Peer reviewe