Creating innovative pedagogical materials for the development and deployment of virtual labs for multidisciplinary higher education courses in hybrid learning environments - Sponsored by ALGETEC | IFE Living Lab and Data Hub

Creating innovative pedagogical materials for the development and deployment of virtual labs for multidisciplinary higher education courses in hybrid learning environments - Sponsored by ALGETEC

Laboratory education plays a vital role in the education of our students (Sheppard et al., 2008). Beyond concepts and principles, laboratories help students develop essential professional skills such as problem-solving, designing, and troubleshooting (Feisel & Rosa, 2005; Wankat & Oreovicz, 2015). However, the use of laboratories in education may be limited by a series of factors, including the cost of equipment, time, and infrastructure, among others (Abdulwahed & Nagy, 2014; Achumba et al., 2013; Bhargava et al., 2006; Magana & Coutinho, 2017). To reduce the consequences of such limitations, educators are constantly looking for emerging technologies that make the lab more inclusive, creative, and effective. Among these technologies, virtual laboratories are becoming very popular in engineering and science education(Potkonjak et al., 2016).

The literature mentions several advantages of virtual labs compared to traditional hands-on labs(de Jong et al., 2013; Heradio et al., 2016). First, virtual labs usually require lower investment and fewer resources. Second, virtual labs can be accessed remotely. Third, virtual labs foster students’ learning of concepts and principles through simulations and representations of abstract phenomena. Finally, virtual labs are usually flexible and allow students to change the values of the different variables and explore the experimental results faster than hands-on or remote experimentation. A common critique regarding the use of virtual labs refers to the use of idealized data that usually does not reflect the uncertainties and nuances of the real world. Also, these labs generally lack the sense of reality necessary to immerse students in more authentic experiences.

Furthermore, many virtual labs focus on developing students’ conceptual understanding of a particular phenomenon or theory (Hawkins & Phelps, 2013; Kollöffel & de Jong, 2013; Tatli & Ayas, 2013; Zacharia, 2007). In most cases, characteristics associated with the equipment, the setup, the environment, and experimental procedures are neglected. This approach is appropriated in most science-based courses and usually results in equivalent learning gains compared to traditional hands-on labs. However, such an approach might hinder the development of essential skills associated with labs in engineering education. Among these skills, one might cite communication and collaboration, safety, designing experiments, and learning from failure.

Nowadays, fueled by the pandemic of COVID-19, virtual labs seem to be pervasive within all levels of education (Glassey & Magalhães, 2020). Thanks to the use of virtual labs, many institutions were able to deliver quality education, even facing the terrible consequences of the pandemic (Ray & Srivastava, 2020). However, while the use of virtual labs now sees no limit in terms of applicability and usability, it seems that a great effort must be made to create new labs, more realistic and able to develop different skills other than conceptual understanding. Also, it is essential to explore pedagogical approaches more contextualized with virtual labs. In addition, more research must be done towards measuring the learning efficiency of such virtual labs, identifying opportunities, and indicating trends for future research.

This call for proposals aims to bestow shared intellectual property (5% royalties per selected proposal to Tecnológico de Monterrey) for the creation of innovative pedagogical materials, in order to develop and implement new virtual laboratories to be hosted at ALGETEC, a virtual labs platform available to educational institutions world-wide. Therefore, we invite fellow researchers and professors to submit a proposal that translates in-person laboratory practices into innovative virtual labs, thus promoting the enrichment of the teaching/learning process for multiple fields of study (e.g. STEM, Architecture and Design, Health-care, Social Sciences).

The call will take place in three stages: (1) Pedagogical materials development, (2) Implementation of new virtual labs at ALGETEC, (3) Pilot study to experiment with the new virtual labs. Therefore, the submitted proposals outcomes must result in the submission of a research paper in a high-indexed journal.

Objectives: (1) Create innovative pedagogical materials for the development and deployment of new virtual labs at ALGETEC. (2) Conduct a pilot study to experiment with, and validate the newly developed virtual labs in Tecnológico de Monterrey.

We are calling for proposals addressing (but not limited to) one or several of the following topics:

Developing pedagogical materials for laboratory practices that are difficult to reproduce in physical environments due to the requirement of specialized instrumentation.
Developing pedagogical materials for laboratory practices that are costly to reproduce multiple times in physical environments.
Developing pedagogical materials for innovative and disruptive virtual laboratory practices with traditional laboratory instrumentation.
Developing pedagogical materials for virtual laboratory practices that could be used for particular certifications or competency assessments.

Keywords: Virtual Laboratories, Educational Innovation, Pedagogical Development, Co-creation, EdTechs, Living Lab

Abdulwahed, M., & Nagy, Z. K. (2014). The impact of different preparation modes on enhancing the undergraduate process control engineering laboratory: A comparative study. Computer Applications in Engineering Education, 22(1), 110–119. https://doi.org/10.1002/cae.20536

Achumba, I. E., Azzi, D., Dunn, V. L., & Chukwudebe, G. A. (2013). Intelligent performance assessment of students’ laboratory work in a virtual electronic laboratory environment. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, 6(2), 103–116. https://doi.org/10.1109/TLT.2013.1

Bhargava, P., Antonakakis, J., Cunningham, C., & Zehnder, A. T. (2006). Web-based virtual torsion laboratory. Computer Applications in Engineering Education, 14(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1002/cae.20061

de Jong, T., Linn, M. C., & Zacharia, Z. C. (2013). Physical and virtual laboratories in science and engineering education. Science, 340(April), 305–308.

Feisel, L. D., & Rosa, A. J. (2005). The Role of the Laboratory in Undergraduate Engineering Education. Journal of Engineering Education, 94(1), 121–130. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2168-9830.2005.tb00833.x

Glassey, J., & Magalhães, F. D. (2020). Virtual labs - love them or hate them, they are likely to be used more in the future. Education for Chemical Engineers, 33(January).

Hawkins, I., & Phelps, A. J. (2013). Virtual laboratory vs. traditional laboratory: which is more effective for teaching electrochemistry? Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 14, 516–523. https://doi.org/10.1039/c3rp00070b

Heradio, R., De La Torre, L., Galan, D., Cabrerizo, F. J., Herrera-Viedma, E., & Dormido, S. (2016). Virtual and Remote Labs in Education: a Bibliometric Analysis. Computers & Education, 98, 14–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2016.03.010

Kollöffel, B., & de Jong, T. (2013). Conceptual understanding of electrical circuits in secondary vocational engineering education: Combining traditional instruction with inquiry learning in a virtual lab. Journal of Engineering Education, 102(3), 375–393. https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20022

Magana, A. J., & Coutinho, G. S. (2017). Modeling and simulation practices for a computational thinking-enabled engineering workforce. Computer Applications in Engineering Education, 25(1), 62–78. https://doi.org/10.1002/cae.21779

Potkonjak, V., Gardner, M., Callaghan, V., Mattila, P., Guetl, C., Petrović, V. M., & Jovanović, K. (2016). Virtual Laboratories for Education in Science, Technology, and Engineering: a Review. Computers & Education, 95, 309–327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2016.02.002

Ray, S., & Srivastava, S. (2020). Virtualization of science education: a lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Proteins and Proteomics, 11(2), 77–80. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42485-020-00038-7

Sheppard, S.D., Macatangay, K., Colby, A., & Sullivan, W.M. (2008). Educating Engineers: Designing for the Future of the Field. Jossey-Bass.

Tatli, Z., & Ayas, A. (2013). Effect of a Virtual Chemistry Laboratory on Students’ Achievement. Educational Technology & Society, 16(1), 159–170. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1016363&site=ehost-live

Wankat, P. C., & Oreovicz, F. S. (2015). Teaching engineering (2nd ed.). Purdue University Press.

Zacharia, Z. C. (2007). Comparing and combining real and virtual experimentation: An effort to enhance students’ conceptual understanding of electric circuits. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 23(2), 120–132. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2006.00215.x

Virtual Labs Platform

It all began in 2011, in a garage-like space, when most of the engineering course-related experiments carried out in classrooms in Brazil depended on imported instruments and equipment. Working to develop compact and multidisciplinary laboratories, ALGETEC began producing engineering teaching tables, constantly improving their processes to become a leader in the market. Currently, they offer 85 models of physical laboratories, which are produced in more than a thousand units per year.

In 2018, a growing demand at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering in Purdue University (USA), lead ALGETEC to invest in the development of virtual labs, which was the perfect opportunity to apply their expertise in physical laboratories to develop digital tools for online learning environments.

As of today, the company that started with two college professors, offers a portfolio with more than 700 virtual labs, and launches between 25 and 30 new experiments each month, for teaching Natural Sciences, Health Sciences, Engineering and Humanities.

ALGETEC is the only company in the world that manufactures physical laboratories and develops virtual labs, impacting more than 600 thousand students and collaborating with more than 250 public and private educational institutions in Latin America, North America and Africa.

ALGETEC’s philosophy is centered in promoting a better learning experience by developing virtual labs that closely resemble real laboratory practices. Therefore, all the data used in their virtual labs, is collected from performing real experiments in physical laboratories. This means that a student can perform a virtual experiment with extreme precision in measurements and operations, including the reproduction of possible errors during practice.

The main advantage from using virtual labs is that students are in a safe environment, therefore allowing them to make mistakes without any risks. Furthermore, students can repeat the experiments as many times as necessary, within the Learning Management System (LMS) of their educational institution, and at any time they require.

Overall, a virtual lab works as a complement of the physical laboratory. Students can initially learn the procedures in a digital environment, to later test and develop their manual skills in a real environment.

Key subjects on the platform: Health-care, Natural Sciences, Engineering, Architecture, Arts.

To learn more about ALGETEC, go to: Algetec - Virtual Labs

To access ALGETEC’s virtual lab portfolio go to: Virtual Labs Portfolio

To view ALGETEC’s seminar at the IFE LL&DH go to:
Virtual Labs as a pedagogical tool for a modern and high-quality higher education: the case of Algetec, a Brazilian edtech (May 13, 2022)

Advisory Board

For this call for proposals on virtual laboratories pedagogical development, the IFE Living Lab & Data Hub team counts on the valuable expertise of five academic advisors from Brazil, USA, and Mexico.

Important Dates

July 05, 2022: Call for proposals launch
July 21, 2022 12:00PM (GMT-6): Q&A session [V iew Presentation] [View Session Recording].
August 08, 2022 23:59 (GMT-6): Extended abstract submission deadline
August 22, 2022 23:59 (GMT-6): Full proposal submission deadline
August 23 - September 08, 2022: Evaluation of submitted proposals
September 09, 2022: Notification of accepted proposals and definition of deliverables
September - December, 2022: Mentoring sessions (Scheduled independently)
September 19, 2022 - January 6, 2023: Accepted proposals development
January 09, 2023: Presentation of proposal deliverables to ALGETEC - IFE LL&DH
January 16-18, 2023: Presentation of proposal outcomes at the 9th International Conference on Educational Innovation (CIIE-2023)

January 10 - May 31, 2023: Implementation of selected proposals virtual labs.

June 01 - October 31, 2023: Implemented virtual labs pilot study and analysis
November 31, 2023: Submission of proposal outcomes in a high indexed journal
December 31, 2023: First delivery of royalties from implemented virtual labs

Submission Process

We encourage you to send your files in PDF format.
The extended abstract must be a one page description of the proposal [abstract template], including the main objectives, the proposed virtual lab explanation and justification, as well as the methodologies and procedures to be followed for the development of pedagogical materials.
The full proposal must use the template provided by the IFE Living Lab & Data Hub for this call [obtain it here].
Extended abstracts and proposals will be managed by correspondence to ife.livinglab@servicios.tec.mx.

Assessment Guidelines

The research proposal document must follow the structure defined by the IFE Living Lab & Data Hub.
We recommend proposing the development of pedagogic materials to implement new and innovative virtual labs at ALGETEC. Thus we encourage you to study ALGETEC’s current virtual labs portfolio to avoid proposing already existing labs (Virtual Labs Portfolio).
ALGETEC will provide an existing virtual lab’s pedagogic materials to serve as an example for your proposal’s development.
Participants will be required to design the theoretical, instructional, and evaluation materials (practices) that would be required for the proposed virtual lab to operate, as well as to specify the real devices and tools that would be necessary for its deployment.

We encourage you to form multidisciplinary teams so that your developed pedagogical materials can be thoroughly justified and validated.
The IFE Living Lab & Data Hub will coordinate and schedule co-creation activities, such as mentoring sessions and interviews, thus ensuring that the selected proposals timeline is being followed throughout the call.
Selected proposal members will gain full-access (free licensing) to ALGETEC’s virtual labs platform (i.e. current existing labs) for two years. Thus providing them with additional tools for course design and instruction.
The advisory board will act as mentors for the best-evaluated proposals throughout this stage.
The resulting pedagogical materials will be presented to ALGETEC in december 2022, thus allowing them to implement and deploy the new virtual labs in their platform during the first half of 2023.
Selected proposals will be asked to sign an agreement that complies with the call’s objectives, as well as to be able to receive the incentives and shared intellectual property after presenting the proposal’s outcomes to ALGETEC and the IFE Living Lab & Data Hub.
Tecnológico de Monterrey and ALGETEC will share intellectual property of the deployed virtual labs that derive from this call. Thus, resulting in a periodical delivery of royalties (5% from each new virtual lab) depending on the usage of the jointly developed virtual labs from ALGETEC subscribers world-wide (i.e. from external institutions).
Selected proposal members will have full life-time access to the virtual lab resulting from their participation.
Participants are requested to include the following legend in the acknowledgments of the publications, presentations, and technical reports that result from this stage: The authors would like to acknowledge the Living Lab & Data Hub of the Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico, for their support and guidance throughout the Call "Creating innovative pedagogical materials for the development and deployment of virtual labs for multidisciplinary higher education courses in hybrid learning environments", which made the production of this work possible.

Selected proposals will be asked to conduct a pilot study to test and experiment with the virtual labs derived from their developed pedagogical materials. This will be carried out as soon as ALGETEC deploys the newly created virtual labs in their platform.
The results and outcomes from the pilot study, as well as from the pedagogical development stage, must be documented in the form of an article according to the guidelines of the selected journal. A list of suggested journals for submission will be provided by the IFE Living Lab & Data Hub. The resulting article must be sent in PDF format to ife.livinglab@servicios.tec.mx.
Participants are requested to include the following legend in the acknowledgments of the publications, presentations, and technical reports that result from this stage: The authors would like to acknowledge the Living Lab & Data Hub of the Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico, for their support and guidance throughout the Call "Creating innovative pedagogical materials for the development and deployment of virtual labs for multidisciplinary higher education courses in hybrid learning environments", which made the production of this work possible.
In case the article cannot be submitted to the suggested journals, please send a letter to ife.livinglab@servicios.tec.mx with an explanation of the reasons and the intention to publish it in another high-impact Journal (Q1/Q2).

Further information

For any further questions or comments regarding this call for proposals, feel free to contact us via the following emails:

Dr. Luis F. Morán-Mirabal, IFE Living Lab and Call Coordinator, lmoran@tec.mx
Dr. Héctor G. Ceballos, Director of the IFE Living Lab & Data Hub, ceballos@tec.mx