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Introduction
The pandemic has forced professors and teachers to educate and instruct online, with various degrees of effectiveness and difficulty. Fortunately, several digital solutions were accessible to facilitate the shift, such as Zoom, Slack, Blackboard Collaborate, or WhatsApp (Wolinsky, 2021). Even while current technology has made remote learning more convenient, it is different from being physically in a classroom. Some educational fields, like biology, requires practical knowledge. Thus, the paper investigates the ways of learning biology in the age of social media and virtual education.
Virtual Education and COVID-19
The coronavirus (COVID-19) spread has caused education to be disrupted in a large number of schools and institutions throughout the world. Gamage et al. (2020) state that a rising number of educational institutions are transforming their teaching, particularly laboratory workshops, into an online or mixed delivery method. Biology program outcomes emphasize the necessity of developing theoretical (content) and practical (processes) components (Gamage et al., 2020). Particular focus is placed on activities teaching students experimental procedures, synthesizing observations, various lifetime and communication skills, and laboratory practices while developing the practical components. Following public health experts’ suggestions to preserve social distance during the COVID-19 epidemic, institutions and colleges were closed (Murphy, 2020). As a result, institutes swiftly adopted e-learning to teach students remotely.
Remote education is effective for knowledge creation by supplying material and overseeing some processes. Gamage et al. (2020) acknowledge that it has limits to improving one’s actual laboratory abilities. For instance, working in a laboratory would expose one to various expensive and intricate apparatus and machinery (Gamage et al., 2020). Nevertheless, functioning in a distant learning mode eliminates crucial hands-on exposure to such facilities and the ability to appreciate the intricacies of being engaged in such an environment.
The Shift from Tradition to Online Delivery: Virtual, Remote, and Video-Based Labs
Biology laboratory sessions are held in actual laboratory settings, which would be impossible during a pandemic like COVID-19. Gamage et al. (2020) note that virtual, remote-control, or video-based labs are viable options when students are not physically present on campus. For instance, simulation technologies and virtual reality are utilized in virtual labs. Remote laboratories enable experimentation through the internet, but video-based activities give an overview of a real lab so that students can visualize the experimental process and its environment via video (Gamage et al., 2020). Opportunities for cooperative learning experiences improve the efficacy of studying, and online laboratories enable students to collaborate as peers (Gamage et al., 2020). Hence, students can bring their combined expertise to solve problems and test and refine their knowledge.
Remote learning works, and an excellent example is a pandemic-fueled reconfiguration of an MIT biology course. Ham (2023) suggests that it resulted in the following stages of globalizing synthetic biology. The course includes working with robots and teaching assistants in the lab, a novel method of creating experiments, and mentorship and cooperation across several time zones (Ham, 2023). Students from six continents enrolled in the MIT program, many of whom had no prior knowledge of molecular biology (Ham, 2023). The curriculum includes a training course on biological fundamentals for those who require it. Nevertheless, the central part is the synthetic biology lab skills students learn each week.
Biology and Social Media
People nowadays use social media to learn about research and communicate with scientists, and it is vital to understand what role social media play in learning biology. Shen (2019) states that social media applications are the primary way of communicating and socializing with coworkers and classmates for modern college students. College students have rapidly joined social media networks, which may be a significant resource for facilitating classroom collaboration (Shen, 2019). They also serve as vital connectors between students and teachers.
Consequently, social media might be used in the classroom to encourage learning and involvement. According to Shen (2019), this rise in social media use may have a detrimental influence on undergraduates’ academic performance in the biological sciences due to social media’s distracting nature. Nevertheless, if sufficient measures are taken, employing acceptable media in the classroom may benefit student learning (Shen, 2019). For instance, social media websites provide a framework for fruitful usage in the classroom if they are actively included in the teaching process. Wolinsky (2021) mentions that Karen Cangialosi, a biology professor at Keene State College, urges students to create personal learning networks on Twitter by following scientists that tweet about facts. Students may browse Twitter for articles on which scientists have been tweeting and conversing (Wolinsky, 2021). As a result, they start to realize that Twitter can be an affluent area for discovering information and having discussions.
Conclusion
The paper addressed the ways of learning biology in the age of social media and virtual education. By supplying material and monitoring some procedures, remote education benefits knowledge generation. Nonetheless, it has limitations in increasing one’s actual laboratory expertise. Virtual, remote-control, or video-based laboratories are potential solutions for students and teachers. Social media platforms can also be used if they are actively involved in the instructional process. Wolinsky (2021) acknowledges that digital learning existed before the epidemic and will exist after the pandemic. What digital learning will look like in the future may be significantly different since so many people are being exposed to it now that flaws and possibilities are emerging.
References
Gamage, K. A., Wijesuriya, D. I., Ekanayake, S. Y., Rennie, A. E., Lambert, C. G., & Gunawardhana, N. (2020). Online delivery of teaching and laboratory practices: Continuity of university programmes during COVID-19 pandemic. Education Sciences, 10(10), 291. Web.
Ham, B. (2023). A global lab for teaching and practicing synthetic biology. MIT News. Web.
Murphy, M. P. (2020). COVID-19 and emergency eLearning: Consequences of the securitization of higher education for post-pandemic pedagogy. Contemporary Security Policy, 41(3), 492-505. Web.
Shen, J. (2019). Social‐media use and academic performance among undergraduates in biology. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 47(6), 615-619. Web.
Wolinsky, H. (2021). Biology lessons in times of COVID: The pandemic has forced educators to teach and instruct online with varying success and challenges. EMBO Reports, 22(3). Web.
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