Recommendations for virtual lab options for Anatomy and Physiology Classes?

[morris_admin]

Hello!

I am an instructional designer and I work closely with the coordinator of our Anatomy and Physiology classes to build out Canvas content to support the lecture and lab components for these courses. While the lab component for these courses are face-to-face, they are currently supplemented by what we call "virtual labs" between sessions, though these are really just labeling and multiple choice activities through an LTI provider (the textbook publisher). These activities support the knowledge students will need for the upcoming labs.

We are interested in exploring other options and other question bank providers that integrate with Canvas. Ideally, I'd love to go with something that was more like a real virtual lab to extend students' lab experiences.

I would be very grateful for any recommendations for assessment or question-bank LTIs that are working well for your institution.  I'm especially interested in things you have tried that worked well for lab experiences in general, or A&P classes specifically!

Thank you!

Jessica

La Salle University in Philadelphia

[Stef_retired]

morris_admin, while I don't have an immediate answer to your question, I'm going to share it with the Instructional Designers​ group to garner additional views from other like-minded users. And, because your question prompt invites an open-ended discussion rather than posing a question with a single "Correct Answer," I'll change this to a discussion. It will remain open for participation, and I've added some tags to keep it prominent in search results.

[morris_admin]

Thanks, Stefanie. I wasn't clear on the question/discussion criteria, so I appreciate you sorting me out and getting me to the right audiences!

[wakimsu]

As an online biology instructor, virtual labs/activities are something I've been searching for for a while. I don't have a single best answer for you, but I wanted to share two resources that I've found helpful.

http://www2.saplinglearning.com/

This is a great site with interactive quizzes for students, and I think they also have labs.  My understanding is that they will have more A&P material soon, so it might be worth touching base with them for some more details.

http://www.hhmi.org/educational-materials

This site has some exceptional virtual labs and other activities. However, it's not focused on A&P. So, there might be a few components for the core biology sections of the class, but not the A&P sections.

http://www.learner.org/channel/courses/biology/casestudy/index.html

This one's on my list of sites to look at - so I can't speak to it. My note says it has some excellent activities and case studies.

[morris_admin]

Thank you, Suzanne! I appreciate the resource recommendations!  I will take a look at them and I have also forwarded them to the A&P coordinator for her review. I'll post back here if we find anything else useful. We're now thinking about going with a mobile app solution, but we're in the early stages of figuring that out.

[awilliams]

I have only skimmed this site and I have no idea how well it integrates with Canvas, if at all, but it is awesome nonetheless. https://www.biodigital.com

[morris_admin]

Thanks so much, Adam! I will check that out!

[awilliams]

No problem. I came across that site somewhat randomly and was really impressed with how well done it is. If you end up using it I would love to hear your thoughts. I never dug into the benefits of registering an instructor account.

[bforciea]

Hi Jessica:

I presently teach Anatomy and Physiology online (and face-face) and have designed a few courses for my college as well as a couple of other colleges. In addition to publisher's LTIs, I've used the Virtual Human Dissector software for one online course that works pretty well (VHD). I've also used it as support for some face-face classes. Students perform a number of dissections on a virtual human cadaver and then submit labs (labs contain questions) to Canvas. The software is separate and I'm not sure if it integrates directly with Canvas. The software contains a few pre-loaded labs which are pretty nice and has the ability to develop custom labs. I have also evaluated the Biodigital Human as mentioned in other posts and I'm impressed with it as well. It looks like it allows for embedding code into Canvas much like embedding videos.

Good luck on your search,

Bruce

Moraine Park Technical College

[morris_admin]

I was reminded of this thread, so I thought I would share back about where we ended up in case it helps others.

We are currently using two tools for our A&P classes: Sapling, which  @wakimsu mentioned in this thread, and virtual labs developed in house.

We are using Sapling for weekly homework assignments related to the lecture component of the course and it is working well.

The virtual labs support the in class labs as well as our fully online A&P courses. They are built using images along with Canvas’s matching question type in Quizzes to help students learn to identify parts of the body. Our A&P Coordinator saw improved lab grades last Fall which she attributes, in part, to these virtual labs.

Feel free to message me if I can provide any further information!

Jessica

[debra_mansperge]

I teach chemistry and ran across a virtual reality company that has an anatomy app.  I have no idea how useful it might be but it really looks neat.  It's a reality enhanced type of app - like the pokeman game.  It's free.  Augmented Reality Anatomy Models | DAQRI Anatomy 4D

[heather_stockfo]

Any further movement on this @Jessica Morris?

I'm also seeking virtual labs for Anatomy, Physiology, Chemistry and MicroBiology.

I'm exploring moving these courses to a hybrid model, where the didactic would be a live lecture and the lab would be a virtual guided lab. I know there are a lot of folks who disagree that dissecting a cat is better learning than dissecting one virtually as an example, but with todays technology there has to be a vendor partner. I asked around at CanvasCon, but didn't have any luck.... and I'm seeking Higher Ed.

[raddant]

Hello - I realize this is an older thread, but McGraw Hill has a new version of their Virtual Labs available now. They integrate easily into Canvas with the McGraw Hill Connect tool. Labs are available for gen bio, A&P, and microbiology. I use them in my 200-level A&P course.

[heather_stockfo]

Thank you!

We are currently looking at Labster for Micro, Anatomy & Physiology