Digital laboratories for students at risk: how DigiLabStar III works at UzhNU
After the pandemic and due to the consequences of the war, many educational institutions were forced to switch to distance learning. The DigiLabStar III project is part of the program “Ukraine digital: Ensuring academic success in times of crisis (2024)” program funded by the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD. The main idea is to develop and test gamified digital content for basic biological disciplines suitable for use in online and offline learning at Ukrainian universities. This makes the learning process not only useful but also interesting.
Iryna Kompanets, Associate Professor of the Department of Biomedicine at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, is the head of DigiLabStar III. During her stay in Germany at the University of Bochum (Ruhr), she took part in a program to create online content for distance learning.
Project objectives:
1) Creating a comprehensive course on the basics of biochemistry, histology, laboratory diagnostics, etc. using the latest digital technologies for further implementation in Ukrainian universities;
2) Familiarization of Ukrainian teachers with digital gamification tools;
3) Implementation of the created content in Ukrainian universities and evaluation of the effectiveness of the game approach in biology education.
Currently, the submitted materials will cover the full standard course of biochemistry, which is compulsory in a number of educational programs such as biology, biotechnology and medicine in Ukraine and Germany. In particular, in our country, Biochemistry is the main part of the curriculum for one to two semesters and covers up to 12 ECTS. The discipline's program is quite standardized, which allows the course to be implemented into the curricula of biology and medicine faculties of public and private universities across the country. The available content was created on the basis of the Ruhr-University of Bochum (Germany) with the participation of Ukrainian and German experts.
The proposed course “Basic Biochemistry” is developed using a number of advanced digital gamification tools. The educational material will be presented in the form of fascinating stories created with the help of artificial intelligence. The learning process will be structured so that the choice of students' answers determines further tasks and scenarios. Theoretical blocks will be accompanied by multimodal interactive tasks adapted to the general story concept. The educational materials will be based on the Moodle platform of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, which will be available to students and teachers.
In addition, a version of the content for smartphones and tablets has been developed on the basis of the ActionBound application. It does not require a connection to Moodle, which makes it possible to use the program for self-study.
The following universities participate in the project:
1) Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv;
2) Dnipro State Medical University;
3) Ivan Franko National University of Lviv;
4) Kyiv National University of Technology and Design;
5) Uzhhorod National University;
6) Bohdan Khmelnytsky Cherkasy National University;
7) Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University.
Each of them contributes to the development of Ukrainian-language content. First of all, it is the implementation of the created game course in the educational process. The next step is to provide information on the effectiveness of the content (anonymous survey data from students and teachers, statistics on student performance in this course). In addition, teachers participate in online trainings and workshops on the use of digital gamification tools to create their own online game courses. After completing them, they receive certificates of participation in the international project, which indicate the number of ECTS credits received.
The proposed course can be used partially as compensation for missed classes, in full if the student cannot attend them at all, and as an additional learning resource for extracurricular educational process, independent work, and pre-exam self-preparation. In addition, with the support of the Ministry of Education of Ukraine, it can be integrated into new formats of digital teaching and learning.
The target audience is 1st and 2nd year students enrolled in the educational programs Biology, Biotechnology, Medicine, etc.
At Uzhhorod National University, the project coordinator is Anzhela Kolesnyk, PhD, Associate Professor of the Department of Genetics, Plant Physiology and Microbiology. She also participated in the testing and development of the platform, is already creating her own content and helping her colleagues learn and develop educational materials. We will learn more about the implementation of the program at UzhNU and its use from her. “For various reasons, first the pandemic, now the war, we are often forced to switch to distance learning. And it is not always an equivalent replacement for full-time education. This is especially true for natural sciences universities, specialties, disciplines and subjects where we have a very powerful laboratory workshop. Of course, holding a test tube in your hands or conducting a reaction in the classroom is always much more than hearing about it even in the coolest lecture. Therefore, the introduction of digital game content into the learning process along with interactive story tasks allows us to adapt the same laboratory classes to modern challenges. After receiving the theoretical material, the student immediately performs interactive exercises and consolidates the material in practice. Our university has a part-time program where the educational process takes place almost all the time remotely, so this is a very good alternative for part-time students,” notes Anzhela Kolesnyk.
She also says that the project aims to develop Ukrainian-language content specifically for science majors. They are currently testing this in the disciplines of biochemistry and histology. The coordinator notes that the program also provides resources for Ukrainian teachers to learn how to create interactive lectures. “Just like cartoons, where you can take a test tube, pour it into another, get some reaction, and in addition complete interactive tasks based on the lecture here and now, online. Currently, we are holding, well, one has already taken place, and there will be several more webinars, actually, for teachers who teach biochemistry, histology, and lab diagnostics (laboratory diagnostics). We have 4 departments involved at our faculty, and 2 at the dental faculty. As a result, we also receive certain credits for passing the course, which is necessary for our accreditation, because we must meet international requirements as university teachers,” Anzhela Kolesnyk shared her experience. “It is also a good opportunity to demonstrate reactions with hazardous substances or those that are prohibited for free use.
The best 2nd year students of the UzhNU Faculty of Biology took courses on the platform for a year, and it counts as non-formal education for them, for which they receive additional points. Since they are still taking this program on the platform of Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv. Based on their experience, Uzhhorod residents speak positively about the program. They note that at first it was a little unusual, but over time they quickly adapted.
Only students/teachers registered on the platform have access to the training materials. There is both paid and free content. For now, it is free for representatives of partner universities.
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