Dr. Clark A. Jones is a Senior Instructor in Microbiology at the Department of Biology at Texas Christian University (TCU) and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Education at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU. He uses Labster in his Microbiology classes with about 200 students a year, with a mix of in-person during the spring and fall semesters and online in the summer.

Dr. Jones uses 10 simulations in his classroom to bridge the gap between theory and connecting the topics to the real world. He initially got Labster to give students access in 2020 when learning went online, but he saw the benefits and return on investment keeping Labster when classes returned in-person.

Key Takeaways

• Labster delivers ROI that rivals textbooks and other educational resources

• Labster prepares students for success with virtual labs that parallel in-person lab experiments

Simulations used:

• Biosafety
• Control of Microbial Growth
• The Gram Stain
• Bacterial Growth Curves
• Bacterial Quantification by Culture
• Pasteurization and Sterilization
• Bacterial Cell Structures: An introduction to the Bacterial Cells
• Antibodies: Why are some blood types incompatible?
• Bacterial Isolation
• Identification of Unknown Bacteria

Increase in student learning outcomes and engagement

“I have seen improvements in both student performance and learning outcomes. I really see a change in their engagement, and I saw an increase in grades. I have also seen students gain a deeper understanding of the course materials.”

Return on investment

“I was able to now come into the lab and be more efficient with our lab budget. I think the biggest challenge for any instructor today is looking at your return on investment. With educational resources, textbooks are out of control with their pricing, and so to bring in a student a resource, it needs to deliver. We’ve found Labster really delivers that ROI. ”

Virtual labs align with in-person labs

“I mostly use Labster as a pre-lab to help students prepare for the in-person lab. For example, the Antibodies virtual lab mimics what we did in the lab with our blood typing. Many of the microbiology labs align well with what I’m teaching. Another example is the Identification of the Unknown Bacteria, an amazing simulation that mimics the biochemical tests the students are doing in the lab when they are working on identifying their unknown organisms.”

‍Connecting learnings to careers and life

“My goal for our students is to get them on their path to their goals and their dreams. In the response from the student evaluations of the course, they say, ’I was able to connect this topic better.’ Labster helps them see applications to the profession and to their own personal lives. And when you can do that with the course you win, students are invested in the learning.”

Labster connects scientific information to real-world issues

“I want students to make informed judgments about the root causes of issues— epidemiology transmission, immunization, and disease prevention. I can pull Labster in, and simulations that cover some of those big world issues are great. I think that's where students get lost in their education. They see foundational information, but they don't see how it relates to the world and what we consider cultural and global issues. And I think there are some of the simulations that take us into that realm, and those are the things I really like.”