Expert interview study on the pedagogical aspects and practical implementation of virtual laboratories

A large variety of different virtual laboratories have been created for educational purposes, and many benefits and challenges related to them have been reported in the literature. The novelty of this study lies in the introduction of a methodological approach that enables a more comprehensive qualitative analysis into the topic than previously possible. An interview study of virtual laboratory field experts was carried out to analyze the benefits and challenges more deeply. Contrary to previous literature, the interviewees emphasized challenges more than benefits. Main challenges included issues such as finding a suitable team with multidisciplinary expertise to create virtual laboratories and justifying the resource usage in cases where the effectiveness of virtual laboratories has not yet been clearly proven. The interviewed field experts did not think that virtual laboratories should be seen as a way to save teaching resourcing but rather that the key benefits relate to enhanced learning experience. Furthermore, they considered that suitable application areas for virtual laboratories would be such practical skills that do not require fine motor skills. From a technical perspective, the interviewees had most experience from virtual laboratories that are based on 360° panorama images as they are relatively easy to produce, deliver, and use in an educational setting.