Teacher story by

Marlijn van der Poel

University of Amsterdam; Psychobiology; Genetics & Evolution + Cell Biology

“From uncertain first steps to confident lab work “

The challenge

First year students who just started to work in a lab setting are not familiar yet with certain lab skills and therefore can be uncertain about performing lab work. Students find it challenging to create a good overview of the entire experiment, especially when it consists of many different experiments. Furthermore, they have difficulty preparing well for an experiment.

The transformation

In our study program, LabBuddy was already implemented a few years ago. Over the past years we have updated protocols, added new videos (knowledge clips and clips about practical skills and procedures) and questions. It is easy to quickly adjust protocols in LabBuddy.

The final result

Students find the videos about practical procedures very helpful, these videos provide more support during the experiments. Students work faster, more easily, and with greater confidence. By preparing in LabBuddy, students first have to think about the theory themselves (using background information and knowledge clips), then they have to answer questions, and finally, they read the protocol and also complete preparatory questions (such as calculations). This results in students who are more confident and they start working faster and more independently. They have a better understanding of what is expected of them and they can create a better overview of the entire experiment.