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Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has had a significant impact on education and consequently improved online collaborative learning, and students learning experiences. One of the distinguishing elements of engineering and science education is the laboratory requirement (Balamuralithara & Woods, 2009). In chemistry education particularly, laboratory activities increase students’ interest in the subject matters covered in the class and help their learning (Pölloth, Schwarzer, & Zipse, 2019). Laboratory-based courses play a critical role in science education. The world we live in today undoubtedly depends heavily on technology. Technology and software engineering, in particular, have changed how we live. One of these changes is in the way we learn; online learning also known as e-learning is now the new normal. One such electronic learning (e-learning) solution is virtual laboratories. Virtual laboratories are defined as computer-based activities where students interact with an experimental apparatus or other laboratory activities through a computer interface. Learning solutions have emerged from being a radical idea to something that is widely regarded as mainstream (Asabere, Acakpovi, Torgby, Sackey, & Kwaikyi, 2019).
In our research, we seek to explore and verify how the implementation of a virtual chemistry laboratory can help Science Laboratory Technology (SLT) students in Accra Technical University (ATU) gain more understanding and interest in their chemistry courses. Globally, many educational institutions are depending on e-learning solutions in recent years due to the current COVID-19 pandemic (Ali, 2020; Lorente, Arrabal, & Pulido-Montes, 2020; Tkachuk, Yechkalo, Semerikov, Kislova, & Hladyr, 2020; Batez, 2021; Usmani, Saeed, & Tayyab, 2021). Although deep academic research has revealed that in recent years, e-learning has made learning more accessible and available for all (Asabere et al., 2019). However, less research has been covered the availability and accessibility of virtual laboratories. Laboratory experiments in science are one of the most expensive and inaccessible aspects of the study of science in general (Finkelstein, Adams, Keller, Kohl, Perkins, Podolefsky, & LeMaster, 2005; Pyatt & Sims, 2012). Coincidently, in the case of SLT at ATU, it is even more challenging.
In addition, ATU as an educational institution has done a very good job in providing hands-on laboratory training to its Higher National Diploma (HND) SLT students, yet still, students are unable to get enough experimental practice in the existing physical laboratories or practice outside campus or on their own, mainly because equipment, tools, and materials for these experiments are very expensive. Consequently, this study seeks to investigate and solve this problem by providing a computer-based platform that brings virtual chemistry laboratory experiences and practices to SLT students in ATU.
In line with our research goals and objectives, the main contributions in this study include the following:
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We identify challenges related to the current mode of chemistry education in physical laboratories in the SLT Department at ATU.
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Through a series of effective data analysis using SPSS, we present quantitative results to corroborate the objectives of our study.
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Using appropriate tools, we critically analyze the current mode of chemistry education in ATU and propose a virtual (computerized) chemistry laboratory for HND SLT students.
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We evaluate our proposed solution which involves the experimentation of the virtual (computerized) chemistry laboratory. After our experimentation procedure, we present the evaluation results of our proposed solution.