Of the many disruptive technologies being introduced within modern curricula, the metaverse, is of particular interest for its ability to transform the environment in which students learn. The modern metaverse refers to a computer-generated world which is networked, immersive, and allows users to interact with others by engaging a number of senses…

It is unclear if the transition from traditional, in-person physiology laboratories to virtual alternatives has educational impacts on students. This study used a systematic review to critically evaluate research papers that investigated the effectiveness of virtual physiology laboratories for student learning. Eleven studies, retrieved from the…

By early spring 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused mandatory campus closures of academic institutions nationwide, prompting the rapid transition to online instruction. While lectures and exams were more straightforwardly administered online using video-chatting software, many hands-on laboratory-based courses were forced to develop creative…

Reflections on the efficacy of pedagogical changes and practices and their effect on student performance are often hindered by incomplete data, small sample sizes, and the confounding variables of multiple instructors and teaching sites. Observations from such retrospective analyses, however, are highly sought after by instructors and…

Virtual reality (VR) provides several potentials to unlock in today's world. VR is a computer interface that allows users to interact with each other or with the media in a computer-generated three-dimensional space using senses (Piovesan, Passerino, & Pereira, 2012). One of the most important VR environment is Second Life. It provides both…

The comprehension of interdependent complex systems, which is part of state and national standards, is an enormous challenge for learners. In traditional physiology teaching materials, which structure the human body into decoupled subsystems (e.g., respiratory and cardiovascular) isolated in separate chapters, there is a ubiquitous absence of…