Virtual Exercise Physiology Lab
The purpose of this project was to compare student learning outcomes from the Virtual Exercise physiology lab with that from traditional exercise physiology laboratory activities. Student participants from the spring 2015 Exercise Physiology course were randomly assigned to either experimental group 1 or group 2. Group 1 completed traditional laboratory activities, whereas group 2 completed the Virtual Laboratory. Both groups then completed the same assessment to evaluate their understanding of Aerobic and Anaerobic Power laboratory concepts. Mean Aerobic Power Lab activity assessment scores were 80.5 ± 5.5 and 80.6 ± 6.7 and mean Anaerobic Power Lab assessment scores were 81.5 ± 8.0 and 82.0 ± 6.4 for groups 1 and 2, respectively. In this investigation, 50% of the students indicated a preference for the traditional laboratory activity, and exact half percent of the class either actually preferred the Virtual Exercise Physiology Laboratory program (28.9%) or did not prefer one laboratory type over another (21.1%). Students agreed that the Virtual Exercise Physiology Laboratory program was at least moderately educational (21%), but most students thought that the Virtual Exercise Physiology Laboratory program was very educational (78.9%). These findings support that virtual laboratories instruct students as effectively as traditional laboratories