Digital wet laboratories: Transforming biological science with engaging blended learning and online support

University science graduates face unprecedented technological and environmental challenges and are frequently distracted by multiple priorities. To ensure that they can meet current and future workforce needs and have seasoned problem-solving skills, academic staff need to incorporate reality-based learning into courses to engage them in and outside the classroom. A blended learning approach using situated learning was therefore adopted to redesign the curriculum of cell, plant and microbiology courses in a first-year science programme in the School of Applied Sciences at RMIT University (Australia). The new curriculum included (1) constructively aligned online pre-practical class activities and (2) electronic resource packages which enable students to (a) self-help during practical classes and (b) electronically record results of experiments to enable faster assessment and feedback by teaching staff. Some of the lecture content was moved online and this led to a one-third reduction of lecture hours for introductory microbiology. Staff focus groups were held and student perceptions of the new learning environment were evaluated by survey. The findings indicated that (a) gains were related to the engagement of students in higher levels of cognitive processing especially the investigative analyses in real-life scenarios, (b) there was a significant increase in the overall teaching quality scores and (c) there was an increase in achievement of learning outcomes as well as student/staff engagement and satisfaction. In conclusion, digital wet laboratories enabled efficiencies and heightened motivation for both staff and students and mandated the development of many online resources that could be used both in and outside of the face-to-face learning environment