Implementation of cell biology online practices using virtual microscopes in different degrees

Abstract

In December 2019, Wuhan City in China officially declared the presence of an unknown virus (now called SARS-Cov-2) that soon gained pandemic status. The SARS-Cov-2 or COVID-19 pandemic quickly led to the closure of Universities and colleges following the advice of public Health officials to maintain social distancing (Murphy, 2020). Consequently, educational institutions quickly adopted e-learning under the distance education mode (Morgan, 2020). At University of Valladolid (Spain), two of the degrees with the highest number of new students are the Bachelor’s Degree (BD) in Medicine and the BD in Nursing, which also have subjects with a very important practical part. Two of these subjects are Medical Biology and Biology, in the first year of both degrees. The use of the optical microscope is essential to carry out the practical work in these subjects during which students not only manipulate and observe materials using the microscope, but also engage intellectually, using and applying theoretical concepts.