Frequently Asked Questions

	Does VirtualUnknown™ differ significantly from other microbiology simulations and software?

	It is in a league of its own. So much of the educational software claims to be "interactive" by requiring students to click their mouse buttons or type in responses as they read along. These are nothing more than electronic tutorials providing little beyond what students could obtain by carefully reading their books. There are several other packages that also claim to be simulations of lab techniques. They tend to require students to select a biochemical test and then interpret results, little more than a substitute for an instructor holding up a tube in class and asking the students to write down the results they observe. VUMicro takes a very different approach. We want the software to be a reenactment of what is done in the teaching lab. How do students work in the lab? They begin by assessing the situation and deciding on a test to perform. Then they must decide on which medium to use, how to inoculate and incubate it, and how to interpret the results obtained. Then they must decide what to do next. We built all of these elements into the software, something no one else has attempted. Students must interpret a micrograph of a Gram stain and a motility video clip - at this point in product development these are the only tests that are similar to our competitors. Everything else about the software - inoculating and incubating tubes, reading results and selecting the next test to perform, finally eliminating all but one microbe - everything else is "hands-on" and "skill-centered". Our greatest compliments come from students who find it more "game-like" than tutorial in format.

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Site Modified: Friday, March 26, 2004