KOLLAM: The Virtual Labs developed by Amrita University Mission are now available free of cost to Indian institutions and students.
Funded by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, the virtual laboratories in a variety of disciplines were developed by Amrita University in cooperation with other premier Universities including the IITs.
They are freely accessible via http://vlab.co.in, Bipin Nair, Dean of Biotechnology of the University and Discipline wise National Coordinator for Biomedical and Biotechnology labs has informed.
“I have seen the content myself and it is world class,” said Union Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal, while launching these labs nationwide on February 23.
“The virtual laboratories would help students to understand better the complex scientific questions while at the same time motivate them to pursue cross-disciplinary, innovative research,” said Vice-Chancellor of the University, Venkat Rangan.
A series of workshops Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala had been conducted to sensitise and train teachers from over 150 institutions on the use of Virtual Labs. These workshops not only gave college and school teachers a broad perspective of the variety of experiments but also provided hands-on sessions.
Over 50 institutions from remote locations across the states have registered to become nodal centres to use Virtual Labs in their mainstream educational activities.
“The labs are very impressive and an effective aid for teachers, as students can be taught in a more efficient manner. Even if we don’t have the real facilities, we can have a real experience,” said Kala, St Teresa’s College, Ernakulam.