VLPC: A HTML5 pharmacology virtual laboratory

This paper documents on the programming and software design underpinning the Virtual Laboratory Practical Class (VLPC) program. This is an experiment simulation HTML5 web, which was designed to provide students with a virtual “pre-lab” experience where they can conduct an experiment and use equipment and techniques that they will encounter in a “live” pharmacology practical laboratory class. The VLPC replaces the traditional laboratory manual with a virtual depiction of the experiment to be undertaken. Students can run through the entire sequence which involves utilizing the virtual depictions (widgets) of lab instruments through to plotting and analyzing the data generated as consequence of their actions. In order to provide a user-friendly distribution and installation-free experience, the VLPC is fully web-based and leverages the Sproutcore HTML5 framework to create an interactive application that can function on all major browsers without the Flash plugin. The implementation makes extensive use of Statecharts to model the behaviors of the cast of equipment widgets that make up the VLPC experience. In addition to dictating responses to the student´s actions, widget states provide the means to record and monitor the student´s decisions about use of the equipment in the simulation.