DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION OF VRx LABS: A VIRTUAL LAB FOR PHARMACOLOGY

Pharmacy education has long relied on physical laboratory infrastructure to impart practical skills to students. While this approach has its merits, it is often constrained by limited access to equipment, time-bound laboratory schedules, and uneven distribution of faculty supervision. These factors can restrict a student’s ability to repeatedly observe, internalize, and learn from experimental procedures. The emergence of mobile-based virtual learning technologies presents a meaningful opportunity to address these gaps, not by replacing laboratory work, but by supplementing it with immersive, on-demand digital experiences. The present study describes the design, development, and preliminary evaluation of VRx Labs — a mobile-based virtual experiment learning prototype developed specifically for undergraduate pharmacy students. The platform integrates multiple learning components within a single application: structured experimental information (aim, principle, materials, and procedure), VR-compatible video demonstrations of pharmaceutical experiments, observation and result documentation modules, and MCQ-based formative assessments. The application is accessible through a login-authenticated interface, with separate access modes for students and teachers. To assess the prototype’s educational utility and user experience, a structured questionnaire-based evaluation was conducted among 30 undergraduate Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm) students aged 20–22 years. Responses were recorded on a five-point Likert scale across six parameters: ease of use, visual appeal, learning effectiveness, engagement, innovation, and practical usefulness. The mean scores across all parameters ranged from 4.4 to 4.8, reflecting a consistently high level of user satisfaction and perceived educational value.