“Farmaling”: Implementación y adaptación de una plataforma virtual de simulación para la docencia de Biología Molecular y Biotecnología

After a period of unprecedented changes in worldwide education, both schools and universities have adopted distance and virtual teaching methods, forcing the tools that educators use for their courses to evolve. Present and future global crises require advanced scientific solutions, so preparing students for scientific and technical careers has never been more important. Tools that offer simple and virtual solutions with few requirements (an email address and internet connection) are essential for teachers to effectively communicate their knowledge and experience to their students. This study implements a virtual platform for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (www.benchling.com) as a didactic tool, focusing student´s learning on problem solving and collaboration. This cloud-based platform is used to design, record, and analyze experiments. Adapted as a virtual learning tool, it can help emulate the scientific process without being in the laboratory, allowing the student to become familiar with each step of an experiment, from the initial design to data analysis and documentation of the process in electronic notebooks. While virtual solutions are not a substitute for hands-on experience in the lab, the familiarity with the experimental process that these platforms bring has key benefits that extend well beyond the classroom. Its use facilitates homogeneous access to materials and information, facilitates asynchronous learning, teamwork, reduces the risk of exposure to hazardous substances in the laboratory to students without previous experience, it offers abundant opportunities for exploratory learning, and provides a set of transferable skills for the student’s next professional or academic steps. f Tras una época de cambios sin precedentes en la educación mundial, tanto escuelas como universidades han adoptado métodos de enseñanza a distancia y virtual, haciendo que las herramientas que los educadores usan para sus cursos evolucionen. Las crisis globales presentes y futuras requieren soluciones científicas avanzadas, por lo que preparar a los estudiantes para carreras científicas y técnicas nunca ha sido más importante. Herramientas que ofrezcan soluciones sencillas y virtuales con pocos requerimientos (una dirección de correo electrónico y conexión a internet) son esenciales para que los profesores transmitan sus conocimientos y experiencia a sus estudiantes de forma efectiva. Este estudio implementa una plataforma virtual de Biología Molecular y Biot