209 ROLE OF ICT-ENABLED VISUALIZATION-ORIENTED VIRTUAL LABORATORIES IN UNIVERSITIES Nair et al. ABSTRACT. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enabled virtual labs have been setup in order to facilitate and enhance higher education. VALUE Biotechnology virtual labs were implemented as part of an ICT initiative and tested between several students and teacher groups. In this paper, we discuss about the application of virtualizing concepts and experiments in biotechnology, one of the fundamental area of biological sciences to impart quality education to meet the necessities of students. We found virtual labs, enhanced attention and student performance in biotechnology courses. The paper reports that applying virtualization techniques, biotechnology education could be intensified in terms of student attention and virtual lab can serve as an effective teaching pedagogy. The paper shows how virtual labs in biotechnology can be exploited to improve teaching and student performance. This study analyzes the trends of user behavior towards virtual laboratories and the usability of these laboratories as a learning and curriculum material. Findings from indicated biotechnology virtual laboratories encompass all the core subjects of their curriculum materials in an easy and understandable way with user-interaction and serve to reduce the problems of laboratory education especially in economically challenged and geographically remote areas. Virtual laboratories target a user-friendly outlook to modern laboratory education, aiding as an optional evaluation component for University teachers. KEYWORDS: Biotechnology, Learning pedagogy, Simulation, Virtual labs, Visual learning Role of ICT-enabled visualization-oriented virtual laboratories in Universities for enhancing biotechnology education - VALUE initiative: Case study and impacts Bipin Nair, Remya Krishnan*, Nijin Nizar*, Rakhi Radhamani*, Karthika Rajan*, Afila Yoosef*, Gopika Sujatha*, Vijilamole Radhamony*, Krishnashree Achuthan, Shyam Diwakar*, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (Amrita University), Kerala, India Authors contributed equally to the design, deployment, surveys and data analysis towards the results in this paper. Corresponding author: shyam@amrita.edu Received: 17th April 2012 Revised: 26th April 2012