Structural biology education commonly employs molecular visualization software, such as PyMol, RasMol, and VMD, to allow students to appreciate structure–function relationships in biomolecules. In on‐ground, classroom‐based education, these programs are commonly used on University‐owned devices with software preinstalled. Remote education typically involves the use of student‐owned devices, which complicates the use of such software, owing to the fact that (a) student devices have differing configurations (e.g., Windows vs MacOS) and processing power, and (b) not all student devices are suitable for use with such software. Smartphones are near‐ubiquitous devices, with smartphone ownership exceeding personal computer ownership, according to a recent survey. Here, we show the use of a smartphone‐based augmented reality app, Augment, in a structural biology classroom exercise, which students installed independently without IT support. Post‐lab attitudinal survey results indicate positive student experiences with this app. Based on our experiences, we suggest that smartphone‐based molecular visualization software, such as that used in this exercise, is a powerful educational tool that is particularly well‐suited for use in remote education.

中文翻译：

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快速部署基于智能手机的增强现实工具，用于结构生物学领域的现场和在线教育

结构生物学教育通常采用分子可视化软件，如 PyMol、RasMol 和 VMD，让学生了解生物分子中的结构-功能关系。在基于课堂的地面教育中，这些程序通常用于预装软件的大学自有设备。远程教育通常涉及使用学生自有设备，这使得此类软件的使用复杂化，因为 (a) 学生设备具有不同的配置（例如，Windows 与 MacOS）和处理能力，以及 (b) 并非全部学生设备适用于此类软件。最近的一项调查显示，智能手机几乎无处不在，智能手机的拥有量超过了个人电脑的拥有量。在这里，我们展示了使用基于智能手机的增强现实应用程序 Augment，在结构生物学课堂练习中，学生在没有 IT 支持的情况下独立安装。实验室后态度调查结果表明学生使用此应用程序获得了积极的体验。根据我们的经验，我们建议基于智能手机的分子可视化软件（例如本练习中使用的软件）是一种强大的教育工具，特别适用于远程教育。