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[dept_geek]

Has anyone had experience teaching (or even taking!) lab classes online? We are in the middle of the "big push" to have all programs in our division online.  I have a few classes that require lab equipment that, while not hard for the average student to find and purchase, may be a little out of their price range. There are also plenty of finAid issues as I would rather they get the equipment from someplace other than the bookstore. (markup issues) But. Assuming I can get all that worked out - now, how to assess? Simulators are fine for practice, but not so much for "the real thing". Because of the student base (and the college rules) online classes can not require (any) campus visits. Otherwise, they are not online. While I can also require the purchase of a small web cam and they can video themselves, that seems like more of a hassle.

Before I complete talk myself out of even thinking about this further, thoughts? Ideas? "War stories"? How do you handle lab classes - ones that have equipment needs beyond what a student has on hand - that are offered online? If I am going to be the lone holdout, I need some help with "data" (lack of a better word) other than "it will be hard to assess". The expense bit goes away with the over-reliance on a simulator. (In some minds).


Hope this makes some sense. Thanks for any help.

[bone_gal]

Doing some informal research on this has been a pet project of mine lately, so I'm happy that you posted this.  I'm curious what others have to say.

Unfortunately, there's no easy answer to this, and I think it depends on the class.  The reality is that there are some subjects that are difficult to teach online, and lab science is one of them.  Some companies do sell lab kids for students to buy for their online science classes, but I haven't personally used them.  Many schools charge a lab fee for on campus lab classes, so I'd use that amount as a guideline for how much to have students spend (if they pay $X on campus, but would need to spend $X+$300 online, then that's wrong).  However, I have no idea how you deal with the liability aspects of this kind of work.  If a student hurts themselves or causes damage at home, is there any way your school is responsible?  Sounds silly, but CYA.

I've also seen "lab" courses that are based solely on online activities, questions to answer, etc.  Less hands on, but at least it's something.

You'll probably need to think outside the box a bit, and accept the fact that labs in online classes are going to be different from what they would be on campus.  If your school can't accept that they will be different, then they might not be able to offer those classes online.  There is a reason most schools don't offer lab classes online.

[drdirt55]

I too have seen lab kits that get sent to students.  I believe I saw it with some Canadian colleges - Athabasca (sp) may be one of the ones that does this.  You might try talking with them to see how they do it.

[mustbecrazy]

As a distance student in the sciences, I can give you my take.

Athabasca University lends lab kits for their Physics classes.  Students get the kit sent free from the library and may keep it for two months before sending it back.  Return postage is included for Canadian students, but I am not sure about American students.  Students are strongly encouraged to include photos of the experimental setup in the lab report via extra credit on the report.  Labs make up 20 percent of the grade and must be passed to pass the classes in Athabasca's lab courses. However, the lab courses are still only 3 credits total. Proctored exams usually makup about 70 percent of the grade and require two forms of id at an approved testing site.  They have on-site requirements for Organic Chemistry labs (~25-30 hours done from 8 til 5 over 3-4 days for each semester) and for Ecology (4 days from 9 to 5 plus an optional evening lake trip). I am not sure about the lower level chem for which I think the first semester is a home lab and the second on site.  I think Microbiology is onsite, not sure about freshman biology.

I had taken freshman Chem and Biology the traditional way many years and then returned to school again a few years ago.  I am working through Excelsior College, which requires two labs, one upper division and one lower division for their biology major.  I am aware of the general lab weakness of my program in spite of taking all the labs I can, and hope to do a traditional, thesis-based MS after I finish the undergrad degree and before applying to PhD programs.  However, my children will be old enough at that point to ease some childcare issues that would have made a traditional undergrad program extremely difficult and horrifically expensive if you include childcare costs.  I hope to be making that transition next fall, so I will soon find out how well it goes.

I much preferred the whole expensive fly out, stay in hotels, and do real labs myself.   This was often still less expensive than tuition at my local colleges.  I did a "virtual" lab through another school and found the simulator extremely frustrating, and the lack of any kind of present lab intructor less than helpful.  The Organic chemistry labs were led by the Athabasca lab coordinator and phd candidates in chemistry who had experience TA'ing organic chem labs from the University of Alberta.  The professor came by to visit us a couple times as well I think.

[dept_geek]

Thanks, mustbecrazy, for the feedback. This is very useful!