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Due to the pandemic, classrooms have moved to virtual environments, but what about chemistry classes? Can they adapt to virtual labs?
COVID-19 has created significant challenges in different areas of education. Of the most affected are those whose practical classes require specialized equipment, such as Chemistry classes.
As education has moved to online learning in the wake of the global pandemic, adapting laboratory classes is one of the most difficult challenges. Chemistry teachers are trying to figure out how to accommodate students best. Chemical & Engineering News magazine asked Chemistry teachers with experience in online learning to advise teaching staff who had to adapt to this educational model.
Teaching Chemistry Online
The first advice that experts give is to familiarize yourself with the tools available for virtual classes. Many institutions have recording or teleconferencing software in place and establishing institutional layouts to provide a reference frame for classes. Some institutions may have even provided information on how to use a conferencing platform, such as Zoom.
To adapt to online education, you need to feel comfortable with the learning system and immerse yourself in it. Learn to organize yourself and know where the information you need is when teaching the content, whether it is support material to understand the platform, uploading the material, reviewing grades, taking assistance, or whatever you need.
Besides, it is advisable to determine if the university or school has access to experts and institutional designers. Although it may seem like obvious advice, Marita Barth, an online chemistry instructor at Oregon State University, says they’ll know “things you wouldn’t think of that make classes more useful.” This help can range from having a better presentation on camera to learning how to use platforms better.
Another important point is to consider students’ accessibility problems and consider that not everyone will have access to the appropriate tools to learn remotely. Although new generations are known to be digital natives, they may not be as comfortable with learning online. “When I started teaching online, I assumed that all of my students would be tech-savvy, and that’s not the case at all,” says Barth.
For platforms such as Zoom to be an adequate option, students must have access to wideband internet supporting transmission. If any of them doesn’t have one or it is difficult for them to connect to the class, it is best to provide them with videos they can download later. Also, adding subtitles to those videos can help with accessibility in Chemistry classes with a specialized vocabulary. In her experience, Barth advises including captions manually as automatic captions can distort what the teacher is saying. Also, many universities may have resources available for this purpose. Including subtitles in classes will not only help those students who are hearing impaired; it is also a solution for audio problems that the broadcast may have.
Ian R. Gould, Associate Director of the Arizona State University College of Molecular Sciences, shares that the audio was a huge challenge for him. He offered tablets to his teachers to teach their classes online, and many came with poor internal microphones. And even having a good microphone is useless if they do not speak directly or position it in a good place. “The hardest thing we have is training faculty members not to walk around while speaking because then the sound comes and goes,” says Gould. He confesses that they looked to buy low-end wireless microphones, but they weren’t good, and the high-end ones were costly.
Another tip that instructional design experts share is to practice the lesson beforehand, even if it’s in front of the mirror. This will help to know if what the students will see is what the teacher wants to project. Also, it will help to know which buttons to press and upload the material if it is done on a platform or by video.
Another important point is to learn to build a community with students in a virtual way. Although using synchronous platforms like Zoom helps to have visual cues from students and know if they understand the material, students do not always have cameras or turn them on. Also, the group can have many participants, making it difficult to make each student visible and know if they are doing well.
The teaching staff must find an avenue of communication in which students feel comfortable asking questions. One of the most common ways can be emailed. Thus, it is vital to write to them in a conversational way to make it clear that they are accessible, always clarifying the schedules and channels of communication. Students can contact teachers when they have questions. “It can be terrifying to put your hand up in class, but it’s a lot scarier to cold email a professor who’s never shown any interest in hearing from you. I write to my online students in a way I probably wouldn’t communicate with anyone else because I need them to know I care about them and that it’s OK to ask,” advises Barth.
Adapting the Online Lab: The Berkeley Example
To meet the challenges of teaching laboratory classes online, the UC Berkeley Department of Chemistry took photographs and recorded experiments for its nine laboratory courses, ranging from freshman undergraduate to graduate. Afterward, they made presentations that the students download where all the necessary data comes from to make a laboratory report. Before making the videos, Erol Kepkep, the lab manager, even considered mailing a lab kit to each of his 600 students. But seeing that one of the activities was rat dissection, this option became very impractical.
Among the graduate instructors who digitized the labs is Chung-Kuan Lin, also known as Andy. The instructor points out that the preparation of this material took only days due to the pandemic, but that, in reality, it is an activity that must have taken years. “I felt it’s like entering a territory that none of us has ever explored before. We wanted to craft a learning experience that allows students to absorb at their own pace, which is expected to be much longer while learning at home. In the meantime, we had to identify objectives and give self-explanatory instructions. The most difficult part is probably seeking feedback immediately; otherwise, this experience would only be a single channel,” Chung-Kuan Lin told the UC Berkley news site.
In addition to virtual labs, students also have the opportunity to have online sessions with graduate instructors or professors themselves and submit their lab reports as PDF files or orally by Zoom. Although virtual labs have made online teaching much easier, they still flank active interaction. Michelle Douskey, a Berkeley professor, hosts viewing parties so that students view and discuss the lab videos and have the opportunity to talk to each other.
Often, the activities carried out in the laboratories are carried out in pairs or teams, which is currently
challenging in the pandemic. The students do not attend the laboratories in person, but also if the classes are asynchronous, which can hinder the interaction between laboratory colleagues who do not have internet access at the same time.
It is evident that areas such as Chemistry, or those that regularly resort to practical activities in laboratories, are among the most affected due to COVID-19. Lessons from universities like Berkeley, which found a way to adapt their labs to the online model, demonstrate the creativity that some educators have and that instructional designers’ support is essential. Even so, until being able to return to face-to-face learning, both teachers and students must adapt and find solutions to this type of situation to continue learning virtually.
Translation by Daniel Wetta.
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This article from Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education may be shared under the terms of the license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 
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