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Online courses must encourage the learner to be cognitively engaged. The instructor must also facilitate a classroom community that helps students learn the material and promotes constructive feedback. In addition to the challenges the generic online environment brings, physics students bring their own particular array of challenges: misconceptions about how the physical world works, preconceived ideas about the nature of the course, and anxiety about completing laboratory investigations. Instructors developing online physics curricula must factor all of these components into the design of their courses; this article will address some of the challenges in laboratory design for online courses.
Laboratory investigations in an introductory physics class are designed to have many outcomes. Some labs allow students to measure known constants. Other labs allow students to develop an understanding of the relationship between their physical movement and motion graphs. Still other labs allow students to verify specific laws that govern nature. The question that arises when developing online laboratories in physics is: “How does one develop investigations that allow students to repeat these same experiences at home?” Online students probably do not have access to the same computer equipment and investigative hardware available in a seated class. Such equipment is expensive and hard to keep track of, so instructors are faced with the double-edged problem of how to get the equipment to the student and how to teach them to use it. However, online instructors should think carefully about what they are really trying to achieve in a physics lab. Is it important that the students know how to use the stopwatch or is it more important for the student to understand the implications of the data collected? The first step toward developing effective online physics labs is to identify the general learning outcomes students should be able to accomplish in any physics laboratory investigation.
Take for example this simple exercise: hold a piece of paper and a book at the same height and drop them. Which one lands first? The book does. Many students believe that the paper falls at a slower rate because it is lighter. Now take the paper and crumple it into a ball. Repeat the drop. They will both land at the same time – which is what they are supposed to do all of the time! The weight of the paper has not changed, so why did it land at the same time as the book? Students learn that the rate at which objects fall on Earth does not depend on weight but on the amount of air resistance acting on the object. In this example the belief that lighter objects fall at a slower rate than heavier objects is a misconception that students typically have based on their daily observations; while the observation itself may be valid, the inference made from the observed outcome is based on a subjective selection of premises.
In any physics classroom, instructors seek to provide quantitative data that help correct any misconceptions that the student may have brought to class. Another example involves a common lab designed to determine the acceleration of gravity by dropping an object. The lab may be designed so that students drop objects of different masses and different shapes in order to prove that objects with negligible air drag in freefall all increase their speed at the same rate. Using differently shaped objects allows the instructor to show students that the presence of air resistance explains why some objects do not fall at the same rate.
In the online environment, physics investigations can be designed to achieve the same outcome. However, some sort of communication tool should be used in conjunction with the laboratory investigation. Instructors could group the students in forums and have them discuss the results of their data or answer analysis questions as a group. These activities could promote community building as well as allow the instructor to identify misconceptions and address them.
Data analysis is another goal of a physics laboratory investigation. Physicists collect data to learn something about it. Large amounts of data are better understood by graphing the data and determining the relationship between the independent and dependent variables in the experiment. By understanding the mathematical relationship between two quantities, one can verify a particular concept. For example, in lab students may discover that a 1 kg mass weighs 2.2 lbs, a 2 kg mass weighs 4.4 lbs and a 3 kg mass weighs 6.6 lbs. Analysis of this data would suggest that mass and weight are directly related.
In an online environment, students do not always have access to the equipment that exists in a face-to-face laboratory. Incorporating simulations into the laboratory investigations is a viable and readily available alternative. There are a multitude of physics java applets available on the web. These simulations allow the student to collect data. Instructors can have students manually graph the data or use MS Excel to graph the data. Excel is particularly good because students can easily perform data analysis by fitting different mathematical functions to the data. It may be wise once again to encourage students to discuss the implications of the findings in a group or individual discussion forum.
Moreover, a simulation can actually have an advantage over a face-to-face lab. While actual labs are subject to the vagaries of equipment deterioration (due to aging or mishandling), misinterpretation of instructions leading to mistakes in setups, and the unwitting introduction of other environmental factors, simulated labs have only such shortcomings as they are designed into the program. Often students’ misconceptions and apprehensions cause them to be skeptical of the class and lab environment, and a lab that does not produce the intended outcome due to such random factors can actually reinforce the students’ skepticism instead of disproving it.
The goal of all science courses is to teach the learner how to work collaboratively in a laboratory setting. More importantly, laboratory investigations should allow the learner to better understand the nature of science. Even though we expect certain outcomes in an experiment, the data set we collect does not always support our hypothesis. There are many reasons for this. There may be experimental errors, calculation errors, factors that are not accounted for in the experimental design, or our hypothesis may be incorrect. Learners should be expected to critically analyze why their results do not meet the expected outcomes. In most real-world laboratories, what is most often the greatest discovery from a given experiment is not what went right, but is in fact the explanation of what went wrong!
Students collecting data on their own will often lack confidence in experimental design, data collection and analysis. By requiring some sort of communication among students in the laboratory investigation, students can bounce ideas off each other and ask questions to clarify what they are doing. The instructor can design analysis questions that encourage the student to consider what was expected to happen and the factors that contributed to the actual results. Questions asking the student to relate events they have experienced in the “real world” can add another dimension of insight to the learning experience.
Developing a general set of learning outcomes for any course is the first step in any course design. When considering what laboratory experiences to include in an online physics course, the instructor should focus on developing more generalized learning outcomes rather than on attempting to duplicate the seated laboratory experience. Laboratory investigations should therefore be designed in such a way as to accomplish the following three basic goals: promote a better understanding of the nature of science, facilitate student’s proficiency in data analysis, and identify and correct misconceptions of physical laws students have developed from everyday experiences. However, a corequisite to each of these goals is the incorporation of communicative activities among students so they can truly become active learners.
For many online Blackboard instructors like my wife Paula, who teaches an online religion course at Wayne Community College, communication tools like course announcements, emails, and the discussion board provide an acceptable means of communication between the students and the instructor. However, online chemistry courses require additional communication tools for students to be successful. Some of these communication tools include:
Course Announcements and Emails – Blackboard allows you to make announcements to students about your course through the control panel. It also gives you the ability to email any announcements to all the students in your class.
Discussion Board – The discussion board is often used to post discussion questions relevant to the course for students to respond. The discussion board can also be set up as a place to answer student questions regarding the course or homework. The students’ questions can be answered by either the instructor or better yet - a knowledgeable student.
WebAssign – (found at WebAssign) is an online homework system that allows instructors to assign, grade, and record assignments quickly and accurately over the Internet. For example, I am able to post homework and pre-laboratory chemistry assignments for my students to do, and they are able to receive immediate feedback on how they are doing on this assignment. I am then able review student progress and provide feedback to students. Several publishers also provide WebAssign resources that coincide with their textbooks. These textbook supplements include homework problems and solutions – saving me hours of work that I would otherwise spend developing examples for my students. I also use WebAssign as a grade book so that my students are always aware of how well they are doing in my class. (Blackboard also has a grade book feature; however, I have been very pleased with the WebAssign grading program and have not felt the need to change grade books.)
WebAssign offers several tools for communicating with students. I post announcements for my students provide links to lectures notes and lab procedures handouts and post additional practice problems quizzes to help students prepare for labs and exams.
Another great communication feature in WebAssign is the “Ask Your Instructor” feature. This option allows students to ask their instructor for homework help. Students may also request additional submissions or request an extension for an assignment. When a student makes a request for help with his or her homework, I am able to see their submitted responses in WebAssign along with the correct answer. This feature allows me so to respond more knowledgably to their request for help.
Sympodium – (found at Smart Technology). In my classroom, I have an ID250 sympodium that I have used for the last two years. Two newer models, the ID350 and the ID370 have since been released. The Sympodium allows me to write over my power point slides and work out chemistry problems in digital ink. I can also access any website or multimedia file while projecting my work onto a large screen. I can then save my written notes and power point slides as an updated power point file can then be posted on Blackboard for my online chemistry students to use. This allows my online students to see the same “worked out” power point slides that my “face to face” chemistry students saw in class earlier that day.
Recent updates to the sympodium software, Notebook Software 10, will allow me to also simultaneously record my chemistry lectures while still capturing my handwritten power point notes at the same time. I will then be able to post both audio and video files to Blackboard for my online chemistry students to use. This software is something that I am looking forward to using in the very near future after I complete Smart Tech training.
Wacom 12 x 12 Tablet – In my office, I have a Wacom Intuos 3 professional pen tablet, found at Wacom.com. The tablet is often used to professionally edit photos and create different types of digital artwork. I, however, have begun to use the tablet as a way to “write out” chemistry problems for my online chemistry students. I can then capture the image and then either send the “image of the worked out problem” to the specific student or post it to everyone on Blackboard.
Audacity – (found at Audacity) Audacity is an open source software program for recording and editing sound. With either a microphone or a headset, I am able to create instructional audio files for my online classes. In one particular case, I was able to place an mp3 audio file on Blackboard that guided my students through a difficult pre-laboratory assignment and then outlined the procedures they would be using in their lab.
The students’ responses were very favorable. The most positive response came from a student who said, “I must say I am totally impressed and just flat out wowed. That was so helpful being able to listen to how the lab is done. Thank you so very much.” I plan to continue using audio files when appropriate.
YouTube Videos – Videos from YouTube can be used to help teach chemistry in both face to face and online classes. One of the best collections of videos that I recently found is the “Periodic Table Videos” developed by a group of chemists from the University of Nottingham. They have produced short videos for every element in the periodic table. Any of these element videos can be embedded in Blackboard as a video file for students to review as a learning resource.
Weblog – The newest communication tool that I have is a faculty weblog and internet storage space that I can use to provide information to my chemistry classes. It is powered through WordPress MU and I am very excited to have this new technology available to me. My Wayne Community College faculty weblog can be found at T. Griffin. Please feel free to check it out and let me know what you think.
Conclusions – Teaching classes online can be a real challenge for any instructor. Learning chemistry face to face is difficult enough for most of my students. Online chemistry students face an even bigger challenge to be successful. Having access to the right types of communication tools can make the job easier for both the instructor and the student. Hopefully some of the communication tools that I have outlined for you to use will make your job of teaching chemistry easier in the future.
Seeing is believing. Science students in an online environment must be able to see science to believe it. Through the use of technology, students have discovered that videos of science experiments can create a laboratory atmosphere in their homes. We will look at how science experiment videos can create an online lab experience like no other and enhance seated labs to be even better.
What started as a need to provide online students with a valuable laboratory experience has developed into an invaluable teaching tool in both online and seated courses. Science experiment videos are available in a variety of formats, unlimited content and are readily available when the students need them. The World Wide Web provides many educational tools and learning resources to help make school life easier.
The different formats of online science experiment videos vary from streaming video housed on an external server to downloadable media files that you save to your own computer. The benefit to the streaming video is the size of the file as you view it. It can be paused, rewound, or fast-forwarded at any time. This is particularly attractive to students in science courses that are rigorous in content. YouTube is a phenomenal website with many videos available with the option of uploading your own videos at no cost. Of course, what makes the site great also creates a problem. With no editing feature on YouTube, students must be warned not to believe everything they see on the site.
Another useful format of online videos is downloadable media files. Files can be downloaded, distributed on CDs and viewed offline. This is useful since some students may live in areas with limited internet access. Large media files present a problem that can easily be solved with fully downloadable files. The players for media files are free programs either installed on computers or easily accessed. Our college media department burned CDs containing required science experiment videos and sold them in our bookstore at a minimal cost to the students.
The content of science experiment videos is unlimited. Students in a variety of science courses can benefit from using videos of common, and not so common, experiments. Our biology department uses fetal pig dissection videos with much success. We offer streaming video and CD options for these labs. Our online instructor has created interactive applets for naming parts. We have synchronous Elluminate sessions where the instructor and students are online watching the video together. (Elluminate is webinar software, allowing instructors and students to interact with audio and/or video.) If viewing the video on their own, students are able to replay the video as often as needed until they understand the procedure. Our physics department uses videos of many concepts to replace the physical lab experiments. In a recent semester, we videotaped the actual demonstration in the lab. Seated students watched the demo live and online students watched the taped version. Both classes were given the same follow-up questions and assignment. The results from both groups were nearly identical.
The ability to recreate the experiment with relative ease has been an added benefit of using science videos like these . A common, time-consuming responsibility of science instructors is the setting up of laboratory experiments. By setting up the lab once and videotaping the experiment, the recreation of the experiment is unnecessary. For smaller schools with minimal science offerings, this could allow instructors much more freedom in choosing their experiments. Instructors will be able to conduct an optics laboratory experiment without a laser using a video of lasers and optics; incorporate high-powered microscopic slides without owning the microscope; and determine molar mass of a volatile liquid without being exposed to the vapor. The options are unlimited. Instructors have the option of creating videos with as much interaction as desired. The possibilities are endless!
In a time when college students use their computers more than their televisions, it is an opportunity to expand educational offerings and reach students in a new way. One way to reach students is to offer flexible scheduling. It is attractive to students to have the option of taking classes that fit their own schedule. By having science lab experiments available online, students have the flexibility to participate in the course on their own time. Seated students have the luxury or reviewing online materials after class or catching up on missed class time. Even if science experiment videos do not replace seated laboratory experiments, they can enhance learning by offering the opportunity for review. The benefits to students are great in number. The potential pitfall to this convenience would be students using the online component to replace attending class. It is important to realize that though online learning is a wonderful option for many students, it is not right for all students.
With an increasing volume of online learning opportunities, how can instructors meet the needs of the student and compete globally for enrollment? One way is to use our online resources, including science experiment videos. Realistically, the start-up of our video labs was time-intensive. Creating videos requires recording from all angles, voice-overs, and many hours of editing. However, the benefits of the end product far outweigh the pains.
Our goal as science educators is to promote scientific literacy and enhance the role of students as independent thinkers and active participants in science and society. We must focus on our objective…student learning. How can we aid students in achieving that outcome? In many cases, science experiment videos are a great tool for enhancing student success. The use of videos may not be right for every science course. Some courses may require on-site labs, as many online courses require on-site, proctored testing. Regardless of class format, the videos can either replace or supplement the laboratory experience.
Few schools, if any, have the luxury of having everything they need and enough money to buy what they don’t have. College enrollment is increasing across the state. On overcrowded campuses, using video lab experiments allow science lab classes to take place in regular classrooms as well as online. Equipment can be ‘virtually’ shared among schools will little effort. An online library of science experiment videos would provide a valuable teaching resource for science educators.
In conclusion, it matters less how to accomplish the task and more that the task is accomplished. Students’ learning is the common goal. The use of science experiment videos can remove boundaries, increase flexibility, and overcome financial barriers. Working together educators can engage, educate and retain science students.