Providing Effective Teaching Laboratories at an Open University

Abstract

As more science courses in higher education are being redesigned to move online, there is growing interest in effectively handling required practical components such as teaching laboratories and field work. Athabasca University (AU) is an open university and has been delivering science laboratories at a distance for over four decades. This paper reviews the various methods employed at AU to provide high quality laboratory experiences to students in science courses using a variety of delivery modes such as face-to-face, homestudy kits, virtual simulations, mobile devices for fieldwork/clinic, and remote controlled laboratories. Although the selection of an individual delivery mode is driven by both practicality and need to create an effective learning environment, the author also encourages experimentation with blending of modes to potentially enhance learning in the laboratory. Major emerging trends such as new technologies, access to ubiquitous information, and a move to open learning will certainly shape future innovations in laboratory design for online courses. So while currently still on the horizon, novel components like open educational resources (OER), learning analytics, citizen science, and connection to dispersed knowledge networks are imminent for the laboratory of the twenty-first century.

Laboratory activities to support online chemistry courses: a literature review

“…More systematic assessments of laboratory activities measuring stated learning outcomes (that go beyond grades and student satisfaction) will be crucial to inform our understanding of learning in the laboratory and future designs. Accompanying trends, like the emergence of open educational resources (OER) 123,124 or the merging of formal, informal, and non-formal learning, 125 will be welcomed if not required. Essentially, the recognition and development of alternative laboratory experiences is a part of that larger story in higher education of accessibility.…”

Feynman, Lewin, and Einstein Download Zoom: A Guide for Incorporating E-Teaching of Physics in a Post-COVID World

“…For example, the use of experimental kits provides students the opportunity to conduct physics right on the kitchen table, and can be instructor-provided or student-assembled. Such kits have been implemented in the classroom, 156 for massive open online courses (MOOCs), 157 in open universities, 158 for in-class demonstrations, 159 and for experimental distance learning. 160,161 Kits can even be paired with smartphones as data collection and analysis devices to increase student comfort with the experiments.…”

Investigation of the Factors Affecting Open and Distance Education Learners’ Intentions to Use a Virtual Laboratory

“…While the effective design of laboratories in a traditional way and their presentation to students is not an easy undertaking, institutions that offer open learning and distance education experience more difficulties (Kennepohl, 2013) due to learners' obvious geographical distance from the laboratory facilities. In open and distance learning, which gained more popularity with the establishment of the Open University in the United Kingdom in 1969, various methods, such as face-to-face laboratories, home study kits, remote laboratories, virtual laboratories, and fieldwork and clinics, are employed to provide high-quality laboratory experiences to distance learners, as exemplified by Kennepohl (2017).…”