The lecture portion of this course is an applied laboratory science. It includes the design of experiments, proper representation of quantitative measurements, and statistical evaluation of measurements. It also includes an introduction to chemical instrumentation, including gas and liquid chromatography, ion selective electrodes, and potentiometry. Theoretical concepts include complex equilibria such as precipitation, acid-base, and complexation reactions. Finally, the course examines the utility of redox chemistry for quantitative analysis using electrochemical cells and other electrochemical methods. The laboratory portion of this course is designed to correlate with the lecture topics above.

The course is required for a major in Chemistry, Biochemistry, or Microbiology (CLS option). It is also required for a minor in Chemistry or Biochemistry.

The lecture portion of this course has two asynchronous days and one synchronous day. On asynchronous days, students watched three or four videos I created using the Learning Glass studio in MLIB. Each video was 15–20 minutes long and were a mixture of theory and calculation problems. After watching the videos the students completed a worksheet created by the instructor or adapted from the “Active Learning” section of the Analytical Sciences Digital Library. During synchronous class periods, students accessed an editable student response slide deck (through Google slides or Jamboards). Each synchronous class began with SLOs and a few slides of traditional lecture from a separate slide deck. Then, students were assigned to groups of 4–5 students in breakout rooms. Each breakout room had an assigned recorder and a reporter. In the student response slide deck, there were as many copies of each individual problem slide as there were breakout rooms. Problems included calculations, explanations, sorting, labeling, and vocabulary activities. Students could choose to contribute verbally to their breakout room members, edit the slide directly, or use the chat feature in Zoom. I could visit a breakout room to provide verbal feedback or simultaneously monitor the progress of all groups by viewing and adding suggestions to the slides.

This course was organized with learning modules in Blackboard. Weekly, each module contained similar content:

• a list of weekly SLOs

• a list of activities for the week

• links to recordings of each synchronous lecture

• links to helpful resources

On the main Blackboard page, I also had a day-by-day table which contained

• the main concepts under study

• the assigned reading

• links to Learning Glass videos

• links to asynchronous class worksheets

• reminders for upcoming events (exams, etc)

This course also has a significant laboratory component. Some of the labs were completed virtually, with students working up data provided to them for experiments they would have done. We are also part of the beta-testing group for the HHMI- and NSF-funded MICRO project for engaged at-home laboratory learning. Students completed four at-home labs over eight weeks, with materials prepared by the instructors and mailed to them at home.