NHREC Instructor Resources

Run Lab Activities

Lab activities often rely on specialized equipment and specific physical spaces. For this reason, reproducing and sustaining the lab components of a course are especially challenging in a temporary remote learning environment.

Keep These Principles In Mind:

Learning Objectives Are Key:

Develop a list of learning objectives for each of your lab activities if you don't already have one. Your list of learning objectives are key to inform the decisions you'll need to make as you move your labs online. Using the learning objectives to drive this process "eye on the prize".

You'll Need To Make Some Hard Decisions:

To be blunt, you'll need to make some hard decisions about the labs that won't be able to meet face to face. It's likely that you won't be able to meet all of your learning objectives, especially those for which physical contact/practice are critical. In some cases these objectives, you might need to set aside for when you can meet with students again face to face.

Provide Students With Clear Communication:

It is always important to be explicit and share learning objectives with students, and this is even more true in remote learning environments. Make sure to communicate learning objectives and goals.

Ideas To Run Lab Activities:

Investigate Virtual Labs:

Online resources and virtual tools might help replicate the experience of some labs (for example, virtual dissection, night sky apps, video demonstrations of labs, simulations). These vary widely by discipline but check with your textbook publisher or sites such as Merlot for materials that might help replace parts of your lab during an emergency.

Resources

Merlot - a curated collection of online resource and support materials (GSST, CTE, & SPED)

Provide Raw Data for Analysis:

In cases where the lab includes both collection of data and its analysis, consider showing how the data can be collected, and then provide some raw sets of data for students to analyze. This approach is not as comprehensive as having students collect and analyze their own data, but it might keep them engaged with parts of the lab experience during the closure. If possible, provide data in file types easily accessed by students, such as Google Sheets, MS Excel, PDF, or CSV text files. Files can easily be shared with students via Canvas/Google Classroom.

Resources

Sharing files via Canvas (GSST)

Sharing files via Google Classroom (CTE & SPED)

Google Meet Videoconferencing: Increase Interaction in Other Ways

Sometimes labs are more about having time for direct student interaction, so consider other ways to replicate that level of contact if it is only your lab that is out of commission. Having students participate in live Google Meet conversations is a good way, for example, to increase interaction.

Resources

Google Hangouts Meet in Canvas (GSST)

Host a Live Virtual Classroom - Google Classroom, Calendar, and Google Hangouts Meet (GSST, CTE, & SPED)

Google Meet for Remote and Online Learning | Tips and Tricks (GSST, CTE, & SPED)

A Teacher's Guide to Going Remote Using Meet and Google Classroom (GSST, CTE, & SPED)

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