Association for Biology Laboratory Education

Using Synchronous Labs to Build Online Peer Learning Communities and Maintain a Meaningful Laboratory Experience
 

Debra Grantham, Debbie Fiore, Linda Forrester and Elizabeth Welsh

Advances in Biology Laboratory Education, 2022, Volume 42

https://doi.org/10.37590/able.v42.art44

Abstract

All laboratory educators were thrown into a similar situation by the COVID-19 pandemic. We were all challenged by the sudden shift away from our in-person active learning, hands-on lab activities and student interactions. The need to quickly switch to new online teaching approaches forced us to re-examine and re-prioritize our teaching strategies. To help guide us, we sought inspiration from teaching discussions with colleagues, workshops, consultation with course developers, and established online teaching practices. Converting labs to online resulted in novel approaches that enabled student learning and interaction. Common themes of group work, ability of instructors to easily view student work in progress, use of color and images in lab exercises, shared Excel sheets, and use of peer review emerged during the online lab experience. After our brief presentations, we would like to hear what has worked well for you in a group discussion, with cameras on please. Aspects of these strategies may be useful for us to continue in future, in-person labs.

Keywords:  online, active learning, synchronous, peer-learning, laboratory approaches

Virtual ABLE (ViABLE) (2021)