Practical approaches to delivering pandemic impacted laboratory teaching

#DryLabsRealScience is a community of practice established to support life science educators with the provision of laboratory-based classes in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and restricted access to facilities. Four key approaches have emerged from the innovative work shared with the network: videos, simulations, virtual/augmented reality, and datasets, with each having strengths and weaknesses. Each strategy was used pre-COVID and has a sound theoretical underpinning;here, we explore how the pandemic has forced their adaptation and highlight novel utilisation to support student learning in the laboratory environment during the challenges faced by remote and blended teaching. © HEAd 2022. All Rights Reserved.

Application of Somatosensory Camera in Robot Remote Experimental Teaching

This article proposes a method to remotely control the robot in the laboratory through the Kinect camera to solve the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic on the laboratory teaching experience which allows users to remotely control robots through their own body movements to understand the principles of robots. It is used to solve the problem of fewer students willing to participate in robot remote education. In this study, the Azure Kinect DK camera was used to collect the motion posture of the upper limbs of the human body. The Kinect camera calculates the frames of human arm joints' motion. The control system calculates the direction of motion of each joint of the human body based on the quaternion by mapping the heterogeneous human joints with the robot joints. Make the posture of the human arm swing correspond to the posture of the robot's movement. Thus, the robot in the laboratory can be driven remotely through Azure Kinect DK. By using the method described in this article, students use the camera's motion capture system to remotely manipulate the robot to grab some simple objects. Through the method described in this research, students can carry out some simple operations on the robots in the laboratory from remote. So it is convenient for students to understand the basic principles of robots and achieve the purpose of better remote experimental teaching. At the same time, students can get practical application of motor servo control, ergonomics, physical simulation engine, digital twin system, etc. © 2022 IEEE.

Rapid Conversion of a Biomedical Engineering Laboratory from in Person to Online.

Temporary higher education institution closures in response to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic disrupted student teaching. This paper reports on the rapid conversion of an in person laboratory session to online delivery, within 24 h of the previously scheduled in person session, and two working days after the end of face-to-face teaching at the authors' institution. To ensure teaching continuity for students, and address intended learning outcomes (ILOs) where possible, we created online material rapidly in a manner familiar to students. Online material followed the same structure as a previously released laboratory script, intended for the in person session, and was presented on the institutional Virtual Learning Environment. The online material comprised experimental data in tables and equipment readouts, brief descriptions, and short videos demonstrating the experimental methods. We assess to what extent the ILOs were met, and argue that clear ILOs help guide changes to teaching methods, to reduce any disruption to student learning. Four aspects of the initiative are highlighted: rapid delivery; familiar structure; familiar delivery; and videos used for emphasis.

Redesigning and teaching veterinary microbiology laboratory exercises with combined on-site and online participation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic has forced universities to find new ways to conduct learning and teaching, as traditional face-to-face teaching has been prevented or restricted to an absolute minimum in many instances. Therefore, we redesigned and taught second-year veterinary student microbiology laboratory exercises (labs) with a hybrid learning approach. For this, a novel 'remote partner' model was implemented in which students present on-site in the laboratory worked synchronously pairwise with their remote partner present online. A student feedback survey revealed that in this remote partner model, both on-site and online participation in the labs were experienced as being useful in improving their laboratory skills. The students' overall performance in hands-on microbiological laboratory skills and safe working practices was similar in the hybrid learning approach (the 2021 class) and in the traditional on-site participation approach (the 2018-20 classes). This study suggests that the remote partner model is an effective way to acquire microbiological laboratory skills. This learning approach can be used in the non-pandemic future and/or also be applied to other fields.

Sudden challenges in teaching ecology and aligned disciplines during a global pandemic: Reflections on the rapid move online and perspectives on moving forward.

The challenges facing higher education in response to COVID-19 are significant and possibly none more so than in ecology and aligned disciplines. Not only did most ecology lecturers have to rush lectures and tutorials online, but also laboratory and field classes. We reflect on our experience of this move and also consider those of 30 other ecology-aligned teaching academics to summarize the challenges faced in the move online early in 2020 and the developing plans for adapting ecology teaching and learning going into the 2020/21 academic year. The move online had the most significant impact on field classes, with more of these canceled than lectures or laboratory classes. Most respondents to an online poll also highlighted that many respondents (~45%) felt that ecology was more impacted by COVID-19 that even other STEM disciplines. The availability of technological solutions is key to moving forward and will hopefully enhance the teaching and learning experience for many beyond the current crisis.

Teaching virtual protein-centric CUREs and UREs using computational tools.

Readily available, free, computational approaches, adaptable for topics accessible for first to senior year classes and individual research projects, emphasizing contributions of noncovalent interactions to structure, binding and catalysis were used to teach Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences that fulfil generally accepted main CURE components: Scientific Background, Hypothesis Development, Proposal, Experiments, Teamwork, Data Analysis of quantitative data, Conclusions, and Presentation.