Written by Victoria Guzzo • September 3, 2024 • 2 min read
Table of contents
Brittany’s Online Lab Experience
Brittany recently completed an online chemistry lab course at Hillsborough Community College. As a full-time student living 90-minutes from campus, Brittany was relieved to have the opportunity to complete her degree from home. Had this chemistry course only been offered on campus, she would have had to commute up to three hours for each class.
This time savings translated into a higher quality learning experience. It allowed her to go at her own pace and have the time she needed to read all of the materials, something she doubts she would have been able to do if she was commuting.
| ????Light Bulb Moment???? Prior to this course, Brittany had taken an online chemistry course that used only virtual labs, but it wasn’t the same kind of experience. “It was better to have hands-on labs because I’ll be doing more of that when I transfer to USF. I wouldn’t feel as prepared with just the virtual labs, and now I’m more confident I won’t have any issues with my credits transferring because it was a hands-on lab experience!” |
Brittany expected the course to be a time commitment, and it was. “I expected it to take a lot of time, but that’s not because of the labs, I just like to take longer and go at my own pace. I usually would plan a half day or so to get everything for a lab complete, including redoing parts I wanted to see again. I had enough chemicals in my kit to do that. I was pretty happy with this and felt like I learned a lot.”
If there was an opportunity to take a lab online again, she would.
“It was a quality learning experience, and if you consider the additional expenses to commute and attend an on-campus lab, this was a similar experience and worth it.”
| My Most Memorable Lab: Titration for Acetic Acid in Vinegar “The titration labs were fun. It was interesting to see the chemicals change color instantly once you get a certain amount of the titration solution in there. There was one activity where I was burning a chemical, and you were able to see how much the chemical burnt off.” During this lab, students apply titration techniques to investigate acetic acid in vinegar. They learn how to determine the molar concentration and calculate the average concentration and percent concentration of acetic acid. |
Drawing Conclusions
Like any good experiment, you work your way through the scientific method to analyze the results, reflect on your findings, and draw your conclusions so you can move forward with new knowledge and ideas.
So now that you’re at the end of your online lab course, tell us: what did you learn and what advice might you give after your experience?
To students…I would recommend you do the labs early and make sure that you look over the formulas that you need to know beforehand. It will help you feel more prepared when it’s time for the lab.
To instructors…Take into account the difficulty of the course and the different ways you might support students online. It is so helpful to have a hands-on experience, but we definitely need resources and your guidance to complete the course successfully.
