[论文解读] Teaching labs during a pandemic: Lessons from Spring 2020 and an outlook for the future

Michael F. J. Fox, Alexandra Werth+2 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Jul 2, 2020

Online Learning and Analytics被引用 35

一句话总结

这篇论文调查物理实验室教师和学生在2020年春季将实验室改作紧急远程教学的情况，详细描述动机、目标、活动、挑战，以及对未来远程/混合实验室的影响。

ABSTRACT

We report results from a survey of lab instructors on how they adapted their courses in the transition to emergency remote teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this report is to share the experiences of instructors in order to prepare for future remote teaching of labs. We include summaries of responses to help illustrate the types of lab activities that were done, learning goals for the remote labs, motivations for instructors' choices, challenges instructors faced, and ways in which instructors and students communicated. This is a first step in a larger project as part of an NSF RAPID grant to understand what happened during the switch to remote labs and how it impacted teaching methods and student learning.

研究动机与目标

• Document instructors' motivations and challenges in transitioning to remote labs during COVID-19.
• Catalogue changes in learning goals, especially shifts between concepts and skills.
• Describe remote lab activities and resources used (data sharing, simulations, videos, at-home kits).
• Assess student agency, engagement, collaboration, and communication in remote labs.
• Provide actionable recommendations for designing future remote or hybrid laboratory courses.

提出的方法

• Survey of 129 courses from 106 instructors conducted around Apr 30, 2020, with most responses in the following two weeks.
• Supplementary student survey appended to E-CLASS administered to over 2,600 students in 50+ courses; qualitative quotes from interviews.
• Quantitative results presented as means with standard errors in figures; qualitative exemplars provided as quotes.
• Classification of examples using labeled tags to aid navigation (Intro/BFY, major, class size, subject labels).
• Descriptive organization around motivations, learning goals, lab activities, student agency, and communication; synthesis for future recommendations.

实验结果

研究问题

• RQ1 What were instructors' motivations for transitioning to remote labs and what challenges did they face?
• RQ2 How did learning goals shift from pre-transition to post-transition in remote labs (concepts vs skills)?
• RQ3 What remote lab activities were employed and how did they align with learning goals?
• RQ4 How did student agency, engagement, and collaboration manifest in remote lab settings?
• RQ5 What recommendations arise for future remote or hybrid physics laboratory courses?

主要发现

• Instructors aimed to meet the same content and learning goals, with equity concerns emerging as a key consideration.
• The most common challenges were making the remote class as similar to in-person, along with time and technology constraints; grading was less problematic in many cases.
• After transition, learning goals tended to shift toward reinforcing concepts, though many courses that focused on skills maintained that emphasis.
• Common remote-lab activities included providing data to analyze, using simulations, showing videos of labs, and having students collect data at home or work with remotely controlled equipment.
• At-home data collection often relied on household materials or mailed lab kits, with equity, health, and safety considerations guiding design decisions.
• Video demonstrations and ISLE-like activities were used to maintain interactivity; simulations (e.g., PhET, Pivot Interactives) were widely adopted to support concept learning and data analysis.