We’d like to take a moment to thank the Physical Sciences faculty, adjunct faculty and staff, for the incredible effort and commitment that went into offering the majority of labs in Flex modality! Despite becoming unexpectedly short-staffed at the start of the semester, our faculty and staff were able to implement successful, efficient, and, most importantly, safe FlexLearning labs for students to engage with. Converting a lecture to an online or FlexLearning format is no simple task, but converting chemistry and physics labs is an entirely different challenge — one which our faculty and staff took on with grace and moxie.
Some of the things involved in this conversion included:
- Modifying lab experiments to allow for rotations.
- Recording videos of experiments.
- Enriching lab curriculum with virtual simulations.
- Employing former graduates as laboratory facilitators.
- Providing virtual chemistry and physics peer mentoring – free to students.
- Keeping instrumentation functioning even during summer when we were under pandemic restrictions.
- Collaborating with facilities to equip labs with plexiglass to separate benches and encase sink area.
- Collaborating with IT to equip labs with technology to connect with students participating remotely.
The following precautions were implemented:
- Only eight students (half of normal occupancy) are allowed in each lab to maintain social distancing. If more than eight in-person students are enrolled in a section, then students are split into two groups and rotate within that same lab period.
- Lab drawers are assigned to each student.
- Hanging plexiglass separates the work benches, with additional provisions to minimize cross-traffic.
- Sink areas are encased with plexiglass.
- Disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer are supplied.
- Disposable face masks are provided for use with chemicals for that week’s experiment.
- Lab prep areas are spread out.
In Spring 2021, we are preparing even further enhancements by scheduling some labs with separate sections for students attending in-person and remotely.
Again, our sincere thanks go to all involved in making this transition a success. Your efforts are greatly appreciated. Congratulations to acting department chair Dr. Tamara Hamilton on excellent leadership.