Podcast: Adapting Labs for a New Norm

Late last summer, I joined Alchemie’s "Ideas That Matter" podcast to help instructors prepare for their fall classes. While many institutions were still trying to figure out whether they would be able to safely return to in-person learning or need to resume distance learning, I knew Labflow could help both instructors and students achieve their goals in lab courses.  

As we look toward the 2021–22 academic year, there is still some uncertainty when it comes to where and how students will learn. How can students be prepared to engage in labs? How can they produce work they’re proud of? And how will they learn if chemistry departments remain online or hybrid and students can’t physically be in the lab? Regardless of how your institution plans to move forward next year and beyond, Labflow can help support instructors, TAs, and students alike. 

Our digital learning platform is built mobile-first to look and work great on phones, tablets, and laptops. This allows students to engage in their learning on any device they have—anywhere they are and anytime they can. Labflow provides effective content to get students prepared for the lab, including videos that show how to do a particular technique or use a piece of equipment in the lab. These resources have also proven to be very valuable to help replace the in-lab learning experiences; if the students can’t do these techniques or handle equipment in person, at least they can see it being done correctly.  

In our conversation with Alchemie, I discussed another initiative Catalyst Education has been working on to help students to become the next generation of instructors, scientists, and problem-solvers. As part of our mission to lower the cost of education for students, we are building an open education resource lab manual. We configure courses to deliver provisional data—students are able to complete their lab reports as they normally would by using a set of data rather than collecting it themselves.

Listen to the podcast to learn more about how Labflow can simplify course management for instructors while improving student outcomes—wherever the learning takes place.