Assessing online laboratories

CHED 373

Jennifer Civelli, jcivelli@cfcc.edu, Department of Chemistry, Cape Fear Community College, 411 N. Front St., Wilmington, NC 28401 and James H. Reeves, reeves@uncw.edu, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 601 South College Rd, Wilmington, NC 28403.
For the past 14 semesters, Cape Fear Community College and the University of North Carolina Wilmington have offered a distance learning section of the first semester of general chemistry for science majors. The laboratory component of this course is provided through a series of experiments designed to be done in a home kitchen. During the development of this course, the kitchen chemistry laboratory experience was evaluated using three laboratory practicals designed to assess the students' abilities to solve a novel problem, manipulate laboratory equipment and organize and interpret data. To extend this assessment, laboratory practicals also designed to be done at home are being developed. This presentation will discuss the use of practicals to assess distance learning laboratories.