NANSLO:  PUTTING  SCIENCE  LABS  

ONLINE  

Moderator:  Patricia  Shea,  WICHE  (CO)    Presenter:  Rhonda  Epper,  Colorado  Community  College  System  (CO)    

Presenter:  Paul  Stacey,  BCcampus  (Bri@sh  Columbia)  

February  13,  2012  

Next  Genera@on  Learning  Challenges  

  The  North  American  Network  of  Science  Labs  Online  (NANSLO)  was  selected  from  more  than  600  Wave  I  pre-­‐proposals  and  50  finalists  

  15-­‐month,  $750,000  grant   One  of  two  interna@onal  projects  funded  

 The  Bill  &  Melinda  Gates  Founda@on  and  the  William  and  Flora  HewleZ  Founda@on  helped  design  Next  Genera@on  Learning  Challenges  and  fund  the  ini@a@ve  

 Mul@year,  collabora@ve  ini@a@ve  focused  on  iden@fying  and  accelera@ng  the  growth  of  effec@ve  educa@on  technology  that  can  help  improve  college  readiness  and  comple@on  in  the  United  States,  especially  among  low-­‐income  individuals  

 NGLC  is  focused  on  early-­‐stage  innova@ons  that  look  promising  but  require  significant  technology  investments  

 EDUCAUSE,  dedicated  to  advancing  higher  educa@on  through  the  use  of  technology,  leads  the  NGLC  ini@a@ve  

The  Numbers:  Online  Learning  

 Use  of  online  learning  in  the  U.S.  is  beginning  to  move  from  “high  growth”  to  “steady  enrollment”  

 The  Health  professions,  and  related  sciences,  stand  out  as  being  the  “fastest  growing”  

 OER  is  also  seeing  increased  use  in  distance  learning    50%  surveyed  indicate  use  in  Online  Learning    Over  50%  use  in  Face-­‐to-­‐Face  Learning    47%  use  in  Blended  Learning  

 Concerns  about  quality  

Allen,  Elaine,  and  Jeff  Seaman.  Going  the  Distance:  Online  Educa@on  in  the  United  States,  2011.  Rep.  BABSON  Survey  Research  Group,  Nov.  2011.  hZp://babson.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_6Xpu84FGPyTh6CM.  

Remote  Access  to  Scien@fic  Instrumenta@on  

 Remote  access  to  scien@fic  instrumenta@on  has  been  in  prac@ce  for  many  years  

 NASA  Mars  Rover  and  Space  Sta@on  

 Remote  Sensing  in  Oceanographic  Study  

Remote  Access  to  Scien@fic  Laboratories  

 Remote  access  to  science  lab  equipment  started  in  the  mid-­‐1990s  in  higher  educa@on  

 Wide-­‐spread  adop@on  is  slow   Percep@on  that  “remote”  is  not  

“real”   Ini@al  cost  of  equipment  and  

maintenance   Technical  complexity  

 Strong  student  outcomes  challenge  percep@ons  

 Remote  lab  pedagogy  is  evolving  

Benefits  of  Remote  Laboratories  

 Remote  access  benefits  underserved  students   Rural,  disabled,  and  working  students  with  difficult  

schedules  can  access  scien@fic  experiments  24x7  

 Networked  laboratories  promote  efficiency   Expensive  scien@fic  resources  are  shared  by  mul@ple  

ins@tu@ons  and  scheduled  for  maximum  efficiency  

 Students  enjoy  benefits  of  remote  access   Extended  opportunity  for  repeated  experimenta@on  

 Preferred  over  use  of  simula@ons  

 Equipment  and  materials  are  controlled   Access  to  expensive  or  dangerous  materials  

NANSLO  Mission  Statement  

 NANSLO  provides  a  consor@um  approach  to  the  development  and  deployment  of  high-­‐quality,  modular,  openly  licensed  courseware  integra@ng  learner-­‐centered  and  immersive  web-­‐based  labs  using  sooware,  video  and  robo@cs  for  the  study  of  science  courses  

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North  American  Network  of  Science  Labs  Online  -­‐  NANSLO  

Bri@sh  Columbia  

Colorado  

Wyoming  

Montana  

NANSLO  Project  Objec@ves  

 Developing  high-­‐quality  first-­‐semester  core  curriculum  for  Biology,  Chemistry,  &  Physics  

 Designing  comprehensive  laboratory  learning  experiences  which  meet  learning  outcomes  while  accommoda@ng  flexible  delivery  op@ons  

 Integra@ng  innova@ve  technologies  for  media@ng  science  learning   Remote  Web-­‐based  Science  Laboratories   Lab  kits  

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NANSLO  

NANSLO  Deliverables  

 Three  open  courses  including  course  curriculum  and  laboratory  experiments  for  first-­‐semester  biology,  chemistry  &  physics  

 NANSLO  Network  &  Expansion  Resources   establishes  a  federated  network  of  US  and  Canadian  post-­‐

secondary  ins@tu@ons  collec@vely  collabora@ng  on  and  using  open  core  science  courses  and  remote  web-­‐based  science  labs.   Environmental  Scan  of  remote  science  educa@on  labs  in  the  US  and  Canada  

 How-­‐to  adop@on  manual  of  case  studies,  policies  and  procedures  that  others  can  use  to  guide  their  own  adop@on  of  RWSL  

 Scale  network  template  that  provides  guidance  on  scaling  use  of  remote  labs  across  all  ins@tu@ons  collabora@ng  in  NANSLO  as  well  as  a  sustainability  model.  

 Evaluator  Report  

Remote  Web-­‐Based  Science  Laboratories  

•  Allows  par@cipa@on  in  laboratory  experiments  for  students  who  may  otherwise  be  unable  to  aZend  a  tradi@onal  classroom/laboratory  seqng  

•  Students  interact  with  and  manipulate  remote  scien@fic  laboratory  equipment  

•  Class  works  in  small  groups  or  individually  to  collect  authen@c  real-­‐world  scien@fic  data  in  real  @me  

•  Ideally,  students  feel  like  they  are  “in  the  lab”,  or  at  least,  “in  the  next  room”  

Lab  Kits  for  Remote  Student  Use  

 Students  are  provided  with  all  laboratory  equipment  necessary  for  remote  experimenta@on  

Physics  lab  kit  example  

Equipment  for  Remote  Access  

 Lab  Server  (required)   Desktop  computer,  Video  archive  storage   Na@onal  Instruments’  LabVIEW  with  virtual  instruments  

 Video/Audio  (required)   Cameras,  Capture  Card,  Video  Mul@plexer,  Streaming  Audio/Video  Server  

 Various  Hardware     Frame,  Robo@c  Slides  and  Tables  Robo@c  Posi@oning  Slides  and  Rotary  Tables,  Robo@c  Arm,  Spectrometer,  Digital  Microscope,  Air  Track  

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Text  Chat  Skype  

Elluminate  

RWSL  Overview  

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Lab  Equipment  

Internet   RWSL  

Observa@on  

Data  

Manipula@on  

Students  

Communica@ons   Data  Acquisi@on  

Video/Audio  Observa@on  

Physical  Manipula@on  

Google+ Hangouts Skype

Elluminate

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Pan  Tilt  Zoom  Camera  Video  Streamer  Video  Mixer  

Observa@on  

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Robo@c  Arm  Linear  Slides  Rotary  Tables  Slide  Loader  

Physical  Manipula@on  

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Chemistry/Physics  Spectrometer  –  proper@es  of  light  such  as  intensity,  polariza@on,  wavelength  

LabVIEW  Sooware  

Data  Acquisi@on  

NANSLO  Considera@ons  for  the  Future  

 Further  partners  &  funding  are  being  sought  for  expansion  of  North  American  Network,  ideas  include:   Con@nua@on  and  expansion  of  discipline  panels  of  faculty  collabora@ng  

on  development  of  open  courses   Developing  or  adop@ng  an  open  textbook  for  the  open  biology,  chemistry  

and  physics  courses   Expanding  development  of  online  science  courses  using  the  RWSL  from  

first  year  to  second,  third,  and  fourth  years  toward  a  complete  creden@al   Partnering  with  other  exis@ng  science  lab  online  ini@a@ves  to  broaden  

the  areas  of  science  beyond  physics,  biology,  and  chemistry  to  other  scien@fic  domains    

 Instruc@onally  designing  a  pedagogy  that  op@mally  blends  lab  kits,  simula@ons,  and  RWSL  –  proposal  pending  on  this  topic  to  NSF  

 Sustaining  and  expanding  the  RWSL  as  a  shared  service  to  rural  students/tribal  councils,  other  ins@tu@ons  or  states/provinces  

CONTACT  INFORMATION  Pat  Shea,  NANSLO  PI  

pshea@wiche.edu  

Rhonda  Epper,  CCCS  rhonda.epper@cccs.edu      

Paul  Stacey,  BCcampus  pstacey@bccampus.ca    

Project  Overview  hZp://www.wiche.edu/nanslo  

NANSLO  Wiki  hZp://nanslo.pbworks.com