Students add masks to their lab safety attire as courses requiring laboratory sections will host in-person lab instruction.
While labs will be planned for in-person instruction, there will be options for students to take the labs online.
“We are moving parts of labs entirely online so that we can concentrate on those aspects that benefit most from being in-person when we do meet,” said Chris North, Life Sciences Program Instructional Laboratory Coordinator.
Students can choose an all online option if they do not wish to return to in-person instruction. However, for the students who will be on campus and in class, there are changes to how labs will operate to keep them safe and healthy.
North said that the lab room’s capacity has been limited to about half and follow all University guidelines already set. Also, this will unfortunately cut student’s time in labs by at least half.
“One of the most challenging aspects of distancing and online is the effect on group work in the lab. Many of our lab experiments are designed to require teamwork, which will be difficult with distancing,” said North. “We are adapting in-person activities to work around this issue while incorporating ways of engaging students with their peers online.”
There are new ways of in-person instruction that will be introduced to help students beyond just the classroom.
“The in-person workshop option we’re planning to use in some courses is exciting because we hope to be able offer the workshops again for free in the future for any students who are unable to complete them during fall 2020 but want the experience,” said North.
With the rising number of COVID-19 cases nationwide and in Wyoming, many higher education personnel are anxious to see if colleges and universities will be able to finish the fall semester in-person.
North said that labs are being designed to offer in-person and online options so the transition to fully online instruction is possible and easy for the instructors and students.
Students are also excited to be back on campus. However, many students are anxiously waiting to see how in-person courses will be conducted, especially when so many classes have already been moved online.
“I feel that online offers more flexibility with assignments and everything else, but I don’t think I learn the same,” said Maggie Ringley, a microbiology and animal and veterinary science student at the University of Wyoming. “I definitely don’t have the same motivation because it is not as structured as in person classes, so for me personally I find it does affect my learning ability and therefore my education.”
Labs offer students a way to learn material that is more hands-on and physical than just reading it or watching someone else do the activity. So, students can look forward to this aspect of their courses being a little different but still an option.
“Labs may be long, but I feel that they can be underrated sometimes,” said Ringley.
