In his announcement, Simon acknowledged that, "Making a rapid transition to remote teaching and learning is, without question, a challenge. But Lehigh gets things done. And what we do, we do well. Many of our faculty already have experience using remote teaching approaches. Those who did not, have been actively partnering with our CITL and other Library and Technology Services staff to quickly learn and apply the fundamentals of remote teaching and learning." For those of you who have experienced the rigorous nature of a Lehigh chemistry course, you may be asking how science courses of this nature could possibly be continued under this environment. We're glad you asked! Professor of Practice, Andy Ho, who teaches the large general chemistry courses for the department, has shared his experience in making this transition to 100 percent remote instruction -- and then back to a variety of instructional modalities in the Fall 2020 semester. Q: What was your last day on campus in March of 2020 (and what was that like?) What was your first day back to campus (and what was that like?) My last day was the Friday (3/13) before the university completely closed down building access "until further notice" on March 18, 2020. This was after the announcement about classes moving online for the rest of the semester had already been made on March 12, so I was there to pick up some items from my office. My first day back was at the beginning of August – that was primarily to print some documents and collect some more items from my office. Q: Did you continue to meet virtually with students on a regular basis? I provided lectures via a variety of technologies and scheduled multiple office hours every week for the duration of the spring semester. This was to ensure that every student had the opportunity to meet with me. Q: What was that like? Did you use technologies like Zoom or Panopto, to stay connected students? Were classes synchronous, asynchronous–or some blend of those options? I recorded asynchronous lecture videos using Panopto and posted those for the students to review. I used Zoom for office hours and other meetings. Q: How were students able to complete the lab portion of their chemistry instruction? The students were given experimental data that allowed them to write and submit their lab reports. Q: Have you returned to the campus for in-person instruction in the Fall semester? If so, what are the arrangements for a safe environment while in lectures and labs? The laboratory portion of CHM 30 is being held in person while the lecture is purely online. The lab capacity has been reduced, so students alternate between in-person and virtual experiments. Students must pass their self-assessment prior to attending lab. While they are in the laboratory every student works by themselves and is distanced from their classmates. They also wear a mask, goggles, and gloves at all times –to avoid contamination we provide them with a fresh mask when they enter the lab. This mask is then disposed of when they leave. All surfaces are also sanitized between each session. Q: About what percentage of students are you teaching virtual versus actual on-campus students this semester? What are the challenges in these situations. Due to safety restrictions, the CHM 30 and 31 lectures are purely virtual. One of the challenges is being accessible to students who may be located all across the world – noon at Lehigh may correspond to midnight in other time zones. It is also impossible to replicate certain benefits of in-person instruction that we often take for granted. Being able to connect with our students is much more difficult. In addition, while the total amount of instructional time with the students might be the same, preparing and implementing virtual classes is requiring significantly more time than a regular class. This also applies to exams as there are limitations to what we can reasonably expect a student to do online, especially in large introductory courses. Ho is a native of sunny southern California. He did his undergrad work at UCLA and completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry at Harvard University working under James G. Anderson. He came to Lehigh in 2009 as the manager of the general chemistry labs-- and then accepted a position as Professor of Practice in 2013 Department of Chemistry · Page 7
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