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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

ITC Audioconference Entitled "Teaching Science Online"


MCC will host the ITC audioconference entitled "Teaching Science Online" on Tuesday, October 26 from 4:00-5:00 p.m. in the Board Lounge.  Contact Carol Wilkinson at Ext. 3019 or via email to reserve a seat. 

The presenter is Michael Kolitsky, CEO, nextgenEmedia. Summary - teaching science online is problematic due to the inclusion of the laboratory component. Online science instructors try to duplicate as much of the hands-on experience offered in traditional labs as possible. Lab kits have been developed which students can pick up or receive by mail as long as they contain no chemicals prohibited by postal law. Other approaches have used items that can be purchased in local supermarkets or grocery stores, eliminating the need for a lab kit. The third strategy involves using simulations in virtual environments which benefits the non-science major and science major laboratory experience.  This presentation will look closely at two courses in the biological sciences which have labs that are based on simulations. The first is for non-science majors, “The Human Body.” The second is an upper division majors course, “eHistology.” The presenter will address the role of learning objects in the design of these labs and compare the value of simulations in majors and non-majors science laboratories. He will describe a strategy for finding copyright-free images, especially for anatomy-based courses, and demonstrate simulation software for doing physiology experiments. Kolitsky will explore the future of simulation and growing importance of virtual 3D worlds in which the possibility of tactile feedback to the learner may occur.

Carol Wilkinson
Educational Technology Services
10/20/2004