DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF NON-CLASSROOM SUPPORTIVE ACTIVITIES FOR A BASIC LABORATORY COURSE IN THE CHEMISTRY AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY DEGREES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is a widely used tool to improve teaching-learning process in the context of a Higher Degree in Education. In this article, we describe and analyze some curricular experiments using ICT at the University of the Basque Country. We focus on “Basic Laboratory Operations” which is an essential subject that accounts 6 ECTS and it is taught during the first term of Chemistry and Engineering Chemistry degrees of Science and Technology Faculty. The authors surveyed 80 students of both degrees. The methodology of the course is planned as continues: seminars (0,2 ECTS), class practice (1,4 ECTS) and laboratory sessions (4,4 ECTS).

Seminars and class practices are used to explain theoretical aspects, exercises and results relates to the lab experiments. During the laboratory sessions the experimental work aims to provide the skills related to the basic lab ware handling and performance of routine procedures, requiring strict implementation of laboratory safety regulations.

The students face some challenges coming from the experimental nature of the subject, which we have tried to overcome with this educational innovation experience. On the one hand, some of the students have not previously acquired, in their high school period, the necessary skills for developing routine laboratory procedures. On the other hand, laboratory sessions are carried out in a restricted time and some students could require some additional reinforcement activities.

In this sense, we have used ICT tools in addition to active and collaborative work to reinforce the acquisition of the laboratory skills and encourage student’s autonomy. As virtual laboratories are essential digital tools, one of the innovation experiences has been the performance of videos by teachers compiling basic operations in the chemistry laboratory related to more problematic procedures. That supporting material is available in “eGela” computer platform and YouTube. In order to promote a more active involvement of the students in their learning process, they have been asked to create videos or flash presentations on complementary laboratory experiments.

Another experience has been the use of multiple-choice questions as handout through the computer platform to check the students have read and fully understood the theoretical aspects of the experiments prior to the lab session.
In this subject, it is also very relevant to transcript the experimental procedures and results into a lab notebook that can be checked anytime in the future. Its relevance has been transmitted through sharing lab notebooks among students in which they are required to perform an experimental work based on the data supplied in a colleague´s notebook.

Finally, the influence of the assessments, as well as the innovation used in both degrees, has been analyzed in the grading scale. The evolution of grades in the last five years have been studied, being concluded that formative assessment and feedback can be an important tool to enhance the first‐year experience and enable students to develop the skills needed for self‐regulated learning.