Abstract:

Due to the current pandemic situation caused by COVID-19, traditional teaching methods have had to be substituted by new strategies that ensure students learning without conditioning their safety. In this way, laboratory sessions based on the use of Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) for students of the Masters’ Degree in Experimental Techniques in Chemistry at the University of Valencia (UV), should be adapted to the restrictions established by legal authorities. Since the instrument is located in a small room without natural ventilation, only two people could be inside the room at the same time. For this reason, it is not possible to teach student to manage the instrument in face-to-face sessions. Therefore, a video showing the different steps in order to use properly the instrument is strongly recommended and a detailed explanation of different applications with SEM were recorded to be used as a laboratory remote learning tool. The recording illustrates all the experimental steps that the student would have done in face-to-face sessions, which include sample preparation and instrumentation procedure required for taking microphotographs and to perform a microanalysis. After showing the video to the students in an on-line session, explaining them all the steps followed, they were asked to complete a satisfaction survey (using the Socrative tool), in which they evaluate the effectiveness of the video as an on-line teaching and instruction tool.

Keywords:

Scanning Electron Microscope, laboratory online teaching, satisfaction survey, master’s students.