Abstract:

Laboratory practices in subjects such as Physics are an essential tool for student learning. Laboratory practices contribute to the development of skills typical of experimental work and equipment management, while applying the theoretical concepts studied to particular real problems. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, laboratory practices were severely hindered due to the confinement situation and the interpersonal distance restrictions implemented. Great efforts and the development of alternative methods were necessary to ensure that students acquired the necessary practical skills at sufficient levels of quality. This work describes our experience in the design, adaptation and implementation of the laboratory practices of the Physics II subject of the Degree in Electrical Engineering and Degree in Automation and Industrial Electronics Engineering of the University of Coruña during the 20/21 academic year as a consequence of the pandemic situation.

The practices were designed in a hybrid way, i.e. online mode and face-to-face mode, in order to attend to all possible scenarios. For the practices in online mode, short videos of the laboratory practices, in which the teacher carries out the practice experimentally, were made and uploaded to the Microsoft 365 Stream application. In addition, the practice scripts were adapted by introducing photos and descriptions of the components of the practice in order to recognize them in the videos. Finally, experimental data for each practice were given in the forms to be filled out by the students. The scripts, forms and links to the videos of the practices were uploaded to the Moodle platform of the subject. The students had to watch the videos, do the calculations of the practices with the given experimental data and submit the forms through a task created in Moodle. This online mode led to distance learning of practical activities with levels of quality similar to those existing in face-to-face teaching. However, in laboratory practices a greater and more active participation of students is desirable. The practices in face-to-face mode were carried out individually by the students in order to maintain the minimum safety distances recommended. Fortunately, the large space and the low number of students in each group (10 students) allowed the practices to be carried out in this way. As an advantage, each student had to use the different measuring devices individually, improving the acquisition of practical skills and stimulating self-learning.

Having the practices designed in both modes, made it possible to adapt the laboratory practices to any situation that existed at that time. Thus, the first practice session was in online mode due to the situation of total confinement, while the rest of the sessions were in face-to-face mode combined with online for those students who were confined.

Another objective of this work is to explore the possibilities of using the videos developed in online practices during the pandemic as a tool for flipped learning methodology. In the proposed flip methodology, the students must prepare the laboratory sessions before arriving at the laboratory by watching and analyzing the videos available on Moodle. In this way, the student encourages active and autonomous learning. Furthermore, with this methodology, the teacher's explanation prior to the practice could be reduced, thus giving the student more time to carry out the practice.

Keywords:

Physics laboratory practice, hybrid learning, distance learning, videos, flipped classroom.