A Desirable Combination for Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratories: Face-to-Face Teaching with Computer-Aided, Modifiable Program for Grading and Assessment

The COVID-19 outbreak has altered chemistry laboratory instruction and forced us to reconsider the balance between face-to-face and online teaching. Our students preferred face-to-face teaching (score 4.1/5 on a Likert-like scale) to virtual laboratory exercises (3.4/5) despite the fact that their performance score was actually lower in face-to-face laboratories (72.7/100) than that obtained through online classes (85.0/100) in Introduction Chemistry I Lab. Student performance in virtual biochemistry laboratories in spring 2020 (94.3 +/- 1.6/100) was close to that from similar face-to-face exercises done in the fall 2017 (90.4 +/- 0.9/100). Students viewed virtual laboratories as more approachable and appeared to master the underlying content better than in face-to-face laboratories although their responses regarding the effectiveness of online teaching were mixed. A combination of face-to-face teaching with a computer-aided, modifiable program for grading and assessment would have a promising future.