Online preparation for enhanced practice, confidence and learning, in chemical engineering experimental laboratories

Experimentation and/or learning by doing, where students apply and secure concepts gained in other concurrent courses, are an essential intrinsic component to any engineering discipline in higher education. Moreover, practical skills in chemical engineering are important for the formation and development of our students as well as being within the (Institution of Chemical Engineers) IChemE accreditation requirements. To cope with the restricted access to the university laboratories at the University of Edinburgh (UoE) during the academic year 2020–21 (AY20/21) caused by the COVID-19 lockdown, the different Chemical Engineering courses with laboratory components at the UoE made use of a wide range of digital tools including videos, quizzes, assignments, etc. to provide the necessary and relevant learning environment and ensure students could follow the different experimentations online as if they were in the lab. The quality and quantity of digital material and resources created motivated a subsequent development of a detailed step-by-step interactive online preparation experience prior to current in-person laboratory sessions. During this online preparation, students are guided through the introduction, experimental apparatus, risk assessment, start-up and shut-down via videos and videos embedded with quizzes, interactive activities such as fill in the blank and mix and match, as well as assignment submissions. The aims of the online preparation are three-fold: 1. provide the students with a more engaging and interactive mode of deepening their understanding on the experiment to be tackled; 2. furnish the student with a higher level of confidence and preparation prior the actual in-person experimentation; and 3. ensure students prepare and submit the necessary risk assessment before the laboratory session as expected by the IChemE. Overall, an enhancement in the students’ satisfaction when compared to other traditional preparation modes, such as making use of the laboratory manual, is reported. In particular, a 140 % increase in the confidence and practice are highlighted with an 80 % improvement in securing fundamentals, when compared to no preparation or the sole use of the laboratory manual. The better confidence and understanding prior to the laboratory session also played a role on the enjoyable and rewarding of such hands-on experimentation with the consequent better practical preparation of future professional engineers.