Missouri S&T Science Labs Webinars

Part 1 – WATCH NOW

Missouri S&T is well-recognized as a research university. Founded in 1870 as the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy, we have a long history of innovation. Our mission is to integrate education, research and application to create and convey knowledge that serves our state and helps solve the world’s greatest challenges.

An ever-present challenge in today’s educational market is the ability to incorporate hands-on, experiential learning into online science and engineering programs. With the development of DELTA labs, Delivering Experiential Labs to All, we have done just that.

This webinar will guide participants through the Laboratory Redesign Handbook created at Missouri S&T. Participants will learn the DELTA lab creation process and a few tips and tricks for laboratory design. Finally, our vision for the future sustainability and continued integration of DELTA labs into the standard curriculum will be shared.

Part 2 – WATCH NOW

Laboratory redesign gained attention at Missouri S&T in late 2012, when a handful of campus laboratory instructors were asked, “Why do you teach the labs which you teach?” This question served as the springboard for focused efforts regarding laboratory redesign.

As new course goals and learning objectives were created, many of the labs were completely overhauled in order to better meet today’s global market. The result was the birth of DELTA, Delivering Experiential Labs to All. The first blended and online DELTA labs, which all include hands-on, experiential components, were piloted in the Fall Semester of 2014. Though many instructors have chosen to use various sorts of experimental kits for these courses, one of the biggest lessons learned is that a kit is not a course. At Missouri S&T, we customize the experience to the needs of our learners, no matter where they may be.

In this webinar, participants will look closely at one of the first DELTA labs to be piloted, the general biology lab for non-biology majors. The instructor who created the course, along with the instructional designer who assisted, will describe best practices and pitfalls. They will also share one strategy used to overcome the biggest challenge they discovered with creating an “online” wet lab for biology students.

Speaker Bio

S. Amy Skyles is employed by Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) as an instructional designer and is also an instructor for the Canvas Network. She holds a BS in Biological Sciences from Missouri S&T and a Master’s of Education from Drury University. Skyles is also certified as an online educator by the University of Missouri, Columbia (Mizzou Online). She had been in the field of education since 2003 as a junior high school teacher, adjunct instructor for multiple institutions, and instructional designer.
Skyles has developed an expertise in laboratory redesign practices using best pedagogical methodologies. Skyles is recognized as the “go-to” person on the S&T campus for learning about instructional design of laboratory courses, including DELTA Labs, which strive for the goal of Delivering Experiential Labs to All.

Skyles has a passion for learning and would consider herself a lifelong learner who is perpetually trying to discover new things and new ways of doing the things that she has already made a part of her life. Teaching and learning are both very enjoyable for Skyles and she is passionately believes that blended and online learning should be considered as a part of the standard way of teaching instead of as a new or emerging type of instruction.
At home in Rolla, Missouri, Skyles enjoys spending time with her husband and two children; oftentimes coaching, spectating, or playing on the baseball or softball field.

 

Terry Wilson is an Associate Teaching Professor in Biological Sciences at Missouri University of Science and Technology. She earned her B.S. in Biology Secondary Education and M.S. in Biology at Missouri State University.

Wilson has been teaching at Missouri University of Science and Technology since 1993. She teaches Principles of Biology lecture and lab, Biodiversity lecture and lab and Cellular Biology Lab. She also serves as a freshman advisor. In 2014 she received an eFellow’s grant to redesign the lab lecture portion of Cellular Biology Lab into a flipped course with mini-lectures and video demonstrations online. This allowed all of the class time to be used for the “hands-on” portion of the laboratory. In the spring of 2015, she piloted a fully online General Biology Lab for non-majors.