UCSD Extension Progressive Feature Story

Hook

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the United States, colleges and universities shuttered their doors without hesitation. Students were forced out of the dorms, going back home to continue their secondary education online with no end in sight. For some students, the change to online curricula changed little about how they learned. Yet for others – such as biology and chemistry majors that depend on lab classes for hands-on experience – it raised many questions about how they get practical experience while in online college.

Let’s learn about some of the ways lab professors have adjusted to this perplexing puzzle.

Summary of assignment

It turns out there was a silver lining to the pandemic after all. I care a lot about biology education at the secondary school level and something the pandemic did was expose just how essential it was to have in-person classes for lab sessions. To qualify that, I work as a supporting staff for UC San Diego’s Biology Teaching Labs; usually I help prep biology experiments before lab sessions and buy materials beforehand. But with lab classes remote (how does that even work, you might ask), I was left with nothing to do. Or did I?

Knowing that I wanted to pursue teaching in the future, I took it as an opportunity to think how to leverage part of online lab classes to supplement the usual in-person education. I know that it can’t replace the real deal, but to an extent, there is a lot of value digital education can offer for lab classes. In this sense, because of the pandemic, what are current professors doing now to accommodate for these changes? I hope to interview two of my favorite professors (both teaching professors at UC San Diego) Dr. Katie Petrie and Dr. Niema Moshiri for this. For the hook, I think it could be better, and it will probably change once I talk to Professor Mendoza and interview the professors.