Virtual Computational Chemistry Teaching Laboratories—Hands-On at a Distance

• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00655
• Publication Date: 2021-09-14T20:12:35Z
• Authors: Rika Kobayashi; Theodorus P. M. G...; N. Ole Carstensen; Thomas M. Soini; Nicola Marzari; Iurii Timrov; Samuel Poncé; Edward B. Linscott; Christopher J. Se...; Giovanni Pizzi; Francisco Ramirez; Marnik Bercx; Sebastiaan P. Huber; Carl S. Adorf; Leopold Talirz
• Keywords: internet/web-based learning; Laboratory Instruction; Internet/Web-Based Learning; Computer-Based Learning; first-year undergraduate/general; upper-division undergraduate; collaborative/cooperative learning; Graduate Education/Research; Physical Chemistry; Education; laboratory instruction; physical chemistry; distance learning/self instruction; computer-based learning; First-Year Undergraduate/General; graduate education/research; 4. Education; 05 social sciences; Hands-On Learning/Manipulatives; Upper-Division Undergraduate; hands-on learning/manipulatives; Collaborative/Cooperative Learning; Distance Learning/Self Instruction; 0503 education

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted chemistry teaching practices globally as many courses were forced online necessitating adaptation to the digital platform. The biggest impact was to the practical component of the chemistry curriculum – the so-called wet lab. Naively, it would be thought that computer-based teaching labs would have little problem in making the move. However, this is not the case as there are many unrecognised differences between delivering computer-based teaching in-person and virtually: software issues, technology and classroom management. Consequently, relatively few “hands-on” computational chemistry teaching laboratories are delivered online. In this paper we describe these issues in more detail and how they can be addressed, drawing on our experience in delivering a third-year computational chemistry course as well as remote hands-on workshops for the Virtual Winter School on Computational Chemistry and the European BIG-MAP project.