6533b7d5fe1ef96bd12653c1

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Desarrollo de prácticas en el laboratorio quí­mico en formato hí­brido apoyadas en el trabajo en equipo y ví­deos instructivos

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[EN] This work presents the adaptation of a course mainly based on practice sessions in the chemical laboratory into a blended learning format after the irruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was conducted during the course Experimentation in Chemical Engineering II of the third academic year of the B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering of the Polytechnic University of València. The development of experimental courses under the context of the pandemic takes place under strict room occupancy and hygiene rules, although teamwork and interaction between students tends to be more important than in theory classes. To make feasible that students gain experience in the use of equipment and pilot plants in the chemical laboratory, we proposed the formation of teams of 4 to 5 students, divided in two subgroups that alternated their attendance to the practice sessions. In order to mitigate the absence of one of the sub-groups in each session, we created instructive videos including the experimental part conducted in the laboratory. In addition to this, the experimental data gathered in the lab were treated by the complete team, so that all team members could participate in the treatment and analysis of experimental results. The number of views per video, as well as the response of the students in a survey confirmed the blended learning strategy as an adequate alternative to ensure the training of students in handson experiments, as well as to accomplish with the restrictive room-occupancy rules in laboratories in times of COVID-19.