Taking labs with classes - how does this work?

[suzycupcake]

Hey everyone -

I avoided all the sciences as best I could for as long as I could and here I am..

I'm taking some straighterline courses with labs and this might sound silly to people who have done labs before but how do I do this? Do I do wait until this lab kit comes in the mail and then start the course (Anatomy and Physiology I) or is the lab portion a separate course itself? 

And how do you actually do this? Do you take pictures or videos of what you are doing and mail them somewhere?

TIA!

[Jonathan Whatley]

On StraighterLine, lab portions are separate courses. You can start Anatomy & Physiology I (for example) any time, then start Anatomy & Physiology I Lab after you receive its lab kit. I expect that like most lab courses (on-campus too), they're mainly assessed by lab reports, which might be supported by pictures or videos.

[suzycupcake]

Thanks a bunch - I appreciate the quick response!

[Maltus]

Yeah that's also a question I keep asking myself: How do you take lab classes vie distancelearning?
Will they send you a "lab kit" whith everything you need for experiments?

[suzycupcake]

Yeah that's also a question I keep asking myself: How do you take lab classes vie distancelearning?
Will they send you a "lab kit" whith everything you need for experiments?

Yes! They told me to donate what’s left over like beakers and anything that can be used at a school if i don't use them and have extra. 

I’m curious if these correspond with your actual class and should be done at the same time while the info was fresh in your head. 

I’m terrified to be quite honest.

[RJ77]

Yeah that's also a question I keep asking myself: How do you take lab classes vie distancelearning?
Will they send you a "lab kit" whith everything you need for experiments?

The lab courses with Sophia are all virtual labs. They use a software program that's almost like a video game. You move around the virtual lab in first-person view and click on the items to use them. Then there are questions that go along with the lab lessons.

[suzycupcake]

Yeah that's also a question I keep asking myself: How do you take lab classes vie distancelearning?
Will they send you a "lab kit" whith everything you need for experiments?

The lab courses with Sophia are all virtual labs. They use a software program that's almost like a video game. You move around the virtual lab in first-person view and click on the items to use them. Then there are questions that go along with the lab lessons.

Do you know how it works for Straighterline?

[Jonathan Whatley]

Do you know how it works for Straighterline?

You shouldn’t be scared! Every StraighterLine lab course I’ve seen has a physical lab kit you purchase by mail. The syllabus should be available for public view for each course. For example, on the public course landing page for StraighterLine Anatomy & Physiology I Lab, under the heading “About This Course,” click on the link “Download Syllabus” to see the syllabus (as a pdf file) including details of how the course is assessed. These pdf syllabus links seem to be available for every StraighterLine lab course.

In Anatomy & Physiology I Lab there are 4 checkpoints (quizzes) and the total of their point values is negligible, literally 1% of your final course grade. There are 15 capstones (assignments), each worth 6.6% of your final course grade. Although that indicates a lot of work, it really spreads out the risk. If you have a serious problem doing the assignments there’s a good chance you’ll identify it early when it will affect your final grade very little (and maybe not at all; the syllabus mentions two chances at each capstone assignment). Then figure out how to fix it and your final grade should be strong.

[suzycupcake]

Thank you so much - I ordered the labs with the courses and they should be here tomorrow. I've never done a class with labs so wasn't sure what it looks like at all or what you have to do.

Thanks for making me feel better!

[bjcheung77]

Sophia.org and Study.com labs are all using Labster (Virtual Lab), StraighterLine are all physical lab kits... Basically, StraighterLine classes are using the OER OpenStax freebie textbooks and using their previous lab kits. The classes and labs are going to be different, you can take the classes first to get the knowledge and the labs are for your experiments to showcase your hands on documentations, findings, and research...