In Fall 2018, students in CHEM 456 General Biochemistry Laboratory at Bridgewater State University employed an electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) for the first time.  This change to the teaching laboratories was developed to provide enhanced student readiness for careers in the chemistry and biotechnology industries and to provide improved laboratory documentation and written and oral communication skills. The ELN initiative used the Microsoft OneDrive platform to host the ELN and allowed enhanced student collaboration to share data with laboratory partners and the instructor.  Instructors can provide immediate feedback via electronic comments to students in real-time.  Students have enhanced data analysis tools as part of the OneDrive platform and can use a variety of MS office programs to annotate and analyze their laboratory work on a variety of platforms across laptop computers and mobile devices.  The use of ELNs has exhibited improvement in students’ grades, organization, and overall engagement in the course as demonstrated via student feedback surveys.  Students continued to use ELNs in an Advanced Biochemistry Laboratory course (CHEM 466).  The Advanced Biochemistry Laboratory is taught as a course-based research experience (CURE) where students can apply the techniques learned in the General Biochemistry Laboratory.  This program is one of several programs at Bridgewater State University to enhance students’ career readiness and is part of a larger initiative to develop ELN portfolios (ELPs) across the chemistry curriculum.  In this presentation, the use of ELNs in these courses and the current efforts to scaffold data analysis and written communication skills across all levels in the laboratory curriculum will be discussed. In addition, this presentation will discuss how this project has been adapted to work with many virtual laboratories being conducted during the 2020-2021 academic year to facilitate the COVID-19 pandemic.

Using electronic laboratory notebooks in microsoft onedrive to enhance communication skills and career readiness in chemistry laboratory courses

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.