Student Perceptions of Meaningful Learning in Online and Hybrid (Hands-on/Online) Laboratories at a Large Urban University in General and Organic Chemistry

As the COVID-19 pandemic transformed higher education, St. John's University (New York), among other academic institutions, worked to incorporate methodologies that would allow for social distancing and the attainment of hands-on experience that is expected of a science laboratory course. To account for the constraints that the pandemic posed, St. John's University offered students taking General and Organic Chemistry laboratory courses the opportunity to enroll in either a hybrid course or a 100% fully online course. The hybrid course incorporated both physical face-to-face and virtual simulation experiments, while the online course focused solely on virtual simulations. To assess the student's perception of achieving meaningful learning, students in both courses were asked to complete a Meaningful Learning in the Laboratory Instrument (MLLI) survey before and after taking the course. The objective of this survey was to measure their pre-semester expectations and post-semester experiences in the cognitive (thinking), affective (feeling), and a combined cognitive/affective domain of the course. Analysis of the results would allow for an understanding of the importance of a hands-on laboratory component in a chemistry course in providing students with a meaningful learning experience. Students in both the General and Organic hybrid and online courses reported more positive affective experiences than they anticipated. Cognitive and the combined cognitive/affective experiences for students in the General Chemistry hybrid and online courses declined. In contrast, Organic Chemistry hybrid and online students expressed favorable experiences in the combined cognitive/affective element, but for the cognitive scale, their experiences matched their expectations.