How to Begin Here is an excerpt from ‘Putting a Science Course Online’ by Jenelle Benson that will help you in choosing a subject for your interactive lab as well as explain the importance of having an interactive lab. “…interactive labs and activities. This is the part that can be tricky. The need to provide science student’s with the ability to perform hands-on labs is essential and needs to be included in any online class to reinforce theoretical concepts introduced in a science classroom. There are many excellent free simulations along with other tools that can be licensed for use in an online classroom. I like to stick with the free simulations as anyone can use these. Various Universities, many of which reside in the United States, have created most of the free simulations or interactive components. This is handy, because in the United States they make all of this material available for students and teachers to use in order to enhance classroom learning. As long as you use these simulations for educational purposes and not to package and resale you are free to use them to your heart’s content. In some instances middle school and high school teachers may have already designed a lab around the simulation and many times this information is available. If the simulation does not come with any lab design then you will need to thoroughly investigate how the simulation works and create a tutorial for students along with a lesson plan for how the simulation will be used. This is a typical lesson plan that you would use in any face-to-face lab. In this instance, instead of face-to-face, the students will complete the simulation for the practical component of the lab in the online classroom. You will have to decide what parts the students can write into an electronic document and what parts they may need to draw by hand and then scan or take a picture of to support the hands-on activity. For instance, I require students to draw pictures of the slides they observe under the virtual microscope they use. Students need to scan or take a picture of these drawings and attach them to the lab form in the online classroom. You will need to discuss these last few options with whoever is designing or building your online classroom. Having someone who is handy with online classroom design is a necessary component for creating and maintaining your online classroom. ” Learning Network Queensland | Brisbane North Institute of TAFE 11