Go-Lab MOOC for teachers

The Go-Lab Massive Open Online Course “Using online labs in the classroom: an introductory course for teachers” has been created to assist science teachers and any people interested in science education in incorporating the use of online labs and supportive inquiry learning apps into their teaching and learning activities. After completing this course, you will know how to create complete inquiry learning scenarios suitable for different subject domains and how to implement these scenarios in a digital learning environment. We will introduce you to the Go-Lab Portal, where you can find appropriate tools and create your own virtual learning spaces. Furthermore, several example scenarios of using online labs are explained in this course.

The Go-Lab MOOC is offered online at the OpenCourseWorld platform (www.opencourseworld.de), so you can learn when and wherever you want. The content of the course is available beyond the planned course duration of eight weeks, so you are able to take your time to work through the materials. In this course, you will find video lectures and demo videos, text tutorials and useful links, as well as practical exercises with online labs giving you the possibility to gain hands-on experience and directly apply gained knowledge in your teaching practice.

In order to participate in the course, you will need an account at the OpenCourseWorld platform (register here) and in the Go-Lab Portal (register here, if you don’t have one). The course is offered ongoing. Please follow this link to enroll.

Below you can find an overview of the course modules.

Module 1: Inquiry learning with online labs
Experts:
Prof. Dr. Ton de Jong (University of Twente, Netherlands), Dr. Sofoklis Sotiriou (Ellinogermaniki Agogi, Greece)
Learning objectives:
This module gives you an introduction to the inquiry-based science education in schools. Main concepts of inquiry learning, as well as its benefits and challenges for school education are presented. The module also gives insight into the teaching practice using innovative tools and future trends in science education.
Module 2: Creating an inquiry-oriented lesson plan
Experts:
Eleftheria Tsourlidaki (Ellinogermaniki Agogi, Greece), Dr. Sten Govaerts (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
Learning objectives:
In this module, you will learn how to incorporate the use of online labs in your classroom activities, how to create lesson plans containing inquiry-based exercises, and how to implement these lesson plans in web-based Inquiry Learning Spaces (ILSs). This module makes you familiar with a basic pedagogic scenario, which you can use to create ILS.
Module 3: Creating and editing an Inquiry Learning Space
Experts:
Ellen Wassink-Kamp (University of Twente, the Netherlands), Dr. Sten Govaerts (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
Learning objectives:
This module introduces introduces the Authoring Platform Graasp and gives you a step-by-step guidance in creating your Inquiry Learning Space (ILS). This module contains multiple demo videos explaining the basics of the ILS creation and editing. After studying this module, you will be able to create your own ILSs using the Go-Lab Ecosystem.
Module 4: Using learning analytics. Sharing and publishing an ILS
Experts:
Ellen Wassink-Kamp (University of Twente, the Netherlands), Dr. Adrian Holzer and Dr. Sten Govaerts (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
Learning objectives:
In this module, you will be introduced to some advanced features of the Go-Lab Ecosystem, such as learning analytics. Furthermore, you will learn how to organise your ILSs in Graasp, share them with your students to be used in the classroom, and publish the ILSs in the Sharing Platform Golabz, to make them available for your colleagues.
Module 5: Setting up inquiry learning apps
Experts:
Ellen Wassink-Kamp and Dr. Lars Bollen (University of Twente, the Netherlands), Dr. Adrian Holzer (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
Learning objectives:
This module demonstrates various apps, which you can find in the Sharing Platform Golabz, such as Hypothesis Scratchpad, Experiment Design Tool, GoModel, and others. In this module, you will learn how to use these apps in different scenarios for individual and collaborative learning, and how to set up the to fit a particular topic of study.
Module 6: Exploring the Sun
Experts:
Rosa Doran (Núcleo Interactivo de Astronomia, Portugal), Prof. João Fernandes and Dr. Telma Esperança (Geophysical and Astronomical Observatory of the University of Coimbra, Portugal)
Learning objectives:
This module presents the Sun4All Project with its database of solar images collected over the last 90 years and introduces you to the use of the SalsaJ tool for the analysis of these images. Furthermore, several videos are available taking you on a guided tour through the Observatory of the University of Coimbra in Portugal.
Module 7: Exploring galaxies
Experts:
Dr. Fraser Lewis, Dr. Sarah Roberts, and Prof. Dr. Paul Roche (Faulkes Telescope Project, United Kingdom)
Learning objectives:
This course module introduces you to the Faulkes Telescope Project and to the Galaxy Crash online lab. You will be shown how to book an observation session with a remote telescope, how to observe diverse space objects like, for example, galaxies and star-forming regions, and how to take images of them. Additionally, the use of the Galaxy Crash simulation and the integration of these online labs in a pedagogical scenario are demonstrated.
Module 8: Identifying particles with the ATLAS
Experts:
Prof. Dr. Christine Kourkoumelis, Dr. Sofia Chouridou, and Stelios Vourakis (The Institute of Accelerating Systems and Applications, Greece)
Learning objectives:
In this module, the Hybrid Pupils' Analysis Tool for Interactions in ATLAS (HY.P.A.T.I.A) is presented. The video lectures provide an introduction to the HY.P.A.T.I.A online lab and two learning scenarios (“Discover the Z and Higgs bosons” and “The motion of a charged particle in the ATLAS magnetic field”), which can be completed with this lab. Some demo videos are incorporated into the lectures to facilitate the handling of this comprehensive tool.