A highly-respected microbiology instructor from Gadsden State Community College recently made a presentation at the Quality Matters Connect Conference in Bloomington, Minn.

Susan King, who teaches at the Gadsden State campus in Centre, presented a session called “Designing Experiential Learning in Online Science Lab Courses – with Lab Kits!” She presented with Shannon McGurk, the Vice President of Distance Learning for Carolina Biological Distance Learning.  Quality Matters is a global organization that is committed to quality assurance in online and also innovative digital teaching environments.

“In the presentation, I described the role the Quality Matters principles play in the design of my online microbiology course,” she said. “I reviewed the key features of a high-quality online science lab course that provides students with learning outside the virtual classroom.”  She also discussed tools that are used to ensure online science labs are designed innovatively – as well as the components of a hands-on online science lab experience makes it comparable to a traditional course with in-person labs.