Your World is Your Lab is an introductory physics curriculum developed by the Schatz Lab in the School of Physics at Georgia Tech. This course has been offered in different classroom contexts: a MOOC, a large “blended” on-campus section, and small-enrollment online-only courses. These various contexts posed both logistical challenges and pedagogical opportunities:
- How do we give students a rich laboratory experience at large scale and how do we evaluate them?
- How can we introduce important skills – formal scientific communication and critique – usually absent from introductory physics courses?
During this Teaching with Technology Spotlight session, Scott Douglas, a Ph.D. candidate student who is currently writing his dissertation in physics education research under the advisorship of Professor Mike Schatz, will discuss how they designed a curriculum to address these questions, how they developed and implemented a calibrated peer assessment system to evaluate students’ video lab reports, and how students became more reliable graders and gained a more expert-like attitude toward peer assessment. Please come and join us to participate in a discussion on the potential application of the system to your courses and beyond.