Online methods and student preparation

We would all like students to come to learning activities well prepared, and this is particularly the case with laboratory sessions. Given the often tight University timetable, students should come to lab with an awareness of what they will be doing and having reviewed earlier relevant laboratory learning. This preparedness means that valuable and limited laboratory time will not be squandered and our teaching assistants are not driven to exasperation. Further, a laboratory can be a hazardous environment, and students should come prepared in terms of safety too. In this presentation, I will explain how we learned to use online methods to go some way to achieving these objectives, taking advantage of the possibilities that modern technology offers and putting in place a system of sticks and carrots.