Susan Zvacek

Although online and remote labs have become more prevalent in STEM education, there are few guidelines to inform the development of high-quality laboratory assignments. The use of virtual- or augmented-reality applications or remotely-located equipment offers a wide array of benefits for student learning, especially when those activities are planned specifically to facilitate learning. This presentation offers a set of criteria, based on validated instructional design practices and accreditation standards for engineering degree programs, that can be used to guide and to evaluate the design of laboratory instruction. This model is in its early stages and constructive feedback will be appreciated!

Biography:

Bio

Dr. Susan M. Zvacek (SMZTeaching.com) is an independent consultant, speaker, and online teacher focused on cultivating learning-centered teaching in higher education.  Her disciplinary interests include online learning, engineering education, and instructional design. Susan’s speaking experience is diverse, with keynote addresses and workshops in the Czech Republic, Austria, Costa Rica, Estonia, Slovakia, Cyprus, England, Portugal, China, Germany, and throughout the United States. She has had two Fulbright appointments (Prague, CZ, and Porto, PT) and has served as an NSF reviewer for the past three years. Her 25+ years of experience in higher education included teaching, dissertation advising, and administration. She is an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer and a Distinguished Speaker for the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Her publications are on topics such as course design, online learning, remote labs, and higher order thinking, including co-authoring Teaching and Learning at a Distance (currently in its 7^th edition) and the original Blackboard for Dummies, as well as numerous articles, book chapters, and newsletter columns.