The original project idea was focused on enhancing the demonstrator training already provided to contribute to their professional development, specifically, it was planned to equip them (the student demos) to gain more immediate feedback from students than is possible using the student feedback on modules mechanism and to consider the effective use of marking guidelines for consistency in first-year science laboratories.

However, as the project was wholly lab-focused the pandemic made the implementation in the time available impossible. Instead, the funds were diverted to two different projects.

1. Some (approximately half) was used to cover the costs associated with a student intern for another LEP project; “Improving Teaching & Learning with EDI Awareness”
2. Funding a second student internship to develop short videos aimed at explaining the theoretical concepts behind a number of second-year physics lab experiments.

We aimed to address 3 objectives:

• Objective 1: March 2020 Review current marking guidelines in 1st-year science laboratories

• Objective 2: May - July 2020 Revise marking guidelines if necessary and develop a training session to be delivered in September 2020.

• Objective 3: Autumn 2020 Support demonstrators through specific sessions to be delivered in September 2020.

The aim of the revised project was to create short videos that provided additional, complementary resources for students to gain familiarity with the concepts behind second-year lab experiments in advance of the lab sessions. 

Traditionally lab manuals provide written descriptions of the experiment, the theory behind it and the procedure to be adopted in the laboratory. The idea was to provide short videos to support quantum mechanical and electronics/electrical labs in 2^nd year physics that would complement these manuals and augment the instruction provided by lab demonstrators during laboratory classes. Five videos were made, 4 for an introductory quantum physics module (Autumn trimester: PHYC20020) and one for an electronics and devices module (Spring trimester: PHYC20090). 

1. Exp 2 Bragg Diffraction and Crystal Measurements
2. Exp 5 Franck-Hertz (Critical Potentials)
3. Exp 11 em for the electron
4. Exp 18 Millikan Oil Drop
5. Also one for PHYC20090: Sinusoidal Response of the LCR Resonant Circuit

The feedback on the videos has been positive and they have clearly had an impact. The points raised in the feedback included:

• I found looking at the video first and then reading the manual really helped me understand the experiment
• The videos were really easy to watch and I could access them on my phone beforehand to prepare
• I looked back at the video when I was writing my report to help me remember/understand parts of the experiment 

Resources

The videos are available in full in this google drive folder.