Chemistry students test out electronic lab notes

The days of chemistry students hand-writing their labs in carbon-copy notebooks might be nearing an end.

The chemistry department is allowing students in certain courses to submit their lab reports through the Blackboard course website and to bypass written notes and data.

"It is our responsibility to prepare our students for what they will find in the professional world," said Todd Woerner, manager of the advanced undergraduate chemistry labs. Using electronic lab notes will allow them to "stay current with changing trends in science and technology," he added.

Electronic lab notebooks let students keep their notes and records on the computer and submit their results and formal written reports via Blackboard. Since a majority of experimental data is also collected and analyzed with the aid of a computer, electronic lab notebooks move the entire laboratory operation-from data collection to presentation of results-into an electronic format.

By making laboratory write-ups electronic, students can access and submit their data from any place at any time, with their submission information automatically verified by Blackboard's time and date stamps. Another advantage of the electronic format is that students do not have to worry about losing their experimental data. Also, students are protected from problems such as losing papers and being plagiarized.

Currently, electronic lab notes are required in Chemistry 167, a required course for students pursuing a bachelor of science degree in chemistry, and are optional in 168L and 133L. The expansion of electronic lab notes to other upper-level chemistry classes is also under consideration.

The use of electronic lab notes may make the duties of teaching assistants easier as well. "I would definitely prefer labs to be electronic," said senior Laura Serwer, a chemistry TA. "It would be easier to grade and definitely easier to read and see what the student was trying to say." TAs already have pre-lab write-ups sent to them electronically so they can pinpoint common mistakes and help students with problems before the lab begins.

Some students, however, expressed concerns about converting complex formulas, equations and graphs into an electronic format. "It is convenient to just be able to write equations, instead of spending a ton of time putting them onto the computer," freshman Brian Adams said.

According to Atrium Research, a scientific research consulting company, the amount of money being spent on electronic lab notes is increasing by 30 percent a year. The majority of the increase is in private sector companies, not universities; Duke is one of a few institutions that are allowing students to use electronic lab notes at the undergraduate level, Woerner said.

Woerner added that Duke's movement toward the use of electronic lab notes depends on what is happening in the broader scientific community. "If research firms were only using paper lab notes, we wouldn't ask our students to use electronic notes," he said. "However, the industries are moving towards electronic lab notes, so that's what we want to expose our students to."

Although he said he has not given much thought to the expansion of electronic lab notes to lower-level chemistry classes, Woerner said they are an invaluable tool for students, even as undergraduates.

"We want to give our students an edge when they enter the real world," he said.

The chronicle

The days of chemistry students hand-writing their labs in carbon-copy notebooks might be nearing an end.

The chemistry department is allowing students in certain courses to submit their lab reports through the Blackboard course website and to bypass written notes and data.

"It is our responsibility to prepare our students for what they will find in the professional world," said Todd Woerner, manager of the advanced undergraduate chemistry labs. Using electronic lab notes will allow them to "stay current with changing trends in science and technology," he added.

Electronic lab notebooks let students keep their notes and records on the computer and submit their results and formal written reports via Blackboard. Since a majority of experimental data is also collected and analyzed with the aid of a computer, electronic lab notebooks move the entire laboratory operation-from data collection to presentation of results-into an electronic format.

By making laboratory write-ups electronic, students can access and submit their data from any place at any time, with their submission information automatically verified by Blackboard's time and date stamps. Another advantage of the electronic format is that students do not have to worry about losing their experimental data. Also, students are protected from problems such as losing papers and being plagiarized.

Currently, electronic lab notes are required in Chemistry 167, a required course for students pursuing a bachelor of science degree in chemistry, and are optional in 168L and 133L. The expansion of electronic lab notes to other upper-level chemistry classes is also under consideration.

The use of electronic lab notes may make the duties of teaching assistants easier as well. "I would definitely prefer labs to be electronic," said senior Laura Serwer, a chemistry TA. "It would be easier to grade and definitely easier to read and see what the student was trying to say." TAs already have pre-lab write-ups sent to them electronically so they can pinpoint common mistakes and help students with problems before the lab begins.

Some students, however, expressed concerns about converting complex formulas, equations and graphs into an electronic format. "It is convenient to just be able to write equations, instead of spending a ton of time putting them onto the computer," freshman Brian Adams said.

Woerner, however, said the benefits of electronic laboratory notebooks outweigh the concerns and will "just take a little time to get used to."

Academic integrity is also an issue, said Serwer, who noted that students can easily "change data points and numbers" after comparing results. But Woerner said the electronic format does not encourage academic dishonesty any more than the paper format.

Regardless of criticisms, exposure to electronic lab notes will be valuable, said Serwer, who plans on going into scientific research.

"Companies would definitely prefer having students going into research being familiar with electronic lab notes," she said.

According to Atrium Research, a scientific research consulting company, the amount of money being spent on electronic lab notes is increasing by 30 percent a year. The majority of the increase is in private sector companies, not universities; Duke is one of a few institutions that are allowing students to use electronic lab notes at the undergraduate level, Woerner said.

Woerner added that Duke's movement toward the use of electronic lab notes depends on what is happening in the broader scientific community. "If research firms were only using paper lab notes, we wouldn't ask our students to use electronic notes," he said. "However, the industries are moving towards electronic lab notes, so that's what we want to expose our students to."

Although he said he has not given much thought to the expansion of electronic lab notes to lower-level chemistry classes, Woerner said they are an invaluable tool for students, even as undergraduates.

"We want to give our students an edge when they enter the real world," he said.