This project is introducing an NMR spectrometer to a remote access instrumentation network serving five small, rural colleges in the northern plains. Remote access collaboration experiments and mini-projects are being developed for student teams who will not physically meet each other. Students enrolled in introductory, general and organic chemistry, regardless of their location, directly operate the NMR to analyze their own samples. An online teaching and learning community for the instructors involved in the project is being established to promote additional understanding of strategies to enhance student learning using remote access instrumentation networks. The intellectual merit includes development of new curricular materials and pedagogies to transform how small, remote colleges approach educating students, by providing authentic hands-on learning experiences, instead of relying on simulations and published materials. The broader impacts of the proposal include improved infrastructure for teaching and research at all five campuses through acquisition of the NMR. Multi-layered evaluation is being used to measure the impact on students' (a) content knowledge, laboratory skills and engagement, (b) ability to transfer and integrate knowledge between the laboratory and lecture courses, and (c) professional skills, such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration and professional behaviors. Dissemination of the project's benefits and challenges provides a model for other small colleges to provide hands-on remote access to modern instrumentation.
