Years ago I took a correspondence course in TV repair. I wasn't interested in going into TV repair, but as part of the course you built a TV set, and the Veterans Administration paid for me to take the course, including the TV set.
I was surprised at how extensive an electronics lab course it turned out to be. Using the stuff they sent me, I did all kinds of electronic experiments that were related to the operation of a TV set.
My undergraduate degree was in physics. I think it would be possible to devise an on-line physics course along the same lines as that TV course, in which you get the things needed to do experiments like those I did in physics lab in college.
As a child I had a chemistry set, and did all the experiments in the manual. I think a chemistry lab course could be developed along the same lines.
In short, I think on-line or correspondence courses could include lab work, but it would take some careful course design. We do have models, such as my TV repair course and children's chemistry sets, to work from.
>As a child I had a chemistry set, and did all the experiments in the manual. I think a chemistry lab course could be developed along the same lines.<
I completely forgot about the Gilbert Chemistry set I got for Christmas one year.
Yeah, why couldn’t chemistry be taught on an online cours?
This is the 21st Century, after all.
#19 You would be sent some yellowcake uranium and you would use your Easy Bake oven and the playground merry go round to separate uranium isotopes.
You could be right, but I think employers would want someone who has experience working in a full lab environment which upper level courses provide.