These open lab periods usually take place late on Friday afternoon and into the evening and the following Saturday morning. Both lab exercises can be done in the six-hour open lab time held six times a semester. The students prepare ahead of time by viewing a video tape of the lab being done by the instructor. There are also two other laboratory activities as part of the thirteen laboratory exercises. One of the PHY 102 exercises is to have students visit a nuclear power plant, either to visit the visitors' center for the hour tour or to take a prearranged tour of the complete plant, and then write a report on the activities.
Extra credit is given for such excursions upon having proof of attending.
These experiences are unique from any of the experiences of any of the other physics courses at NVCC distanance learning or on-campus courses. The main problem I find with getting the students through the course is just to get them started. Once they have turned in their first assignment, they usually finish the course with a grade of A or B. Presently, all the correspondence is by U.S. mail and voice mail. All work is sent to ELI to be graded by the instructor and returned to the students. I plan to incorporate the use of computer electronic mail and the fax machine when the course is revised within the next year since many students now have access to computers, e-mail, and fax machines.