4.2 Course Descriptions and Summary of
4.2.1 Use of Asynchronous Video Lectures
Lectures pertaining to both general and organic chemistry were provided asynchronously to students in all courses. This was done in order to accom- modate students taking these courses completely remote; an additional benefit of this approach is that the use of video lectures in combination with other strategies can help improve student learning and retention.4 For these courses, two major teaching approaches were adopted when implementing asynchronous lectures. One approach included providing three one-hour lectures per week to create a comprehensive remote learn- ing environment. These asynchronous digital lectures fully reflected the in-person lecture course. The second approach included creating shorter lectures that focused on a single topic or concept and assigning these shorter lectures such that the time spent watching the videos was com- parable to the time students spent in lecture during previous in-person semesters. Both approaches were employed in a manner to try to alleviate
Downloaded from http://books.rsc.org/books/edited-volume/chapter-pdf/1746400/bk9781839165238-00031.pdf by RMIT University user on 06 February 2024
33Adapting Large Intro-level Chemistry Courses to Fully Remote or Hybrid Instruction Table 4.1 Summary of the comparison of all our courses.a
Courses Chem 105/106 (Fall,
Spring) Chem 105/106 (Summer) Chem 111a (Fall) Chem 251/252 (Fall, Spring, Summer)
Student body/
Course goals STEM majors, and/or completing pre-health requirements that either taking chemis- try for the first time or struggled with chemis- try in the past.
STEM majors, and/or completing pre-health requirements that either taking chemis- try for the first time or struggled with chemis- try in the past.
STEM majors, and/or completing pre-health requirements.
Summer predominately rising sophomores that are complet- ing the course for pre-health requirements or STEM major requirements; fall and spring post-baccalaureate premedi- cal students.
aim: provide introduction to chemistry concepts and prepare students to think and solve problems like chem- ists, while developing study skills that will serve them for the rest of their time in college and beyond.
aim: provide introduction to chemistry concepts and prepare students to think and solve problems like chem- ists, while developing study skills that will serve them for the rest of their time in college and beyond.
aim: to prepare students to think and solve problems like chem- ists, while developing study skills that will serve them for the rest of their time in college and beyond.
aim: provide a survey of organic chemistry to prepare students for pre-health requirements like the MCaT and biochem- istry courses. It also empha- sizes skills for problems solving and using references and resources responsibly to help inform that process.
number of students 250–400 20 about 500 Summer 70
Fall and Spring 30 Instructor team/
aIs/Tas etc. Four instructors, one project coordinator for supplemental programs, two or three graduate students who served as assistants in Instruction (Ta position for graduate students), two or three undergraduate Tas, and
∼30 undergraduate peer mentors/leaders.
One instructor, two
graders. Two professors who are leading lecturers; one lecturer helping out during lectures; one project coordinator for supplemental programs;
15 undergraduate Tas and five graduate student assistants in Instruction. about 40–50 peer leaders.
One instructor, three graders.
(continued)
Downloaded from http://books.rsc.org/books/edited-volume/chapter-pdf/1746400/bk9781839165238-00031.pdf by RMIT University user on 06 February 2024
Chapter 434 Lecture format asynchronous; 45 min
pre-recorded lecture video per lecture;
posted at 9 am Mon- days, Wednesdays, and Fridays onto Canvas.
asynchronous pre- recorded lecture vid- eos; synchronous help sessions.
asynchronous pre- recorded lecture videos, some which were only available after students answers pathway ques- tions; synchronous review and problem- solving lectures on zoom.
asynchronous pre-recorded lecture videos; synchronous activities/help sessions.
Synchronous
component required recitation (once per week for 50 or 80 min). Optional instruc- tors’ online help ses- sions/office hours (four times per week for 1.5 or 2 h).
all scheduled course time was help session/
office hours with the instructor.
review lecture with announcements and problem-solving; voting on polls; recitations on zoom; help sessions;
pLTL; rpM.
Scheduled course time was divided between small group work, student presentation of work, and question and answer sessions with the instructor (e.g., like office hours).
Optional peer-Led Team-Learning (pLTL) study groups (once per week for 2 h).
Optional “walk-in” resi- dential peer Mentoring (rpM) sessions (multi- ple times per week for 2–4 h).
Table 4.1 (continued)
Courses Chem 105/106 (Fall,
Spring) Chem 105/106 (Summer) Chem 111a (Fall) Chem 251/252 (Fall, Spring, Summer)
Downloaded from http://books.rsc.org/books/edited-volume/chapter-pdf/1746400/bk9781839165238-00031.pdf by RMIT University user on 06 February 2024
35Adapting Large Intro-level Chemistry Courses to Fully Remote or Hybrid Instruction asynchronous
component Lecture review ques- tions; graded online homework.
Lecture videos designed, structured, and recorded for summer 2020. Videos were split by topic with the goal of each video being between 7 and 20 min long.
Lecture videos from 2019
and pathway questions. Lecture videos designed, struc- tured, and recorded for summer 2020. Videos were organized by topic or reaction.
Video lectures were between 5 and 30 min long.
assessment
strategies Closed book, closed note 25 min quizzes; closed book, closed note 120 min exams.
Open note, topic-specific quizzes. Closed note exams—written as
“hour-long” exams, but students were given 3 h to complete and upload their work.
Closed-notes quizzes and exams, proctored via zoom (except for those with accommodations to take exam at other times).
Closed note quizzes on fun- damental topics and skills.
Open note exams with appli- cation problems not directly from lecture; written as “hour- long” exams, but students were given 3 h to complete the and upload their work.
Supplemental pro- grams/Course support
pLTL, rpM, transition
program. — pLTL and rpM; help ses-
sions; recitation. —
a Key: Ta: Undergraduate students who serve as Teaching assistants; aI: Graduate students who serve as assistants in Instruction; pLTL: peer-Led Team Learning; rpM: residential peer Mentoring.
Downloaded from http://books.rsc.org/books/edited-volume/chapter-pdf/1746400/bk9781839165238-00031.pdf by RMIT University user on 06 February 2024
Chapter 4 36
zoom fatigue and also incorporated other practices like asking questions in the middle of the lecture to help students engage the material as it was taught.
The first approach was employed for lectures in Chem 105/106 during the 2020–2021 academic year, when the course was offered entirely online. The major course components are summarized in the Table 4.1. When comparing to 2019–2020, while the asynchronous video lectures were a key adaptation to the course, the most promising adaptations were low-stake assignments, including lecture review questions and graded online homework, which is discussed in depth in a subsequent section. For Chem 105 and 106, each semester included 41 lectures of approximately 50 min, accompanied by 41 sets of lecture review questions. (note: in Spring 2021, the University sched- ule allowed only 40 lectures in Chem 106.) This timeline corresponded to the typical number of lectures that students would attend in-person during a typical semester.
The second approach was employed in Chem 111a, the summer session of Chem 105/106, and in the summer organic chemistry series of Chem 251/252.
For all courses, most lectures were incorporated digitally as short (10–15 min) videos to render the material more digestible and easier to watch, and to provide a topical focus. During previous in-person lectures, students were often rushed or were unable to write everything down, and lectures often ended mid topic or thought due to time constraints. By making the lectures asynchronous and employing a flipped classroom approach, students could watch lectures at their own pace within the schedule of the course and could also review and re-watch lectures as part of their learning process. Students expressed their appreciation for having more than one chance to learn and review fundamental lecture material.
4.2.1.1 Chem 111A
The Chem 111a course in Fall 2020 had a total of 485 students. To provide a comparable experience for remote and in-person students, the instruc- tors decided to use a flipped classroom approach, utilizing pre-recorded lecture videos from Fall 2019 (taught by the same lecturers as in Fall 2020) that were edited to exclude any announcements or other parts not directly related to the presentation of course material. The videos were also reorga- nized to focus one topic at a time. all lecture videos were posted to Canvas, the Learning Management System (https://www.instructure.com/canvas), about 48 or 72 h before the synchronous lecture sessions that were held on zoom. Students were asked to watch the recorded videos in sequence.
While each video focused on one single topic, students had to demon- strate some mastery through completion of a short quiz (a pathway ques- tion) to proceed to the next video in the sequence. Even though students were required to complete the asynchronous components prior to the syn- chronous sessions, instructors did not check for completion. This means that students had the freedom to complete the asynchronous steps when they were able to do so.
Downloaded from http://books.rsc.org/books/edited-volume/chapter-pdf/1746400/bk9781839165238-00031.pdf by RMIT University user on 06 February 2024
37 Adapting Large Intro-level Chemistry Courses to Fully Remote or Hybrid Instruction
4.2.1.2 Summer Courses Chem 251 and Chem 105/106
Both general and organic chemistry were taught as accelerated online courses during the summer term. The summer 2020 offerings of Chem 105 and 106, Introductory General Chemistry I and II, respectively, were taught online asyn- chronously with optional synchronous components. The same was true for Chem 251 and 252, organic chemistry 1 and 2, respectively. Lecture material was presented via video in a variety of ways including powerpoint presenta- tions with instructor voice-over, videos of hand-written work with instructor voice-over, and/or chalk talk videos of the instructor presenting lecture mate- rial. additionally, in organic chemistry asynchronous lectures questions were assigned for the students to try out, which were directly related to lecture material. These problems were presented mid-lecture for students to test their knowledge and also provided a jumping off point for synchronous sessions so that students could have discussions related to problem solving techniques.
regardless of the style of the video used, students generally showed a favorable attitude with respect to these lectures. While student evaluations should not be the determining factor in pedagogy, it has been documented that video lectures have been shown to have a positive effect on student learn- ing when combined with other pedagogies.4 Students’ apparent willingness to engage with remote lectures and their generally favourable attitude related to this teaching method may suggest that this method can be used effectively.
We present student comments from the course evaluation related to lec- tures (for Chem 111a):
● “The lectures are concise and easy to understand and can be watched in nice 20–30 min chunks.”
● “I loved how the notes appeared on the screen before they were written, this was very helpful.”
● “I liked how I could watch the lecture recordings on my own time.”
● “I LOVED how the lectures were broken into 10–30 min videos and orga- nized into modules. These worked well for my attention span and broke material into digestible chunks in which it was easier to determine the important core concepts. This worked so much better than hour and a half long live lectures for me. also seeing the concepts written out in front of me rather than in a powerpoint or just spoken out-loud enhanced my ability to really wrap my head around concepts and con- crete problem-solving skills.”
● “The lecture videos were much more helpful for me than an in-person lecture. I was able to stop them and rewind them and rewatch them. I could take notes at my own pace, and this was helpful.”
The following are student comments on aspects of the course that they liked related to asynchronous lectures (for organic chemistry, Chem 251/252):
● “I actually liked having the video lectures because it allowed me to be able to rewatch videos to concepts or problems I did not understand. In
Downloaded from http://books.rsc.org/books/edited-volume/chapter-pdf/1746400/bk9781839165238-00031.pdf by RMIT University user on 06 February 2024
Chapter 4 38
a normal class setting I would have to rely on the notes I took or have to ask around for help and this is all within a structure time such as office hours etc. having the videos allows me to revisit at any time and catch details that I might have missed the first time watching.”
● “Video lectures allowed me to rewatch material if needed.”
● “The recorded lectures also allowed us to repeat concepts that were harder to grasp than the others and review materials better.”