Use of Online Homework (MasteringChemistry) in General Chemistry - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Use of Online Homework (MasteringChemistry) in General Chemistry Course Redesign David V. Dearden Brigham Young University 1

General Chemistry Course Structure Conceptual, “atoms first” approach No concurrent lab Mixed application for mixed clientele: 1-semester, stand-alone course for engineers first of a 2-semester series in general chemistry for many others 2

General Chemistry Students Pre-professional (30%), engineering (40%), science majors (15%), others (15%) ~85% have had high school chemistry, but course is taught with no prerequisites Typical enrollment 2500 students/year 250 students/lecture (3x/week) 25 students/recitation section (2x/week) Dropout/fail/withdraw typically < 10% 3

Challenges Large sections little personal interaction inability to give adequate, personal feedback (old homework system as example) diversity of student preparation/background Course content (volume!) 4

Goals in Technological Redesign “I love Engage students during lecture technology” Give individual feedback Do this without sacrificing content increasing instructor load I use technology primarily for pedagogical reasons; assessment is a distant secondary purpose this avoids potential concerns about security /cheating 5

Redesign Strategies We Have Used Use of recitation sections Use of Blackboard / “Micro Exams” Use of Chem Tutor ( http://www.chem.byu.edu/faculty/jdl/ChemTutorII/ ) Use of iClicker quizzes Use of online homework (Mastering Chemistry) 6

Online Homework (MasteringChemistry) Use provided problems or write your own (or use a mixture) Gives graded feedback can be in form of “hints” or answer-based instruction Instructor can monitor Computer does the grading Learning curve for students and instructor 7

MasteringChemistry Implementation Faculty participation was voluntary in Fall ’07 By Winter ’08, all sections had adopted Ranged from 1st time teachers to a retired faculty member who returned to teach “Easier than I thought it would be” Use has since spread to the follow-on course (Chem 106) and to 2 courses in the GOB series 8

MasteringChemistry “Best Practices” Use the publisher-provided best practices Have students do introductory exercises Allow ample retries with small penalties for looking at hints points are like candy! give most of the credit for completion Allow ample “drops” Be flexible with due dates early on Leave problems available for review Work problems yourself before allowing student access 9

My Personal Experience with MasteringChemistry Adopted initially in fall 2007 2 sections of ~225 students each Using again currently 1 section of ~250 students Used the same multiple-choice exams both before and after adoption Conducted in-class surveys of student perceptions 10

Student Perceptions-Midterm Dearden General Chemistry, Winter 2009 "So far, how helpful to you is each of the following in learning general chemistry?" 60.00 Lecture 3.47 ± 1.09 50.00 Recitation & DR 3.59 ± 1.33 40.00 Text problems 2.71 ± 1.26 30.00 MasteringChemistry 3.96 ± 1.05 20.00 ChemTutor 3.96 ± 1.04 10.00 Textbook 3.48 ± 1.09 0.00 1 2 3 4 5 Effectiveness ranking (1=low, 5=high) 11

Student Perceptions-Final Dearden General Chemistry, Fall 2007 "How helpful to you is each of the following in learning general chemistry" 60.00 lectures 3.74 ± 0.90 50.00 recitation 3.97 ± 1.04 40.00 end-of-chapter problems 2.32 ± 1.23 30.00 MasteringChemistry 4.35 ± 0.95 20.00 ChemTutor 10.00 4.10 ± 1.09 Textbook 0.00 3.38 ± 1.07 1 2 3 4 5 Effectiveness ranking (1=low, 5=high) 12

Exam Scores Before & After Mastering Chemistry 95.0 85.0 75.0 54.5 ± 24.5% 54.5 ± 24.5% 65.0 W07 Mean (Before) F07 Mean (After) W09 Mean (After) 55.0 60.6 ± 21.7% 60.6 ± 21.7% 45.0 35.0 25.0 Macro1 Macro2 Macro3 Final 13

Acknowledgments BYU Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry Chem 105 instructors National Science Foundation 14