Web-based Pre- & Post-Web-based Pre- & Post-Laboratory Activities for General Laboratory Activities for General

ChemistryChemistry

Presented by Dianne Meador & William H. Fink, Department of Chemistry

Lisa Wilson, IET MediaworksUniversity of California, Davis, CA, 95616

Copyright StatementCopyright Statement

Copyright Dianne Meador, Bill Fink, Lisa Wilson, and Regents of the University of California,

2003. This work is the intellectual property of the

authors and the Regents. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the authors.

To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the authors.

Web-based ActivitiesWeb-based Activities

Prelab Activities• Theory

– Concepts interactively presented

• Procedures– Shown with Stills &

Videos

• Prelab Quiz– 100% achievement

required

Postlab Exercises• Data

– Verify range

• Calculations– Guide &

Confirm

• Questions– Multiple Choice– Essay

MotivationMotivationImproved educational experience in the Improved educational experience in the

laboratorylaboratory

• Familiarize students with equipment and chemistry

• Focus students’ attention to the principles underlying the chemistry

• Modernizing laboratories to increase student appeal

ObjectivesObjectives

Prelab Activities

• Consistent preparation

• Efficient use of time

• Accountable

Postlab Exercises

• Reinforce educational goals

• Certify achievement of goals

• Scoring student performance

UC Davis ParticipantsUC Davis Participants

Dean’s Office of Letters and Science, Mathematical and Physical Sciences

IET MediaWorks

Chemistry Department

Development ProcessDevelopment Process

Content experts

PowerPoint storyboard

Excel matrix

Audio/video & photography experts

Graphic Designer

Senior Programmer

Presentations Flash MX

Post-Lab Interface ColdFusion MX

Oracle 8i

.wav

.mov

.jpeg

Course Management ToolsCourse Management Tools

Content providers may

• Enter/edit presentation text

• Enter/edit quiz questions & answers

• Enter/edit post-lab questions & responses

• Manage date dependent material

• Manage student & user information

TA Program InteractionTA Program Interaction

Teaching Assistants may review student responses to quiz and post-laboratory questions

• Check answers and date/time stamp

• Enter grade adjustments

• Score essay responses

• Display, print or copy reports

Site FeaturesSite Features

http://chemelements.ucdavis.edu/CHE2C

Prelaboratory Presentation

Quizzes

Post-laboratory

Management Tools

Prelaboratory Presentation

Quizzes

Post-Laboratory ExercisesPost-Laboratory Exercises

22

33 44

11

Management Tools

Trauma reportTrauma report

Technical AspectsEducational Aspects

Technical AspectsTechnical Aspects

Good• Accessing site

– MyUCDavis/Banner

– Flash downloading

– 71% reported no problems

• Using CD– Reducing Response

time off campus

– Low student usage • 66% reported no

problems

Bad• Early teething

problems– System failure to

recognize student

– Quicktime download website changed after launch

– Browser diversity

• Student Familiarity with the technology– Too Little

– Too Much

Educational AspectsEducational Aspects

Student Survey– Not at all– More no than yes– SomewhatSomewhat– More yes than no– Yes much– NA

Survey Question Negative Response

N/A orNeutral

Positive Response

Negative Response

N/A orNeutral

Positive Response

Negative Respons

e

N/A orNeutral

Positive Response

Help understand experiment?

22% 27%

51%

16% 35% 49%

5% 22% 73%

Give confidence regarding the experimental procedures?

32% 33%

35%

15% 41% 44%

5% 32% 62%

Require less assistance

from the TA?

35% 29%

36%

25% 32% 43%

8% 27% 65%

Help perform experiment more

efficiently?

34% 32%

34%

11% 42% 47%

7% 28% 65%

Help understand Help understand safetysafety??

1010%%

2121%%

6969%%

4%4% 2626%%

7070%%

1%1% 1919%%

8080%%

As useful as TA’s prelaboratory discussion?

35% 24%

41%

15% 25% 60%

4% 14% 82%

Prelab Preference/

RecommendationIn-class vs. On-line

49% 20%

31%

13%10%

15%22%

72%68%

1%8%

14%18%

85%74%

Postlab Preference/

RecommendationWritten vs. On-line

15%19%

10%13%

75%68%

4%8%

11%23%

85%69%

Fall 2002Fall 2002Spring 2002Spring 2002 Spring 2003Spring 2003

Survey ResultsSurvey Results

Improvements Between Improvements Between Spring 2002 and Spring 2003Spring 2002 and Spring 2003

Redesigned the post-laboratory exercises

– To include more feedback to student

– To increase robustness

– To tighten integration with lab course framework

TA Support – Online Management tools expanded– Office Hour Room with computer terminals for

student support

Educational Aspects Educational Aspects ConclusionsConclusions

Prelaboratory• Reported better

understanding of– experiments compared to

earlier laboratories– safety issues

• Good compliance with prelab quizzes

• Preferred & Recommendedon-line approach

• Both TA & Students report modest improvement of ability to perform lab independently

Postlaboratory• Students who were

having difficulties with calculations were identified and given guidance

• Creativity of error by 800 students kept us busy

• Student data errors leads to student frustration

• Nature of TA’s role is changing from Evaluator to Teacher

FutureFuture

Expansion to entire General Chemistry sequence

Continuing integration of the Laboratory manual to online activity framework

Program revision for SCORM compliance

Questions?Questions?

http://chemelements.ucdavis.edu/CHE2C