On-Line%20Pre-%20

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On-LinePre- Post-Laboratory Activities for
General Chemistry
Presented by Dianne Meador and William H. Fink,
Department of Chemistry, University of
California, Davis, CA, 95616
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On-Line 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

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MotivationImproved educational experience in the
laboratory

• Familiarize students with equipment and
  chemistry.
• Focus students attention to the principles
  underlying the chemistry.
• Modernizing laboratories to increase student
  appeal.

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Objectives

• Postlab Exercises
• Reinforce educational goals
• Certify achievement of goals
• Scoring student performance

• Prelab Activities
• Consistent preparation
• Efficient use of time
• Accountable

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Participants

• Deans Office of Letters and Science,
  Mathematical and Physical Sciences
• MediaWorks
• Chemistry Department

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Show Tell

• Site Features
• Prelaboratory Presentation
• Quizzes
• Post-laboratory

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Trauma report

• Technical Aspects
• Educational Aspects

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Technical Aspects

• Good
• Accessing site
• MyUCDavis/Banner
• Flash Quicktime 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 site change.
• Browser diversity
• Student Familiarity with the technology
• Too Little
• Too Much

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Educational Aspects

• Student Survey
• Yes much
• More yes than no
• Somewhat
• More no than yes
• Not at all
• NA

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Survey Question No or Negative Response Neutral or Positive Response
Help understand experiment? 26 74
Give confidence regarding the experimental procedures? 37 63
Require less assistance from the TA? 41 59
Help perform experiment more efficiently? 39 61
Help understand safety? 16 84
As useful as TAs prelaboratory discussion? 37 63
Preference over TAs prelab discussion? 50 50
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Educational Aspects

• Good
• Prelab
• Reported better understanding of
• experiments compared to earlier courses.
• safety issues.
• Good compliance with prelab quizzes
• Postlab
• Students who were having difficulties with
  calculations were identified and given guidance.

• Bad
• Prelab
• Equal preference for in-class vs. on-line prelab
  presentation.
• Minimal improvement of independent lab
  performance
• Increase course management demands on TAs
• Postlab
• Creativity of error by 800 students kept us busy.
• Initial exercise design led to high student
  frustration level

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Future

• Redesigned the post-laboratory exercises.
• To include more feedback to student
• To increase robustness
• To tighten integration with lab course framework

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The End