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Chem 1B: General Chemistry II

Course Description

Chem 1B is the continuation of the development of fundamental principles of chemistry and applications of principles developed in CHEM 1A. The laboratory work emphasizes applications of equilibrium principles including some qualitative analysis, coordination chemistry, and electrochemistry. Lecture three hours, laboratory five hours. Knowledge of word processing and spreadsheet software is recommended. (5 units)

The course I redesigned is Chem 1B lecture. There were 144 students enrolled in the lecture in Fall 2021. Chem 1B is a lower-division course for students majoring in science and a prerequisite for all upper-division courses.

Before:

Motivation for Redesign

Chem 1B is a gateway course that has a high D/F/W rate (about 30%). It is the third chemistry course that students struggle with the most. Low-stake formative assessments were needed to provide learning opportunities and motives for students to practice.

Student engagement was low in the large online lecture (n = 144) via Zoom. Strategies were needed to promote student engagement and their learning in class.

After:

Weekly online homework assignments were created on Canvas. Each homework was available for about five days and allowed three attempts for them to respond at their convenience, learn from mistakes, and engage in learning.

Zoom chat was proactively used to engage students in answering questions, interacting with each other, and participating in class discussions.

Zoom breakout rooms were used to promote collaborative learning via small group work.

Evidence of Student Learning

Evidence of Student Learning
Low-Stake Homework Assignment	Zoom Chat as Discussion Board	Zoom Chat as I-Clickers
Weekly homework assignments were created. Each homework was available for about five days and allowed three attempts for students to respond at their convenience, learn from mistakes, and engage in learning.	Zoom chat was proactively used to engage students in class discussions.	Zoom chat was proactively used as i-clickers to engage students in answering questions.

Techniques Incorporated Into Redesign

This redesign made greater use of the quizzes function in Canvas and chat and breakout rooms in the class-wide collaboration tool Zoom than previous semesters of this course. Students were asked for feedback on the teaching methods and I could use their feedback to improve my teaching.

Assessment of Redesign Project

The effect of online homework assignments was assessed by student comments and the association with the final course grade. Both anonymous midterm teaching evaluation administered by me and the end of semester teaching evaluation administered by the institution showed students found the homework assignments helpful for their learning. Some students sample comments were shown in the following:

"The homework was also helpful because it allowed for better practice"

"The multiple attempts really help me to understand the material better, because I am able to go back and see what I did wrong, and learn from my mistakes. I also review and redo the homework pdfs again before exams so that I can see areas in which I am confident or need to study more."

"The way she set up the homework allowed for us to learn from it rather than feel discouraged."

Statistical analysis on students' homework grades and final course grades showed significantly strong associations, suggesting the homework assignment was a good resource to student success in the course.

The class discussion using Zoom chat helped me to understand why some students struggle as well as helping students to clarify possible mistakes. Students' quiz and final exam performance on the same learning objective was assessed. Students' correctness was 51% in Quiz 1 before the class discussion. After class discussion and further clarification, students' performance increased to 92% on the same learning objective.

The effect of using Zoom chat to increase student engagement was assessed by teaching evaluations. For example, some students wrote comments regarding this at the end of semester teaching evaluation:

"She always asks and provides questions to ensure our understanding the material and you can tell she truly cares about her students and their education, and how they are doing in the course. I appreciated that she included practice problems in the lecture and feel it enhanced my learning and better prepared me for exams."

"The professor did an amazing job teaching, she provided us with examples to do during class as well to check our understanding and keep us engaged."

Equitable & Inclusive Outcomes for Students

Instructor wrote online homework assignments. There was no cost associated with the course materials.

The multiple attempts and immediate feedback provided students opportunities to practice and learn based on their specific needs.

The chat function in Zoom provided students opportunities to speak up in class.

Reflection: Challenges and Lessons Learned

The new strategies worked really well. Students' positive comments, improved performance on chemistry concepts, and active participation in class activities all provided evidence that homework assignments and proactive use of Zoom functions were a success. My computer was lagging due to internet and computer issues, random assignments of students into breakout rooms were time-consuming, which created some challenges. In the future, I would like to pre-assign students into breakout rooms and borrow a higher-performance computer when having online classes.

Faculty Biography

Faculty Bio
	Yujuan Liu holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Education and a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry as well as a Graduate Certificate in Evaluation. She has served as a chemistry faculty member at a primarily undergraduate institution and at a masters-granting institution. She has taught introductory chemistry lectures and labs. Dr. Liu’s research focuses on the assessment of different factors impacting student success in undergraduate chemistry and the implementation and evaluation of evidence-based instructional designs that broaden student participation and diversity and improve STEM retention and persistence. She is an active member of the American Chemical Society Chemical Education Division and has published a number of journal articles on student motivation, research-based green chemistry laboratory projects, and social network analysis.

**Program Sponsors**
	This work was supported by the Sacramento State and The Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund