Integrating Academic Skills Development in a First Semester Chemistry UnitTechnology Enhanced Curriculum | Sydney Teaching Colloquium | 2012

ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR LEARNING AND TEACHINGFACULTY OF SCIENCE

ADAM BRIDGEMAN

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Issue

› ~2000 students enrol in CHEM1 each semester, from every faculty

› CHEM1 should contain the molecular science that every scientists should know

› Alongside subject specific knowledge, first year (science) units have a duty to:

- Engage students

- Develop the academic skills of students new to higher education

- Introduce students to the scientific method and to the primary literature

FIRST YEAR UNIT CHEMISTRY:

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Threshold Learning Outcomes

› Understanding science

› Inquiry and problem solving

› Major focus in new national curriculum for schools

NATIONAL SCIENCE THRESHOLD LEARNING OUTCOMES

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Why online?

› Every researcher now searches for and reads the literature online

- ‘Authentic’ experience

- Can blend resources and tools

› Marking is expensive and takes a long time

- Online assessments can be easier to mark and feedback can be rapid

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Research Project

› ‘Academic information skills’ (5/10 marks)

- Skills tutorials assessed through certificate of completion

- ‘Scholarly versus non-scholarly resources’

- ‘Finding journal articles using databases’

- ‘Introduction to using the Web of Science’

- ‘Search smarter, search faster’

- Find top 5 cited papers on global warming from 2000 – 2010

- Quiz based on Web of Science results: number of citations, number of references etc.

GLOBAL WARMING ASSIGNMENT

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Research Project

› ‘Reading the Scientific Literature’ (5/10 marks)

- Information on the scientific literature and details of papers to find

- Quiz on what the scientific literature is

- Find and read 3 key papers on the science of global warming

- 15 question multiple choice quiz

- Covers basic calculations and scientific mechanism

- Develops a story on how evidence is argued over as part of scientific process

GLOBAL WARMING ASSIGNMENT

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Research Project

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Research Project

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Research Project

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Research Project

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Marking and Feedback

› Columns downloaded from Blackboard

› Used to generate unique feedback for each student

- Statistical information on performance

- Explanation on each question answered incorrectly

- Description of story connecting evidence in papers, particularly around importance of positive-feedback mechanisms

‘FAST AND PERSONAL FEEDBACK’

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Student Perceptions

› Students who report a deep approach to :

› tend to report using technology in ways which further their inquiry

› don't see any fragmentation between their experiences face-to-face and online

› Students reporting a surface approach to inquiry:

› tend to report using technology in ways which are more about collecting information

› perceive a fragmentation of the physical and virtual learning spaces

PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM eLEARNING SURVEYS