Online Teaching in the Course “Organic Chemistry” for Nonmajor Chemistry Students: From Necessity to Opportunity

• Published in: Journal of chemical education Vol. 97; no. 9; pp. 3140 - 3146
• Main Authors: Hermanns, Jolanda, Schmidt, Bernd, Glowinski, Ingrid, Keller, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Easton American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc 08.09.2020; Division of Chemical Education, Inc; American Chemical Society
• Subjects: Balances (scales); CAI; Chemistry; Classrooms; College Science; Computer assisted instruction; Confidence; Correlation; Distance Education; Educational activities; Educational Environment; Educational Technology; Electronic Learning; Evaluation; Learning environment; Navigators; Nonmajors; Online Courses; Online instruction; Organic Chemistry; Science Instruction; Student Attitudes; Student Satisfaction; Students; Teaching; Teaching methods; Time management; Undergraduate Study; Viruses; First-Year Undergraduate/General; Distance Learning/Self Instruction; Computer-Based Learning; Organic Chemistry
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00658
• ISSN: 0021-9584

In this communication the development of an online course on the topic “organic chemistry” for nonmajor chemistry students is described and discussed. For this online course, the existing classroom course was further developed. New elements such as podcasts, task navigators, and a forum for discussing the solving of tasks or problems with the content were added. This new online course was evaluated. Therefore, a questionnaire was developed. This consists of questions with regard to the longtime learning behavior of the students and to the online learning. The results of this evaluation show that a preference for online learning and a preference for classroom teaching can be measured separately in two scales. Students’ values on the scale representing a preference for online learning correlate positively and significantly with confidence in the choice of the study subject, enthusiasm about the subject, and the ability to organize their learning, learning environment, and time management. They correlate also with the satisfaction concerning the materials provided. Students’ values for one of those teaching methods also correlate with their rating with regard to their exam preparation. Values representing a preference for online teaching correlate positively with students’ better feeling of exam preparation. Values representing a preference for classroom teaching show negative correlations with the values representing students’ similar or even better preparation for the exams as a result of online teaching. It is therefore not surprising that the ratings for the two scales correlate with the wish for a combination of online teaching and classroom teaching in the future. As a solution, a new course concept for the time after the corona virus crisis that suits all students is outlined in the outlook.