Adapting and Assessing a Traditional Course in an Online Environment
Adapting a traditional in-person course to an online format posed challenges and opportunities for Professor Chip Nataro at Lafayette College. By utilizing interactive teaching methods, maintaining rapport with students, adapting assessments, and receiving positive feedback, the course successfully navigated the transition with adjustments in teaching strategies and evaluation methods.
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A TRADITIONAL COURSE IN AN ONLINE ENVIRONMENT 2NDVIPER SLiThEr (SUPPORTING LEARNING WITH INTERACTIVE TEACHING: A HOSTED, ENGAGING ROUNDTABLE) CHIP NATARO LAFAYETTE COLLEGE JULY 16, 2020
THE PAST (SPRING 2020) Teaching Inorganic Chemistry I (CHEM 212/213) 23 students with pre-existing clusters Course layout By year Section 1: Bonding (group theory and MO diagrams) First-year: 5 Section 2: Solid-state and materials Sophomore: 13 Juniors: 3 Section 3: Coordination Chemistry Seniors: 2 Section 4: Bioinorganic (new) By major Course calendar Chemistry: 7 Each section gets approximately the same amount of time Biochemistry: 6 4 exams total with the last one during finals and partially cumulative Chemical Engineering: 9 We shut down after the 2nd exam at spring break Biology: 1 By lab Lab: 8 No lab: 15
HOW DID I ADAPT? I ve taught the course remotely during ACS meetings in the past Established rapport is important In some ways this is better because students can ask anonymous questions One time zone! I already use Zoom in every class Continued with modifications to lecture Breakout rooms Recorded Office hourse
HOW DID I ASSESS? Exams Problem sets Saw my wife s struggles 2/unit Previous experience with Moodle quizzes Students emailed me their answers and presented in class Doing normal exams seemed impossible No real change Switched to literature discussion exams Presentations For non-lab students Through Zoom Lab not today s topic
RESULTS 100 90 80 70 60 Percentage 50 40 30 20 10 0 1 2 3 4 Average Exam 1 Exam 2 Exam 3 Exam 4
STUDENT COMMENTS I really enjoyed this course and I appreciate how much effort you put in the make online classes as normal as possible. I feel as if our first two exams were more of a test of our knowledge while the second two were more of a read and comprehend type thing. The course was hard. The tests were hard. The material is demanding. I would not necessarily recommend this course to classmates trying to find a class. However, all things considered...I didn t have a more understanding class about COVID restrictions. Extended time on assignments and kindness with grades mean everything this semester. I genuinely appreciate the effort Professor Nataro put into making sure our learning wasn t too badly compromised by the circumstances. I wanted to say that the format of your open note take-home exams were really great. Instead of panicking about memorization I found myself actually understanding the concepts and learning while taking the test, as comprehension of the scholarly articles requires an understanding of the science. It made the material a lot more accessible that I felt before. It s like being thrown in the deep end, while still having a chance to learn from it.
THE FUTURE Inorganic Chemistry 2 11 students with at least 1 remote I ve had them all either in class or the research lab Anticipate it being very similar to Inorganic I Writing course Develop more asynchronous writing materials Special guest star: Jen Love General Chemistry I? Inorganic Chemistry I Spring 2021?
FUTURE SLiThEr July 23 (3 pm eastern GMT-4): Flipped classroom approach hosted by Anthony Fernandez and Meghan Porter July 30 (12 pm mountain GMT-6_: Why I flipped my classroom, the effect it had, inclusivity hosted by Caroline Saouma Week of August 3: Group work in online formats? Week of August 10: Intro to the new VIPEr site?
