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Steven D. Gammon University of Idaho Moscow, ID 83844
A Multimedia Approach to Lab Reporting via Computer Presentation Software Gregory T. Jenkinson and Ana Fraiman* Department of Chemistry, Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, IL 60625-4699
Making the Technology Available to Students The use of multimedia software opens many exciting possibilities for educators in the delivery of information and for students in the better reception of information and later on in the organization and presentation of their work. Multimedia software is assisting educators to communicate concepts that come alive in the company of animation, sound, video, three-dimensional graphics, and simulation. Educators have seen that a multimedia lecture captures the attention of the audience and helps convey ideas difficult to communicate in words alone. Presentation software allows instructors to create and customize dynamic multimedia references, and many have upgraded their teaching style to a format that is conducive to the learning style of more students. The power of personal computers and the chemical software available allow us to use a three-dimensional approach to communicate and visualize complex concepts. Typically, the use of multimedia presentation software has been limited to the educator; students are merely passive witnesses of the material presented and are not involved in compiling information or creating presentations. The multimedia approach gives students the possibility of compiling and delivering information in the same way as it was delivered to them. For the laboratory component of the class, this innovation becomes an invaluable tool. Chemical computer software assists students to visualize what was previously intangible, and presentation software allows them to capture this information and present it as part of a more complete lab report. Use of Presentation Software in Laboratory Reports In a laboratory report, the student is expected to compile and organize information acquired from different sources: textbook data, notes, apparatus readouts, experimental data, chemistry journals, the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, hypermedia Web pages, chemistry software (e.g., HyperChem modeling software, SpectraBook spectroscopy database, Chem Window 2D molecule drawing program), personal interpretation, and analysis. From this cornucopia of media, the student compiles a comprehensive report. An even greater achievement for the student is to make reports easy to access and cross-referenced for future experiments and advanced course work. This is the opportunity that current presentation software offers.
Presentation software can organize any form of medium, no matter the type or source. Using this software students can organize the data into computer screen pages along with their prelab report and conclusion. Thus, the information becomes visual and relational. Reports of this form are not only pleasing to read but easy to index as well. PodiumTM Today, our students in organic chemistry use Podium, developed by Fred T. Hofstetter at the University of Delaware, to create their laboratory reports. It is important to note, however, that Podium is just one of the many multimedia presentation applications available. All presentation programs, including Pierian Spring’s Digital Chisel, Multimedia Design’s mPOWER, Gold Disk’s Astound, Macromedia’s Action!, and Microsoft PowerPoint, are capable of organizing computer screen pages of information, whether pictures, text, video, or sound (1, 2). Podium was chosen simply for its ease of operation. Only two class periods were required to introduce the software to the students, who subsequently require infrequent assistance. The computer literacy of the class ranged from computer programmers to students lacking even word processing skills. However, by the end of the first semester, 100% of the students submitted a comprehensive multimedia laboratory report to the instructor. As the students’ computer literacy varied, so did their presentations. Using Podium, the laboratory reports are normally organized in a menu format where the first screen page is a menu that lists the experiments performed during the semester. This is by no means a strict template that the students must abide by; however, it is the most popular format. Some students choose to create menus and submenus that separate the experiments further into the classes of compounds they use or by the mechanisms that they undergo. The design of the database is totally up to the student. In contrast to hard-copy reporting, which uses a linear approach to organize data, presentation reports use a system similar to hypertext that is customized by the user (3). Students create links between words, phrases, or images that they deem necessary for reinforcement. The hypertext (or hyperimage) capability allows them to make immediate connections to relevant material. The information is accessed on demand and it is the student who decides the relation of the material. Thus, a book you have written yourself becomes the easiest book to read.
*Email:
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JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 76 No. 2 February 1999 • Journal of Chemical Education
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Information • Textbooks • Media • Resources
Advantages
major reference.
Presentation software offers numerous advantages. First, the information obtained in the first experiment can be used and cross-referenced in subsequent experiments. There is no need to rewrite techniques or tabulated data that have already been read, written, and cited in previous labs. The student merely creates a button or anchor (highlighted words or phrases) that refers to that entire experiment, technique, or melting point or 3D image of the compound (3). Relevance is emphasized, not redundancy. Second, as noted previously, multimedia software allows us to communicate in more than just words. For organic chemistry, this is quite an advancement. In class, the students are often asked to envision threedimensional compounds in space. This is often difficult for students to do with the aid of instruction and 2D images (textbooks, overheads and handouts) alone. With the use of computer simulation and 3D imaging, the essence of the reaction or mechanism is accentuated. Third, the information can be updated easily, just as a word-processing document is. The instructor also finds it easy to make corrections directly on the computer screen, or to leave a voice annotation expressing reassurance and guidance to the students’ report. Indexing can be done by experiment number or by name, compound, reaction, or technique. The choice is totally up to the student. This growing database of information that each student personally creates becomes a tool from which he or she may study. In future classes it can be utilized as a
Summary
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It is important to emphasize the distinction between hard-copy reports and multimedia presentation reports. Presentation reports mirror the way we think, learn and remember. and for that reason, it is easy to retrieve information in a logical manner. The software assists students in making links within the array of concepts that at times they see as separate entities. Once the links are established, they are ready to serve the student on demand without hesitation. It is our hope and vision that, with the assistance of presentation software, students will learn to make links of their own. As they do, they will begin to see chemistry as an encompassing industry and begin to make connections into other disciplines of science, such as biology and physics. Acknowledgment Special thanks to Mark McKernin, Coordinator of Enhanced Learning, who, through his patience and availability, taught the students how to use Podium to create these multimedia chemistry lab reports. Literature Cited 1. Lynch, P. J. Syllabus 1995, 8(8), 10–18. 2. Tissue, B. M. J. Chem. Educ. 1996, 73, 65–68. 3. Hyde, R. T.; Shaw, P. N.; Jackson, D. E.; Woods, K. J. Chem. Educ. 1995, 72, 669–702.
Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 76 No. 2 February 1999 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu
