Development and Use of Online Prelaboratory Activities in Organic

Article pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc

Development and Use of Online Prelaboratory Activities in Organic Chemistry To Improve Students’ Laboratory Experience Jennifer L. Chaytor,* Mohammad Al Mughalaq, and Hailee Butler Department of Chemistry, Saginaw Valley State University, 7400 Bay Road, University Center, Michigan 48710, United States S Supporting Information *

ABSTRACT: Online prelaboratory videos and quizzes were prepared for all experiments in CHEM 231, Organic Chemistry I Laboratory. It was anticipated that watching the videos would help students be better prepared for the laboratory, decrease their anxiety surrounding the laboratory, and increase their understanding of the theories and concepts presented. Moreover, the videos were implemented to increase consistency across the different laboratory sections of the course. The videos consisted of voice-over Powerpoints with photographs of laboratory glassware set up, explanation/ description of laboratory procedures, and important safety considerations and waste disposal instructions. Students watched the videos at home before they came to the lab to conduct their experiment. Following their implementation, students completed a postlab survey to evaluate the effectiveness of the videos on their preparation for lab and on their understanding of the concepts and theories of the experiments. Students reported that the videos helped them to feel better prepared to conduct their laboratory experiment and helped them to better learn and understand the concepts presented in the experiment. Watching the videos also assisted the students in recognizing how the laboratory themes and reactions were related to the Organic Chemistry I lecture topics. Finally, the implementation of the videos increased the consistency of content delivery across all sections of the course. KEYWORDS: Second-Year Undergraduate, Organic Chemistry, Laboratory Instruction, Distance Learning/Self Instruction, Internet/Web-Based Learning, Laboratory Equipment/Apparatus

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laboratory courses are taught by part-time instructors, and it can therefore be challenging to ensure that the course objectives and desired outcomes are being consistently met in all sections of the course. Finally, students often express concerns about using unfamiliar and expensive glassware and chemicals. We sought to find a prelab method that adequately addressed all of these issues. It is generally accepted that prelaboratory exercises are very important for student learning, particularly as students do not generally prepare for the lab if these exercises are not required.3,4,7−9 Furthermore, meaningful learning cannot occur when students are unprepared for laboratory, as the students then focus on technical skills without considering the theoretical implications of the experiment.7,10 Pogacnik and Cigic experienced positive results when students were able to reduce their postlab workload by completing more of their exercises prior to entering the laboratory.9 Dalgarno et al. utilized a CD-ROM Virtual Laboratory tool.11 Although student responses were mixed regarding whether the resource decreased their anxiety or increased their confidence

rganic chemistry lecture and laboratory are required classes for many students, both chemistry majors and nonmajors. It is generally accepted that laboratory work plays an important role in student learning, provided that the laboratory experience and objectives are well thought-out.1,2 Despite this, it can be difficult to ensure that students are adequately preparing for the laboratory period. Regardless of the method of preparation, students being appropriately prepared for the lab is critical to their understanding of laboratory theories and concepts.3−5 In this study, prelab videos and quizzes were developed to determine whether they would increase consistency across all sections of the course and improve students’ laboratory experience.

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INTRODUCTION Undergraduate laboratory courses have an important place in chemistry education.1,2,6 As mentioned, it can be a challenge to ensure that students are appropriately prepared for the laboratory. An additional challenge at our institution is that the organic chemistry lecture and laboratory are separate standalone courses, and not all students are enrolled in the corresponding lecture course while taking the laboratory course, so it can be difficult for students to see the connections to lecture content. Furthermore, many of our organic chemistry © XXXX American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.

Received: November 3, 2016 Revised: May 15, 2017

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DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00850 J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX

Journal of Chemical Education

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their time more appropriately and effectively with the use of the online materials.3 Similarly, online prelab exercises also improved student preparation in a biology course.18 Students responded very favorably to the online exercises and were able to be more focused during the laboratory period.18 Despite these successful examples of online prelab activities, there are two considerations that have not been addressed. The first is using the input of undergraduate students that have previously taken the course to create the activities. Students can provide useful insight into which areas and instructions in the laboratory manual are confusing and require more explanation with a visual aid. The second is to use a unified prelab instruction method to increase consistency across all sections of the course in a multisection lab course with multiple instructors. We decided to modify our prelab activities with these considerations in mind.

regarding the laboratory procedures, the majority agreed that the virtual lab was valuable to their learning and that they would recommend that future students utilize the tool.11 Nadelson et al. developed videos that teaching assistants could use at the start of the laboratory period, and students in the treatment group showed greater learning and also required less time to complete the experiment.4 Thus, it does appear that well-thought-out prelab activities can improve students’ preparation for lab.5,7−9,11 When the prelab activities are completed partially or completely online prior to beginning the laboratory experiment, this can be considered to be a “flipped prelab” approach. Flipped Laboratory Teaching

There is presently a large push to implement the use of technology into science classes. However, it is important that technology be used wisely with consideration of Best Practices for its use. An emerging pedagogical method is the use of the “flipped classroom”, where the traditional “lecture” activities are done at home prior to the class meeting, while the class meeting time is used to solve problems and expand upon the material presented in the lecture materials. This has proved to be a successful model in organic chemistry and spectroscopy lecture courses.12 An excellent application of this method is in the chemistry laboratory, where students are used to doing some prelab preparation at home prior to attending the lab meeting.13 Unfortunately, many students do not seem to understand the theory behind the experiments and use the lab period to simply “follow the recipe” without giving much thought to “why” they are doing certain tasks and how the experiment relates to the information presented in lecture.13 This is accentuated when students are under-prepared for the laboratory.7 A “flipped prelab” approach may resolve these problems. The implementation of online prelab activities in chemistry laboratory courses has been quite successful. Teo et al. successfully “flipped” the prelab component of both a general chemistry and organic chemistry laboratory by providing videos of techniques that the students watched before coming to the lab.14 Student interviews highlighted some of the advantages of this approach.14 Chittleborough et al. examined the effectiveness of online prelab activities (quizzes) in a chemistry lab course for nonmajors.15 The students felt better prepared for the lab after having completed the online exercises than they did using the previous format of reading the lab manual prior to lab.15 More recently, Fung sought to develop flipped prelab materials and utilized a GoPro camera strapped to the lab demonstrator.16 Fung suggests that the videos may help to decrease students’ anxiety upon entering a new laboratory environment and also to allow students to more efficiently use the limited time available in a laboratory period.16 In a very recent example, prelab videos were found to improve student preparation and increase analytical thinking skills in an analytical chemistry laboratory course, which resulted in improved grades.17 Online prelab activities have also proven successful in various nonchemistry science courses. For example, students enrolled in a biotechniques laboratory course reported that online materials that included pictures and videos of lab equipment and techniques were very helpful to their learning.3 Although the amount of time spent preparing for lab remained consistent with other courses, it was suggested that students were using

Objectives of the Study

The objectives of this study were to prepare prelab videos for each experiment that the students would watch prior to the start of the laboratory period and to assess their effectiveness. We wanted to address the following questions: (1) Do the videos help students to be better prepared for the laboratory? (2) Do the videos increase consistency across all sections of the course? (3) Do the videos help students to better understand the experiment and how it connects to topics covered in lecture? (4) Can the videos be used to improve the CHEM 331 (Organic Chemistry II Laboratory) curriculum?

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DEVELOPMENT OF MATERIALS

Required Prelab Activities Prior to Utilization of Videos

Prior to this study, students would complete prelab exercises in their laboratory notebook. These exercises included summarizing the procedure in their lab notebook, looking up Safety Data Sheets (SDS) for reagents used and noting hazards in their notebook, predicting the expected experimental product and writing the mechanism for its formation where appropriate, and performing any appropriate prelab calculations such as theoretical yield. At the beginning of lab, the instructor generally gave a prelab lecture, which lasted from 0−40 min depending on the experiment and instructor. This lecture would ideally emphasize safety information, discuss background and mechanistic details for synthetic experiments, and discuss any difficult/unclear procedural steps. There were many significant drawbacks to this approach. The first is that several different part-time and full-time instructors are assigned to CHEM 231 lab sections. Some instructors also teach the corresponding lecture course, while others do not. Therefore, not all instructors were able to fully connect the reactions performed in the lab to material covered in lecture, particularly if the lab got out of sequence with the lecture course. For this reason, some instructors chose not to give any prelab lecture, and thus, there was very little consistency in the prelab lecture across different lab sections. A second drawback to this approach was that when an extensive prelab lecture was given, it took up a significant percentage of the laboratory period. Because of this, students would then rush to complete their experiment in the remaining B



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time, which generally increased their anxiety and led to a greater likelihood of errors and spills. Students also expressed a desire to be able to visualize the glassware set up prior to entering the lab, as working with unfamiliar and expensive glassware increased their anxiety surrounding the lab. To address these issues, prelab videos were designed and developed to cover the prelab lecture material. The intention was that students would view the videos prior to entering the laboratory, thus eliminating the need for an extensive prelab lecture and increasing the consistency across all sections of the course. It was also anticipated that the use of prelab videos would improve students’ preparation, decrease students’ anxiety surrounding the laboratory, and increase their efficiency while in the laboratory.

Figure 1. Screenshot of a video showing the steps to assemble a distillation apparatus.

CHEM 231 Desired Learning Outcomes

The desired learning outcomes for CHEM 231 (Organic I Laboratory) include the following: (1) apply knowledge obtained in CHEM 230 (Organic I lecture) to problem solving and critical thinking in the laboratory; (2) assemble glassware and perform organic laboratory techniques including distillation, recrystallization, sublimation, reflux, and separation; and (3) conduct experiments in an organized and safe manner, handling glassware, equipment, and chemical reagents appropriately. We were hopeful that the developed prelab activities could assist with each of the outcomes listed above. Other desired outcomes include taking appropriate observations and preparing a professional laboratory report. To improve learning outcomes, the videos should assist the students in determining how lab content is related to lecture content, provide a visual for glassware assembly and certain procedural steps, and reinforce how to handle glassware, equipment, and reagents appropriately and safely.

Review Board (IRB) along with a waiver of written documentation of consent to ensure participant anonymity. The project was determined to be exempt from continuing review by the board. Participants were students who were enrolled in CHEM 231 or CHEM 331 over the 2015−2016 and 2016−2017 academic years. The survey was administered using Toluna QuickSurveys,19 and students were informed of the survey by e-mail and through a brief discussion at the start of a laboratory period. Student participation in the survey was completely voluntary and anonymous, and choosing to participate or not participate had no effect on their grade in the course. All students enrolled in CHEM 231 or 331 were provided a link to the survey by email, and no record was kept of which students participated.

Development of Videos

In total, 15 videos were created for CHEM 231, and nine videos were created for or used in CHEM 331. Each video was approximately 10 min in length. The videos were piloted during the Winter 2016 semester, and while student responses were largely positive, several students did not use the resource. Some students reported not knowing or forgetting that the resource was available. To increase utilization, online prelab quizzes were developed, which students were required to complete prior to entering the laboratory. These quizzes were worth a small percentage (5%) of their laboratory grade, and it was strongly recommended that the students watch the video prior to taking the quiz. The quizzes were piloted in Spring 2016, and 100% of students in the Spring 2016 class watched the videos as reported by the Echo 360 program. Thus, the required online quiz greatly increased video views. Two authors of this paper were undergraduate students who had previously taken CHEM 231. These students were able to provide insight into what topics should be covered in the videos, which procedural steps were unclear to the student reader, and what connections students were and were not making to lecture content. Each of these students shadowed a different lab section and noted questions and concerns that were frequently raised by the CHEM 231 students. These student authors were also involved in the development of the videos and quiz questions. Student involvement turned out to be invaluable to the success of this project. While the videos were intended to help students visualize glassware set up and to review specific laboratory techniques, they did not give the students all of the “answers”. Generic mechanisms were discussed, but students had to apply the

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RESULTS

Videos

Two types of cameras were used to prepare the videos. Still photographs of equipment and some procedural steps were taken with a Nikon DSLR camera, and a GoPro camera was used to take short videos of certain procedures. The GoPro videos covered topics such as preparing and running a thin layer chromatography (TLC) plate, preparing and running a sample on an IR spectrometer, and preparing and running a chromatography column. The still photographs were placed into a Powerpoint presentation for each experiment. The Powerpoint slides for each experiment discussed objectives, safety considerations, background and mechanistic details for reactions to be performed, glassware set up, laboratory techniques such as melting point determination, and waste disposal. A screenshot from the Distillation video is shown in Figure 1. Separate Powerpoint presentations were prepared that discussed overall lab safety, the proper maintenance of a laboratory notebook, and sample calculations, among other topics. All Powerpoint presentations were converted to voicedover videos using Echo 360 Personal Capture software. The videos were then uploaded into the Echo 360 section of Canvas, our Learning Management System, which allowed instructors to monitor how many times each video was being viewed, how much of the video was viewed, and which students were and were not utilizing the tool. Development of Survey

To measure the effectiveness of the videos and to answer the research questions posed, it was necessary to survey the students. Project approval was sought from the Institutional C



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To become familiar with a regularly used technique; to purify the caffeine samplea; to compare the different types of caffeine crystals; there is no purpose for the sublimation

Correct answer. a

How to set up a sublimation apparatus; the use of sublimation as a purification method

How much sodium sulfate should be added to the dichloromethane layer to dry the solution? What is the purpose of performing the sublimation?

Quiz Question

How much sodium carbonate should be dissolved in the tea solution before performing the extraction? After the extraction procedure is complete, which layer of solvent contains the caffeine?

Video Topic

Table 1. “Isolation of Caffeine from Tea” Video Topics and Associated Quiz Questions

Postlab surveys were offered in CHEM 231 in the Winter 2016, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, and Winter 2017 semesters. In these four semesters combined, 70 out of 147 students (48%) completed the CHEM 231 online survey. Results were largely positive, with the vast majority of students reporting that the videos assisted with their learning. Table 3 shows responses to questions regarding preparation for laboratory. Only 21 students felt adequately prepared to complete their experiment when they completed all prelab activities but had not yet watched the videos, while 52 students reported feeling adequately prepared to complete the lab after watching the videos. It should be noted that some students chose to watch the videos before completing the other prelab activities, and therefore, the first question was not applicable to them. This confirms that the students felt better prepared to complete their experiment after watching the videos. Table 4 shows responses to selected questions regarding the effectiveness of the videos. In total, 39 students reported that the videos helped them see the connections of the laboratory material to lecture content. Furthermore, 54 students felt that the pictures and diagrams were valuable to the learning process, and 54 students reported that the videos helped them better understand the concepts covered in lab. These responses answer the third question, which confirmed that the videos helped the students better understand the experiment and how the concepts connect to lecture topics. Informal discussions with students and instructors suggest that consistency was improved across various sections of the laboratory and across all instructors. Furthermore, students were asked to identify their laboratory instructor while completing the survey, and a good cross-section of instructors were represented in the responses (33% for Instructor A, 11% for Instructor B, and 44% for Instructor C, covering the three instructors in the three semesters studied). These responses were proportionate to the number of students taught by each

How to steep the tea and how much base should be added prior to extraction

CHEM 231 (Organic I Laboratory) Survey

How to use a drying agent following an organic extraction

In this video, students learn how to prepare and run a chromatography column, prepare and run a TLC plate, and calculate Rf values. They also learn some of the theory behind column chromatography and how it can be used to separate compounds of differing polarity. This video is 12 min in length. Some of the video topics and the quiz questions and corresponding answers are displayed in Table 2.

How to perform an organic solvent extraction using a separatory funnel; how to identify which layer will contain the desired product How to use a separatory funnel

“Separation of Fluorene and Fluorenone” Video Content and Quiz Questions

1 ga; 2 g; 5 g; 7 g

Quiz Multiple Choice Answers

This video introduces students to several new procedures including organic solvent extraction, utilization of a drying agent, and assembly of a sublimation apparatus. Much emphasis is placed on the proper and safe use of a separatory funnel and how to identify the layer that will contain the desired compound. This video is just over 9 min in length. Table 1 highlights some of the video topics and the corresponding quiz questions and answers.

Make sure the stopcock is closed before adding any solution into the funnel; release the pressure inside the funnel by opening the stopcock; do not point stopcock toward yourself or another student while releasing the pressure; all of the abovea 1 g; 2 g; 5 g; add only what is needed to remove the water visible in the solutiona

“Isolation of Caffeine from Tea” Video Content and Quiz Questions

What is important to remember when performing the extraction procedure?

mechanism to the reagents and starting materials used in the lab. Students were also required to complete several postlab questions for each lab that were related to their experimental results and the specific reaction or techniques performed in the laboratory, and the answers to these questions were not addressed in the prelab videos.

The top, dark layer (aqueous); the clear, bottom layer (organic)a; both layers contain the caffeine; neither layer contains caffeine

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Column chromatography allows us to separate compounds based on their size; compounds are separated by color in column chromatography; compounds are separated by functional group in column chromatography; column chromatography allows us to separate compounds that differ in polaritya True; falsea How are compounds separated by column chromatography?

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instructor, with Instructor A teaching 37% of the enrolled students, Instructor B teaching 30%, and Instructor C teaching 33% of the students enrolled over the semesters studied. Thus, the second question was answered affirmatively. Perhaps most valuable were student responses to the openended question, “How did watching the videos affect your learning?”. Selected responses included the following, with the notation [sic] indicating that the response has not been edited: Student 1: “Reading about a laboratory procedure is one thing, but to see a video (visual stimulus) showing the type of apparatus and explanation to why the experiment is meaningful is perhaps the best way to engage a students [sic] interest. Watching the pre-lab video was useful to me because I was able to get the questions I had after writing up my pre-lab in my notebook answered without having to bug a [sic] already busy professor. Also, if I missed something important in the video I could just rewind and watch again without further explanation from an outside source. I feel by watching the video before even writing the pre-lab is more helpful and explains things in such a clear manner, that my pre-lab report is written in a more confident manner.” Student 2: “The videos helped me feel extremely prepared for lab. There was a lot of times where the lab manual have [sic] very, very little detail, while the videos went into much more depth about the procedure. The videos also helped explain what we were doing as we were not always on the same material in lecture as we were in lab.” Student 3: “The videos were really helpful. The book showed pictures of the glass ware setups but actually seeing them and getting a little bit of a walk through of the experiments were really helpful. They also showed what the hardest/most time consuming parts of the labs would be and helped me prepare for them. The walk throughs [sic] of the mechanisms were really helpful as well.” Student 4: “It helped my learning by connecting the content and theory involved in the lab to the actual procedure we would carry out. The videos showed the big picture idea for whatever lab we completing. It was also helpful to see the setup of the different techniques since we had never worked with the equipment before.” All of the responses to this open-ended question can be found in the Supporting Information. Many students reported feeling “more prepared”, “confident”, and better able to visualize the glassware setup. However, it is important to note that the survey was completed after the experiments were completed in their entirety, so other factors besides the video will have contributed to the students’ learning at this point. Furthermore, student satisfaction does not necessarily equate to student learning. That said, the students’ perception was of increased preparation and confidence, and this was one of the desired outcomes of the videos. Further anecdotal evidence to support this was that the instructors who had taught several sections of the lab prior to the implementation of the videos noticed that students were completing their laboratories in much less time. The instructors also experienced far fewer procedural questions than before the videos were implemented. Instead, students now asked more conceptual questions. For example, prior to the videos, a very common question in the “Isolation of Caffeine from Tea” experiment was, “How much sodium sulfate do I need to use?”. This question has been largely replaced with questions such as, “What is the role of sodium sulfate?” or “How exactly does the sodium sulfate remove the water from the dichloromethane

Correct answer. a

How to run a TLC plate and determine the Rf of a sample

The Rf value can be calculated by taking the distance the solvent traveled and dividing it by the distance the sample traveled.

Quiz Multiple Choice Answers

Check to make sure you have your TLC plate; make sure there is no water in the columna; prepare the fluorene/fluorenone solution; none of the above Make sure you let the mobile phase of the column drain to the alumina layer; make sure to disturb the stationary phase of the column every few minutes; do not allow the mobile phase to drain below the top of the sand layera; all of the above

Quiz Question

What is the first thing you should do before preparing the column? What is the most important thing to remember when loading the column and when running the column?

Video Topic

How to prepare a chromatography column; the importance of using a column that is free of water How to load and run a chromatography column; the importance of not disturbing the stationary phase or allowing it to become dry The theory behind column chromatography and when it can be used to separate or purify compounds

Table 2. “Separation of Fluorene and Fluorenone” Video Topics and Associated Quiz Questions


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Table 3. Responses to Preparation Questions on CHEM 231 Survey Question

Very Prepared

Prepared

Somewhat Prepared

Not Prepared

Not Applicable

7

14

28

11

10a

22

30

5

0

13b

How prepared did you feel to complete your lab after completing the prelab activities, without watching the videos? How prepared did you feel to complete your lab after watching the prelab videos? N = 70 respondents a

Student watched videos before they completed prelab activities. bStudent did not watch videos.

Table 4. Responses to Selected Questions on CHEM 231 Survey Question

Always

Often

Sometimes

Rarely

Never

Not Applicable

Did the videos help you to see how the laboratory content was linked to the CHEM 230 lecture content? Did you find the pictures and diagrams in the videos valuable to your learning? Did the videos help you to learn and understand the concepts in the experiment? N = 70 respondents

10

29

10

2

0

19a

41 26

13 28

2 2

0 1

0 0

14b 13b

a

Student did not watch videos or student was not concurrently registered in CHEM 230. bStudent did not watch videos.

Table 5. Responses to Preparation Questions on CHEM 331 Survey Question

Very Prepared

Prepared

Somewhat Prepared

Not Prepared

Not Applicable

2

12

15

1

0

9

15

2

0

4a

Did you feel adequately prepared to complete your lab after completing the prelab activities without watching the videos? Did you feel adequately prepared to complete your lab after watching the prelab videos? N = 30 respondents a

Student did not watch videos.

Table 6. Responses to Selected Questions on CHEM 331 Survey Not Applicable

Question

Always

Often

Sometimes

Rarely

Never

Did you have questions about the laboratory procedure or theory after completing the prelab activities? Did the videos answer any questions you had after completing the prelab activities? Did the videos help you to see how the laboratory content was linked to the CHEM 330 lecture content? Did you find the pictures and diagrams in the videos valuable to your learning? Did the videos help you to learn and understand the concepts in the experiment? N = 30 respondents

2

6

15

6

1

2 6

12 8

8 9

1 1

0 0

7a 6b

15 7

7 11

4 6

0 1

0 0

4a 5a

a

Student did not watch videos. bStudent did not watch videos or student was not concurrently registered in CHEM 330.

solution?” This was a very positive outcome of the use of the videos.

videos was in Organic II laboratory. After the CHEM 331 videos were observed, 27 respondents (90%) agreed that having videos in CHEM 231 would have improved their preparation for lab had they been available. Responses to survey questions regarding preparation and understanding were largely similar between the two groups. Table 5 shows that the number of students who felt adequately prepared to complete their lab increased from 14 to 24 after watching the videos. In this course, students were able to compare their perception of preparation for experiments that did not have an associated video to those that did. As for Organic I, the majority of students reported that the pictures and diagrams in the videos were valuable to their learning, and 18 students felt that the videos helped them better understand the laboratory concepts (Table 6). Again, the open-ended responses to the question, “How did watching the videos affect your learning?” were very informative. Selected responses are displayed below, and the entirety of responses can be found in the Supporting Information.

CHEM 331 (Organic II Laboratory) Survey

Finally, we hoped to determine if the videos could be used as a tool to improve preparation for and consistency of Organic Chemistry II laboratory. Most videos covering common laboratory techniques and general information such as laboratory notebook set up and general lab safety could be reused without additional edits. One video covering the Grignard experiment was created specifically for CHEM 331, as this is generally reported by students to be one of the most difficult procedures to understand and visualize. When asked which video was the most useful to them, the vast majority of students named the Grignard reaction video. The student authors of this paper supported this assessment. CHEM 331 students were invited to complete a survey with similar questions to the Organic I survey. In total, 30 out of 54 students (56%) completed the CHEM 331 online survey during the Winter 2016 semester. These students took CHEM 231 before the videos were available, and their first use of F



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Student 5: “Eased my anxiety about lab experiments because I felt more prepared.” Student 6: “Having the opportunity to visualize what the text was describing made all the difference.” Student 7: “Helped reinforce the lab techniques, but would be more beneficial for Organic I lab.” Student 8: “The few videos I watched helped to refresh me on how some of the procedures worked. These would have been really helpful for chem 231 before I knew how each of these procedures worked like distillation, reflux, and etc.” Student 9: “The videos helped me feel more confident in the procedure going into lab and I was better able to focus on the chemistry of what I was doing rather than worrying about the procedure the whole time.” Student 10: “The videos definitely made me feel more relaxed and prepared for the lab. It took away any confusion about how to set up glassware. The ability to watch the videos also removed the need to have a time-wasting lecture at the beginning of lab. I had previously taken the Organic Chemistry 1 lab BEFORE the videos were in use and the beginning 30 minutes of the lab would be spent explaining the lab. While this was necessary to explain techniques to us, it forced students to have to rush through the lab creating more stress and a less efficient atmosphere.” As in CHEM 231, students reported feeling “more prepared”, “more confident”, and “more relaxed”/less anxious after watching the videos. Many students felt that the videos were a useful tool and most agreed that they would be more essential for Organic I laboratory. The videos provided a good refresher on common organic techniques, but it does not seem that they would be necessary for each individual experiment. Only those experiments that had very complex procedures or unfamiliar glassware set up, like our Grignard reaction, needed their own videos.

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ASSOCIATED CONTENT

S Supporting Information *

The Supporting Information is available on the ACS Publications website at DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00850. All student responses to open-ended survey questions (PDF)

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AUTHOR INFORMATION

Corresponding Author

*E-mail: [email protected]. ORCID

Jennifer L. Chaytor: 0000-0002-1030-1873 Notes

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors gratefully acknowledge the members of SVSU’s Department of Chemistry for helpful discussion and feedback. Those instructors that teach Organic Chemistry laboratories are gratefully thanked for piloting and utilizing the videos in their courses. Financial support for this project was received through an endowment from the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation in the form of a Dow Professor Award.

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REFERENCES

(1) Reid, R.; Shah, I. The role of laboratory work in university chemistry. Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. 2007, 8 (2), 172−185. (2) Johnstone, A. H.; Al-Shuaili, A. Learning in the laboratory; some thoughts from literature. Univ. Chem. Educ. 2001, 5, 42−51. (3) Gregory, S.-J.; Di Trapani, G. A Blended Learning Approach to Laboratory Preparation. Int. J. Innovation Sci. Math. Educ. 2012, 20 (1), 56−70. (4) Nadelson, L. S.; Scaggs, J.; Sheffield, C.; McDougal, O. M. Integration of Video-Based Demonstrations to Prepare Students for the Organic Chemistry Laboratory. J. Sci. Educ. Technol. 2015, 24, 476−483. (5) Rollnick, M.; Zwane, S.; Staskun, M.; Lotz, S.; Green, G. Improving pre-laboratory preparation of first year university chemistry students. Int. J. Sci. Educ. 2001, 23 (10), 1053−1071. (6) Bruck, L. B.; Towns, M.; Bretz, S. L. Faculty Perspectives of Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory: Goals and Obstacles to Success. J. Chem. Educ. 2010, 87 (12), 1416−1424. (7) Schmid, S.; Yeung, A. The Influence of a Pre-Laboratory Work Module on Student Performance in the First Year Chemistry Laboratory; HERDSA Annual Conference: Sydney, Australia, 2005; pp 471−479. (8) Ealy, J. B.; Pickering, M. High School Laboratory without Lab Handouts. J. Chem. Educ. 1992, 69, 150. (9) Pogacnik, L.; Cigic, B. How to Motivate Students to Study before They Enter the Lab. J. Chem. Educ. 2006, 83 (7), 1094−1098. (10) Mohrig, J. R. The Problem with Organic Chemistry Labs. J. Chem. Educ. 2004, 81 (8), 1083−1084. (11) Dalgarno, L. B.; Bishop, A. G.; Adlong, W.; Bedgood, D. R., Jr. Effectiveness of a Virtual Laboratory as a preparatory resource for Distance Education chemistry students. Comput. Educ. 2009, 53, 853− 865. (12) Flynn, A. B. Structure and evaluation of flipped chemistry courses: organic & spectroscopy, large and small, first to third year, English and French. Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. 2015, 16, 198−211. (13) Seery, M. K. Harnessing Technology in Chemistry Education. New Dir. 2013, 9 (1), 77−86. (14) Teo, T. W.; Tan, K. C. D.; Yan, Y. K.; Teo, Y. C.; Yeo, L. W. How flip teaching supports undergraduate chemistry laboratory learning. Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. 2014, 15, 550−567.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Prelab videos were prepared for Organic I and II Laboratory. The majority of students that completed the postlab survey reported that the videos helped them to feel more confident when conducting the laboratory experiments. Four questions were addressed, and all four were answered affirmatively with both anecdotal evidence and student responses to survey questions. Most significantly, the consistency across various laboratory sections was increased. It is anticipated that this method would be useful for institutions that have several sections taught by different instructors or those that have laboratories taught by several teaching assistants. The main challenges to using the videos were a lack of communication between some instructors to ensure that the students knew the videos were available and ensuring that the students actually watched the videos. Utilization of graded online prelab quizzes based on the videos increased viewership, but there is still room for some improvement in this area. One possible drawback is that many students reported that the videos made an already long prelab process even longer. However, the extremely positive feedback suggests that the videos are still valuable to the learning process despite the extra time required to watch them. G



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Development and Use of Online Prelaboratory Activities in Organic

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