Technology Report Cite This: J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
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Using a Multitouch Book to Enhance the Student Experience in Organic Chemistry Jimmy Franco* and Brian A. Provencher
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Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Merrimack College, 315 Turnpike Street, North Andover, Massachusetts 01845, United States ABSTRACT: In recent years, researchers have worked diligently to identify more effective means of facilitating student learning. Some promising pedagogical techniques that have emerged include the flipped-class model and test-enhanced learning. These pedagogical strategies have been incorporated into a multitouch book. A multitouch book is a dynamic platform that allows instructors to combine text, videos, interactive figures, and quizzes into an electronic book. A multitouch book was created and implemented in an organic-chemistry sequence. The course content in the multitouch book is divided into individual learning units. Each unit contains concise informative text, explanatory videos, and quizzes in a structured manner. The multitouch book contains all of the topics traditionally covered in a sophomore-level organic-chemistry course and was created using a variety of elements to engage students in a manner that best matches their learning preference. The multitouch book was created in iBooks Author, which has widgets that allow for the facile insertion of the videos, figures, images, and quizzes. Student response to the multitouch book was overwhelmingly positive. KEYWORDS: Second-Year Undergraduate, General Public, Organic Chemistry, Distance Learning/Self Instruction, Multimedia-Based Learning, Textbooks/Reference Books, Professional Development, Student-Centered Learning
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INTRODUCTION Organic-chemistry courses are traditionally very challenging for students. Many pedagogical strategies, such as flipped classes, have been developed, incorporating online resources and research-based laboratory activities, which have engaged students and addressed some of the challenges faced in organic chemistry.1−3 Researchers have identified a number of interventions and pedagogical strategies aimed at facilitating the students’ ability to reach the learning goals.4−6 A few promising pedagogical techniques that have emerged include the flipped-class model, test-enhanced learning, and active learning.5,7,8 These strategies often leverage technology to supplement traditional lecture material.9,10 The term multitouch book is used to describe electronic books that have dynamic features, such as videos, quizzes, and interactive figures, for example. A multitouch book’s interactive features provide an advantageous platform, because they allow for the seamless integration of videos, presentations, diagrams, manipulatable figures, photo galleries, and quizzes alongside the text. The symbiotic incorporation of flipped-classroom elements, test-enhanced learning, and text into a multitouch book enables students to engage the material in a manner that best matches their learning preferences (Figure 1).11,12 Recently, researchers have demonstrated that a multitouch book could be used to improve student learning in an introductory anatomy class.13 They were able to leverage the © XXXX American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
interactive features of a multitouch book to more effectively deliver the content on the basis of the students’ learning preferences.14 Students in the anatomy course were given preresource and postresource questionnaires on the brachial plexus (BP). Students’ average score on the questionnaire improved from 4.1 to 5.7 (out of 8) on the postresource exam.13 Although multitouch books have not become prevalent in higher education yet, they do provide an innovative method for presenting course material. Thus, a multitouch book was developed and implemented as a supplement to a traditional textbook in an organic-chemistry sequence. The multitouch book, described herein, was divided similarly to a traditional textbook, with chapters divided by topics. The chapters were subsequently broken down into smaller units that focused on a specific concept or reaction. Each of the units was composed of concise text, images, video explanations, and quizzes (Figure 2). Although many instructors already offer these elements in their courses, the multitouch book allowed for all of these elements to be integrated into one scaffolded resource for students. Received: August 28, 2018 Revised: January 11, 2019
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00703 J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
Journal of Chemical Education
Technology Report
Figure 1. Facile incorporation of a myriad of pedagogical techniques, including but not limited to aspects of flipped classes, test-enhanced learning, and text, into a multitouch book, thus catering to students’ learning preferences.
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CREATION OF THE MULTITOUCH BOOK The multitouch book was constructed using iBooks Author for Mac computers. iBooks Author was selected for its userfriendly interface, which does not require any programming skills and generally utilizes a drag-and-drop platform. Additionally, as part of the college’s mobile initiative, all undergraduate students have access to an iPad. Students were able to download the multitouch book from our LMS (Blackboard); alternatively, the multitouch book is also available from the iBook Store (Personal Tutor: Organic Chemistry by Jimmy Franco, Apple ID 1426025439).15 Once the students had downloaded the multitouch book, they could highlight text, create notes and study cards, and search the text, in addition to using all of the embedded content (text, videos, figures, and quizzes). It was more advantageous to create the text of the multitouch book in Microsoft Word (or another word processor) and then subsequently import the text into iBooks Author via the drag-and-drop feature. All two-dimensional chemical structures were constructed using ChemDraw Prime 15.0 using the ACS-style setting that is inherent to ChemDraw. All ChemDraw images were saved as PNG files and imported into the iBook as pictures. It should be noted that iBooks Author could not load ChemDraw CDX files. Videos were prepared using Explain Everything for iOS.16 Explain Everything is an application that allows the instructor to easily create dynamic videos resembling a classroom lecture (Figure 3). The application provides the instructor with a blank white slate, and then the instructor can write and speak as if giving a lecture on a white board in front of a class. The illustrations and voice are captured by the application and can
later be edited individually. All videos were exported from Explain Everything as MP4 files. The quizzes were created within iBooks Author. This quiz widget has a variety of multiple-choice templates that the author can select from. The widget has an assortment of features that permits the author to customize the questions using pictures and text. The quizzes indicate whether the selected answer is correct or incorrect, but they do not record or report the answers select by the student. Lastly, to create a cohesive and well-formatted book, the built-in iBooks Author widgets were utilized. These widgets create a user-friendly interface for the insertion and formatting of videos, figures, photo galleries, and quizzes into the electronic book (Figure 4). Additional information about creating a multitouch book can be found in the iBooks Author Starter Kit,17 which can be found via the iBooks store. One major limitation is that the multitouch book created by iBooks Author has to be used on an iOS device (iPhone, iPad, or Mac computer) in order to have its full functionality. iBooks Author allows the creator to export the multitouch book as a PDF file, but the PDF version loses the functionality of the dynamic features, such as the videos, quizzes, and any of the other widgets.
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MULTITOUCH BOOK The multitouch book was formatted similarly to a traditional textbook. Chapters were created around concepts. Chapters included “Structure and Bonding”, “Alkanes”, “Stereochemistry”, “Acids and Bases”, “Carbocations”, “Alkenes”, “Alkynes”, “Haloalkanes”, “Substitution and Elimination Reactions”, “Alcohols”, “Ethers”, “Infrared Spectroscopy”, “Nuclear MagB
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00703 J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
Journal of Chemical Education
Technology Report
Figure 2. Screenshot of the multitouch book displaying the concise text, images, videos, and quizzes to highlight some the interactive features of a multitouch book.
Figure 3. Screenshot of a video from the multitouch book that was made with Explain Everything. The instructor can create a lecture that students have access to at anytime.
netic Resonance”, “Mass Spectrometry”, “Conjugated Systems”, “Aromatic Compounds”, “Ketones”, “Aldehydes”, “Carboxylic Acids”, “Carboxylic Acid Derivatives”, and “Enolates”. Each chapter was divided into units containing concise explanations, detailed images, instructional videos, and quizzes. The text in the multitouch book was intentionally
written with brevity and directness, in order to better match current students’ learning preferences.18,19 The succinctness of the text aims to address the overwhelming feeling that students sometimes experience when using a traditional textbook. Researchers found that students spend more time reading the chapter summaries of textbooks, than the actual chapter when C
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00703 J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
Journal of Chemical Education
Technology Report
Figure 4. Multitouch book created in iBooks Author. The application contains a number of widgets that allow the user-friendly insertion of interactive features.
Figure 5. Results from the student survey. Students felt as though the multitouch book helped them more effectively learn the course material.
studying for an exam.20 Thus, presenting the text portion of the material in a concise manner aims to address current student learners’ shortened attention spans.18,21,22 It is noteworthy that the conciseness of the text is aimed at explaining the material in a direct manner while still
maintaining the appropriate level of depth typically found in a sophomore organic-chemistry course. The embedded videos are geared toward reinforcing the concise text in the unit. The instructional videos leverage elements of a flipped class, to maximize student learning outside the classroom.23 The videos are particularly advantaD
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00703 J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
Journal of Chemical Education
Technology Report
Figure 6. Results from the student survey. A majority of the students found the conciseness of the text, the videos, and the quizzes to be beneficial.
self-quizzing capabilities (70.4%, Figure 6). A majority (78%) of the students also reported that they believed that a multitouch book should be included in general chemistry as a means to supplement the text and teaching materials. Additionally, 71% of the students surveyed preferred the multitouch book to a traditional textbook. Overall, the students enjoyed having the additional content; below are a few of the student comments from the open-response section: • “I love the iBook... It’s like having a tutor. Gives you extra notes, extra problems, and extra explanations... LOVE.” • “I liked reviewing the iBook, especially before quizzes, as a review of the lectures.” • “I like having the extra option of more practice problems and quizzes to test myself, it helps me see what topics I need to improve on.” • “When comparing my first test grade to the second, I scored 15 points higher and only used the iBook for the second exam. The multiple choice questions definitely helped me understand the material more.” • “It’s awesome, every Chem class should have it.” • “Example problem videos helped a lot. Definitely led to higher exam grades and better understanding of the material.”
geous because the instructor can ensure the content in the videos is well-aligned with the learning goals of the course. Lastly, by having the instructional videos in the multitouch book, an educator can scaffold the videos in a manner that facilitates the students’ progression through the course content. Each unit contains quizzes to reinforce the concept presented in the unit. The quizzes are multiple-choice questions with a variety of images and text. The quizzes give the student immediate feedback, which has been shown to enhance student learning.24 Additionally, the students can repeat the quizzes as often as they deem appropriate. Although the quizzes are a useful tool for students, it should be noted that the multitouch book does not store answers, nor does it report student responses. The quizzes are simply meant as a self-test for students. A sample chapter can be downloaded from the iBook Store.15
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STUDENT RESPONSE The multitouch book was used in Organic I and II courses. These courses primarily consisted of sophomores and juniors, with a mixture of chemistry majors and nonmajors. Students in the class were asked to complete a survey at the end of the semester. The survey for the multitouch book was administered using a Google Form, and the responses were kept anonymous. The students’ responses to the multitouch book were overwhelmingly positive according to the survey. Students reported that the use of the multitouch book helped them master key concepts of organic chemistry and improve their grade in the course, and they suggested that other courses would benefit from implementing a multitouch book. The results from the student survey were overwhelmingly positive. In response to the question, “Do you feel that using the multitouch book helped you more effectively learn the course material?” 80.3% of the students responded positively (Figure 5). The students also reported that using the multitouch book led to higher engagement with the course material, with 58.6% of students reporting that they felt more engaged. Furthermore, a majority of the students found the following aspects of the multitouch book beneficial: the brevity and directness of the text (74.6%), the videos (74.6%), and the
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CONCLUSION The multitouch book described in this report presented the course material in a manner that more effectively matched the students’ learning preferences, which led to a higher level of usage than the traditional textbook. The student survey revealed that the multitouch book was a beneficial resource for enhancing comprehension of the course material. In the survey, students noted that they thought the multitouch book was more useful than a traditional textbook, that it helped improve their course grade, and that other courses would benefit from utilizing a similar resource. The conciseness of the text and incorporation of instructional videos more effectively matched students’ learning preferences than a traditional dense textbook (Figure 7). The instructional videos coincide with E
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00703 J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
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Figure 7. Multitouch book: a plethora of resources in one easily accessible place.
students’ propensity to utilize video resources, such as those on YouTube and Khan Academy. Furthermore, because the videos are embedded in the text, students are able to view the videos without Internet connection. Lastly, the quizzes afford students an opportunity to test their comprehension of the material in a low-stakes environment. Although most classes already use some combination of textbooks, notes, videos, and quizzes, the multitouch book allows for all of these features to be consolidated into one strategically designed resource. The multitouch book presented here is a valuable resource for instructors and students in a sophomore-level organicchemistry course. This resource can be used as a supplement to the current resources used by an instructor, or it can be used as a substitute for a traditional textbook or handouts. The most significant limitation is the fact that the multitouch book has to be used on an iOS device for full functionality. This resource is particularly advantageous because it presents the material in several different formats (videos, text, and interactive figures), allowing students to learn the material through a variety of styles.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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REFERENCES
The authors would like to thank Merrimack College’s Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry for their support.
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AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail:
[email protected]. ORCID
Jimmy Franco: 0000-0002-9085-1356 Brian A. Provencher: 0000-0003-2607-9530 Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest. The multitouch book can be downloaded from the iBook Store (Personal Tutor: Organic Chemistry by Jimmy Franco, Apple ID 1426025439), and the link can be found in ref 15. F
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00703 J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00703 J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
