Web-Based Animated Tutorials Using Screen Capturing Software for

Technology Report Cite This: J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX

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Web-Based Animated Tutorials Using Screen Capturing Software for Molecular Modeling and Spectroscopic Acquisition and Processing Gemma D. D’Ambruoso,*,† Matthew E. Cremeens,† and Brett R. Hendricks‡ †

Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and ‡College of Arts and Sciences, Gonzaga University, 502 E. Boone Ave., Spokane, Washington 99258, United States S Supporting Information *

ABSTRACT: Instructional videos have been prepared using Adobe Captivate software to create animated tutorials to capture instrument and molecular modeling software simulations and to allow for increased independent handson instrument use by students and faster training for instructors and teaching assistants. The videos are available on YouTube and can be viewed prior to or synchronously as students are acquiring an IR spectrum, processing an 1H NMR spectrum, or performing specific calculations using GaussView. Student surveys indicate preference for the animated tutorials over conventional paper instructions and general favorability of the videos.

KEYWORDS: First-Year Undergraduate, Second-Year Undergraduate, Laboratory Instruction, Organic Chemistry, Computer-Based Learning, Hands-On Learning/Manipulatives, IR Spectroscopy, Molecular Modeling, NMR Spectroscopy

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INTRODUCTION Software for the control of chemical instrumentation and molecular modeling can be very complex. Instruction manuals for some software programs number in the hundreds of pages, and training on many chemical instruments and their controlling software can involve multiday sessions. Although many YouTube videos exist to help users navigate complicated software (a recent search for “Bruker Topspin” on YouTube produced 160 results), considerable searching is necessary to find an instructional video for the specific version of software that helps the user process a spectrum or perform a calculation exactly as students may be expected to do for their lab reports or in their courses. Therefore, we have found it useful to prepare “in-house” instructional videos that use Adobe Captivate1 to create animated tutorials that capture software simulations. Students can run these videos synchronously as they are processing their own spectrum or building molecules and performing calculations. Many institutions, ours included, have short “in-house” instruction sheets (see Supporting Information) that condense complicated instruction manuals to one or two pages for student use during laboratory classes or for research purposes. However, the literature supports the use of multiple instructional modalities, including multimedia instruction, to enhance student learning in the laboratory.2−5 Our students are given access to multiple modes of instruction, including verbal instruction from instructors and teaching assistants, written instruction sheets, and short instructional videos and can choose to run and/or process a spectrum or perform a © XXXX American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.

calculation using the method of instruction that suits them best. We offer our students these animated tutorials as an augmentation to the traditional instructional modalities already available. Training large numbers of students each year (>300) to acquire and process spectra and perform molecular modeling exercises is only one of the motivations that led to the creation of these animated tutorials. Over the last 10 years, 21 different faculty members have taught at least one section of an organic chemistry laboratory course at our institution. Not all of the instructors are familiar with the particular brand of instruments that we have available, and thus, training instructors to be the “experts” for their course takes time and resources. Using the animated tutorials combined with other supporting materials, instructors can now train themselves on our instruments and molecular modeling software with minimal outside instruction. Additionally, we employ 15−20 teaching assistants per academic year, and the videos aid in their training on our instruments. The use of instructional videos in the chemistry classroom and laboratory settings has become increasingly common. In particular, videos that incorporate prelab content that can include demonstrated instrument use and technique have been shown to have a significant impact on laboratory efficiency,2−8 promote student independence and autonomy,4,9,10 and Received: September 7, 2017 Revised: February 4, 2018

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DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00511 J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX

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Figure 1. Screen shot from a running GaussView animated tutorial. The text bubble signposts help students orient themselves to which part of the exercise is being worked on (“Step 1”) and point to specific icons that the students should click on.

Thus, far, we have published five videos19−23 for student use and will describe the videos in further detail below. Three of the videos simulate a molecular modeling exercise that students carry out on GaussView;19−21 one video helps students acquire and process an IR spectrum (using OMNIC 9 software),22 and one video helps students process an 1H NMR spectrum (using Topspin 2.1 software).23 Other videos for similar uses24,25 found on YouTube that use software similar to Adobe Captivate include sound, but they lack any visual signposting about what is happening on screen or what action the student is to take (see, for example, Figures 1−3). In order to fully comprehend these tutorials, students must listen to the videos as well as watch them. Audio recordings are not practical for our students, since they are using the instruments or carrying out molecular modeling exercises in a lecture or laboratory setting where multiple students are working independently and where not all computing devices have audio capabilities. Additionally, we discourage use of headphones in the laboratory for safety reasons.

increase consistency across multisection lab courses.8,11 Many of these prelab videos are published on online media sites such as YouTube for easy and consistent access by students.4,5,7,10 Adobe Captivate has been used by academic libraries to create instructional videos for a variety of software, online databases, and other information literacy needs,12−15 but it has been used minimally for chemistry purposes.16−18 Adobe Captivate is a screen capturing program that records mouse movement and button clicking as the user/author is performing an operation, such as acquiring an IR spectrum using specific software. After the screen capture has been recorded, the author can edit the recording in multiple ways. Specific editing actions can include speeding up or slowing down certain parts of the recording, zooming in on an area of the screen to highlight a step of the process, adding captions or audio to explain which icons are selected within the software and why, adding sound effects, and even deleting or correcting any mistakes made during the recording process. The edited video can be published to multiple formats, including an .mp4 file to be uploaded to YouTube for widespread access by students and a .pdf file for viewing with Adobe Reader. Students can watch the video ahead of the class or lab period that they will be using the software (and are encouraged to do so), or they can simply play the video synchronously as they are performing their experiment or modeling exercise. Both YouTube and Adobe Reader allow the student to stop and start the video as needed, fast-forward or rewind, and increase the speed. The controls allow the student to perform the experiment or exercise at their own pace.

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ANIMATED TUTORIALS

GaussView

We employ animated tutorials for GaussView exercises that students carry out in both first and second semester organic chemistry. In the first semester during a recitation class, students are modeling the first step in an SN1 reaction by building alkyl halides (Figure 1) and carbocations and calculating their energies (see Supporting Information for B

DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00511 J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX

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Figure 2. Screen shot is shown from the animated tutorial for a Nicolet iS5 FT-IR Spectrometer using OMNIC 9 software. The controls at the bottom allow students to play/pause at any time or to fast-forward or rewind when needed.

After students become familiar with GaussView through the guided sessions, they are asked to complete a molecular modeling exercise as part of a later laboratory experiment28 without an animated tutorial and can typically complete this task with minimal help from the instructor.

assignments and data worksheets). Students are asked to watch the tutorials ahead of the recitation and are given a prerecitation assignment to familiarize themselves with the chemistry or structures that they are modeling. Students are either currently working through the substitution (SN1/SN2) chapter in lecture or have recently completed it, so they are familiar with the chemistry content. The modeling exercise is completed in a computer lab equipped with two computer monitors per station, which allows students to run both the GaussView software and the animated tutorial at the same time. The tutorial, which is viewable with Adobe Reader or on YouTube,19 walks students through the process of building one of several molecules or carbocations and then calculating their energies. In an organic chemistry II laboratory class, students model a Diels−Alder reaction, including the transition state, in an exercise that has been slightly modified from published sources.26,27 The goal of the exercise is to determine the kinetic and thermodynamic products in a Diels−Alder reaction between cyclopentadiene and maleic anhydride and requires calculating the energies of the products and transition states (see the Supporting Information). For this exercise, students perform the calculation in the laboratory classroom. Again, since using two screens is advantageous, we have students use separate laptops to view the animated tutorials20,21 on one screen while performing the calculations on additional laptops. Students work with partners to limit the number of computers used in the small laboratory classroom space.

IR and NMR

Hands-on access to chemical instrumentation has become increasingly important to chemistry/biochemistry undergraduates in our department and elsewhere as students prepare for undergraduate research experiences and postgraduate work or education.29−31 Our laboratory section sizes are small enough (16−18 students) to allow all students to have multiple opportunities to collect and process data using common, modern instruments such as IR and NMR, but only if students are able to learn how to use the instruments quickly and effectively. Our goals included having students immediately begin their own data collection and processing without first being shown how to do so by an instructor or teaching assistant and decreasing the amount of time students spend collecting and processing data so that enough time was available for all students to have the opportunity to do so in one laboratory period. Our use of animated tutorials for our Nicolet IRs and Bruker NMR has allowed for smaller group sizes and increased independent instrument time. The IR animated tutorial (Figure 2) helps students with data acquisition and processing on our Nicolet iS5 FT-IR instruments, while the 1H NMR tutorial focuses solely on processing acquired spectra. A tutorial for data acquisition of an 1H NMR C

DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00511 J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX

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Figure 3. Screen shot is shown from the animated tutorial for a Bruker 300 MHz NMR spectrometer utilizing TopSpin 2.1 software.

animated tutorials. The means of the student responses (N = 13) to the six-question survey are presented in Figure 4, and the complete survey and results can be found in the Supporting Information. Students both viewed the animated tutorials mostly favorably and were fairly confident that they could perform an additional GaussView exercise given a new animated tutorial. Most interesting to us, students seemed to prefer the animated tutorial to being given an instruction sheet for the exercise. Additional comments (see Supporting Information) revealed that some students would prefer an audio component for at-home viewing. While retaining the ability to comprehend the video with or without sound is important for use in class or in a laboratory setting, we can incorporate an audio overlay on future videos that will provide explanations for the video actions.

spectrum on our Bruker 300 MHz instrument (Figure 3) would require a live video as the shimming procedure is done manually on an external keypad without software control, which does not make the process amenable to capture using Adobe Captivate. Thus, we have focused our initial tutorials on 1 H NMR data processing after the spectrum is acquired. Processing is often slow and difficult for the students, as the TopSpin software is visually cumbersome with many icons. Simultaneously watching the animated tutorial while processing a spectrum allows students to see exactly where on the screen the icons that are needed to calibrate, integrate, or peak pick are located. For 1H NMR, the data acquisition can only be done at the main console, but the TopSpin software is available on two additional computers in the NMR room so that students can process their data on the additional computers, while other students are acquiring data. This allows sufficient time for 15− 18 students in 5−6 groups to acquire and process a proton spectrum in 2 h. Due to the increased participation by first semester students, second semester organic chemistry laboratory students are now able to acquire and process their own 1 H NMR spectrum by the end of the semester. Students are thus prepared for research experiences that utilize IR and NMR as early as mid-sophomore year without the need for additional training.

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CONCLUSIONS Adobe Captivate33 can be used to create animated tutorials for complex software systems for molecular modeling or that control chemical instrumentation. These short videos can be published to YouTube and watched by students at their own pace at any time, including while they perform the modeling exercise or acquire and process data on instruments. Student surveys indicate preference for the animated tutorials over conventional paper instructions and an overall favorable view of the animated tutorials. Benefits include increased hands-on access to chemical instrumentation and molecular modeling software, which results in earlier preparation for research experiences and further training that may benefit their postgraduate work or studies.

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STUDENT USE SURVEY In the Fall 2017 semester, students were surveyed after completing the GaussView exercise modeling an SN1 reaction to gauge their opinion of the utility and transferability of the D

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Figure 4. Questions and mean score results from a student survey conducted after the GaussView SN1 Molecular Modeling Exercise (N = 13). The scores from 1 to 5 range from “Unfavorably or No” for 1 to “Moderate” for 2 through 4 and “Favorable or Yes” for 5.32 The complete survey and results can be found in the Supporting Information.

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ASSOCIATED CONTENT

S Supporting Information *

(1) Adobe Systems Incorporated. Adobe Captivate. http://www. adobe.com/products/captivate.html (accessed February 1, 2018). (2) Burewicz, A.; Miranowicz, N. Effectiveness of multimedia laboratory instruction. Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. 2006, 7 (1), 1. (3) 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 (4), 476. (4) Jordan, J. T.; Box, M. C.; Eguren, K. E.; Parker, T. A.; SaraldiGallardo, V.; Wolfe, M. I.; Gallardo-Williams, M. Effectiveness of Student-Generated Video as a Teaching Tool for an Instrumental Technique in the Organic Chemistry Laboratory. J. Chem. Educ. 2016, 93 (1), 141−145. (5) Box, M. C.; Dunnagan, C. L.; Hirsh, L. A. S.; Cherry, C. R.; Christianson, K. A.; Gibson, R. J.; Wolfe, M. I.; Gallardo-Williams, M. Qualitative and Quantitative Evaluation of Three Types of StudentGenerated Videos as Instructional Support in Organic Chemistry Laboratories. J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94 (2), 164−170. (6) 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 (4), 550−567. (7) Fung, F. M. Using First-Person Perspective Filming Techniques for a Chemistry Laboratory Demonstration To Facilitate a Flipped Pre-Lab. J. Chem. Educ. 2015, 92 (9), 1518−1521. (8) Chaytor, J. L.; Al Mughalaq, M.; Butler, H. Development and Use of Online Prelaboratory Activities in Organic Chemistry To Improve Students’ Laboratory Experience. J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94 (7), 859− 866. (9) Jolley, D. F.; Wilson, S. R.; Kelso, C.; O’Brien, G.; Mason, C. E. Analytical Thinking, Analytical Action: Using Prelab Video Demonstrations and e-Quizzes To Improve Undergraduate Preparedness for Analytical Chemistry Practical Classes. J. Chem. Educ. 2016, 93 (11), 1855−1862.

The Supporting Information is available on the ACS Publications website at DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00511. Supporting Information includes the worksheets and instructor notes for the SN1 GaussView exercise; instructor notes for the Diels−Alder GaussView exercise; “in-house” instruction sheets for IR and NMR, which correlate to the instructions on the animated tutorials; and complete student survey results (PDF)

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AUTHOR INFORMATION

Corresponding Author

*E-mail: [email protected]. ORCID

Gemma D. D’Ambruoso: 0000-0002-6022-8969 Notes

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

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REFERENCES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

M.E.C. and G.D.D. wish to thank our students for helpful comments during the development of materials as well as Jennifer Shepherd, Stephen Warren, Sarah Mandel, Jason Stenzel, Pete Black, and Scott Economu. The authors would also like to thank Gonzaga University’s College of Arts and Sciences, Office of the Dean for supporting this work. E

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and Student Enabling Software: A Preliminary Demonstration. J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94 (10), 1562−1566. (33) Alternatives to Adobe Captivate include Camtasia and freeware such as Active Presenter 6 (Atomi Systems).

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DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00511 J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX