This study assessed the impact of flipped instruction on students' out-of-class study time, exam performance, preference, motivation, and perceptions in two sections of a large undergraduate chemistry course. Flipped instruction caused a shift in student workload without appreciably changing the overall study time. The treatment impact on student performance gradually diminished over time, showing a small but statistically significant effect with the final exam. No marked interaction was identified, indicating that flipped instruction benefited students of diverse backgrounds uniformly. Students in the flipped section showed mixed feelings with about one fifth of them displaying polarized attitudes. Open-ended student survey responses revealed non-compliance with pre-class studying as a serious implementation issue: By slowing down the overall pace of the class, it negatively affected students with different study behaviors and characteristics in ways that partly explained the small, diminishing treatment effect and absence of marked interaction.

No abstract

No abstract

During the final week of winter quarter, the University of California, Irvine announced all exams would be online and the following quarter would be delivered remotely. This necessitated a course-wide common final with over 2000 students scheduled to be moved online. For the following quarter, the move to remote instruction included three different general chemistry courses, seven sections, 1968 students, and six different instructors. A professor of teaching, who had previously designed and instructed online courses, was dedicated to assist with course design, technical issues, and course policy consistency. Instructors chose a degree of support and autonomy that fit their interests, goals, and time constraints. Using previously designed course materials and a dedicated support system allowed for the implementation of best practices even under intense time pressure. Technical solutions to proctored exams and course content accountability were used. Though student perceptions varied, given the constraints due to the global pandemic as well as social unrest, the implementation was largely considered a success.

A concurrent preparatory course was developed for a university-level general chemistry course to replace prerequisite classes and online exercises implemented in previous years. The concurrent preparatory course was structured with 3 h of active learning class time. Lecture content was delivered asynchronously online. Topics were chosen on the basis of fundamental topics needed to succeed in general chemistry. Topics included both those typically found in a preparatory chemistry class as well as some simpler topics being taught in the first course of general chemistry. Two cohorts of students in a program designed to facilitate minoritized student achievement in biological sciences were compared. In the initial year of this study, a prerequisite online homework module was required. In the following year, the concurrent preparatory course was required. Students who took concurrent preparatory course did significantly better on the common final exam than those who did not.