In-Class Versus At-Home Quizzes: Which is Better? A Flipped Learning Study in a Two-Site Synchronously Broadcast Organic Chemistry Course

Abstract

We recently shared our design of a two-semester flipped organic chemistry course, in which we gave students in-class quizzes to incentivize attendance and watching the lecture videos in advance. With a second iteration, we planned to make the video-watching experience more engaging. We accordingly hypothesized that if students completed short at-home quizzes while watching the videos, then attentiveness, engagement, and learning would increase. We tested this with a later section of the course, dividing the material into 13 units. For units 1-6, we gave in-class quizzes; for 7-13, quizzes were at home. Although units 1-6 and 7-13 covered different material, we were nonetheless surprised when students' average quiz scores decreased for the take-home quizzes, because they did not have a time limit and were open-book, unlike the inclass quizzes. Anonymous survey feedback showed a strong preference for quizzes in class and indications that take-home quizzes demotivated attendance and pre-class watching of the videos. Thus, for analogous flipped-course designs in chemistry, we recommend an in-class quizzing strategy over take-home quizzes to positively affect engagement, learning, and attendance. Of note, this course was synchronously-delivered to two groups of students at geographically-distinct satellite locations.

Flipping the class – University chemistry students’ experiences from a new teaching and learning approach

“…Eichler & Peeples, 2016;Siebert, Daniel, & Hight, 2017), with some research centering on smaller groups (e.g. Christiansen, 2014;Christiansen, Lambert, Dadelson, Dupree, & Kingsford, 2017). For this longitudinal project, we studied a Swedish organic chemistry university course, both quantitatively and qualitatively, over two years, during which we contrasted a more traditional teaching method with a new pedagogical approach founded on educational research objectives.…”

“…Flipping a classroom does not involve a fixed and regulated methodology with explicit rules, and several different approaches have been presented in previous research (e.g. Christiansen et al, 2017;Eichler & Peeples, 2016;Mooring, Mitchell, & Burrows, 2016). However, three main ideas portraying flipped learning are stated by Schnell and Mazur (2015): (1) to achieve deeper learning, prior knowledge is required, (2) engagement helps students learn better, and (3) flipped classrooms influence students' learning outside the course frame, thereby affecting their future self-regulated learning.…”

The Curious Construct of Active Learning

“…These concerns apply broadly to work across the ecosystem, but they are particularly acute in the context of evaluating the role of communication among students. Consider evaluating the effectiveness of flipped classrooms, which have been enthusiastically adopted in chemistry (Christiansen et al, 2017; Eichler & Peeples, 2016; Fautch, 2015; Flynn, 2015; Hartman et al, 2015). It is exceedingly difficult to design a study that can persuasively demonstrate the efficacy of flipped classrooms relative to other collaborative learning options.…”

Online in No Time: Design and Implementation of a Remote Learning First Quarter General Chemistry Laboratory and Second Quarter Organic Chemistry Laboratory

“…When asked what they liked best about the online lab sections, many students remarked they could more easily ask questions in carrying out experimental procedures. 73,74 The increased flexibility of the online format also allowed students to contact their TAs more easily compared to attending in-person office hours. In contrast,…”