Practical Guidelines to Redesign Introductory Chemistry Courses Using a Flexible and Adaptive Blended Format

Abstract

Incorporation of increased flexibility and adaptivity in courses can support freshmen with taking responsibility for their learning process. This is especially beneficial in the case of chemistry courses given their typically abstract nature and associated need for engaging in practice and higher order thinking. Blended learning can be used to achieve course flexibility and adaptivity, and increased student engagement. Adopting blended learning requires teachers to reconsider and redesign their course setup. The willingness for this will largely be dictated by perceived practicality, however. To this end, our aim is to develop practical redesign guidelines for flexible blended learning. Such guidelines need to be instrumental, congruent, and of ‘low cost’ for a teacher. The resulting four guidelines were fine-tuned in two phases over 5 years using two introductory chemistry courses and incorporated various blended learning elements, such as slide-cast lectures, live lectures, formative in-cast multiple choice questions, tutorials, formative electronic tutorial questions, and student voting on the course schedule. The outcome of our multiyear endeavor was positive and sustainable by all metrics used, including online engagement by students, learning outcomes, and student evaluations. The teachers in phase II largely embraced the guidelines emerging from phase I, and in their course experienced them predominantly as practical while limitations were also identified. We hope that our guidelines and experiences can provide fellow teachers with a blueprint for practical incorporation of flexibility and adaptivity using blended learning in their chemistry courses.

Evaluating Academic Answers Generated Using ChatGPT

“…Blended approaches to support learning and teaching have placed a focus on digital literacies and capabilities. 1,2 The digital capability for each individual student will depend on their subject specialism, career choice, personal factors, and other contextual factors. Embracing technology is non-negotiable as a graduate attribute in the 21st century.…”

“…The importance of digital tools in higher education was acutely experienced during the global COVID-19 pandemic where an immediate pivot to online delivery was essential for the continuation of education studies. Blended approaches to support learning and teaching have placed a focus on digital literacies and capabilities. , The digital capability for each individual student will depend on their subject specialism, career choice, personal factors, and other contextual factors. Embracing technology is non-negotiable as a graduate attribute in the 21st century …”

The Asian Conference on Education 2022: Official Conference Proceedings

“…Discrete reflection moments should therefore be consistently linked to subsequent practice opportunities throughout the learning process. Moreover, lecturers planning to use this model should be careful to ensure that the balance between scaffolding and workload remains practical, both for students and lecturers (Scholten et al, 2021). Lastly, the scaffolding should be adapted to the amount of experience students have with reflecting.…”

“…First, they were unsatisfied with the online tool used for the assignments as a workaround was needed to grade holistically instead of grading all questions separately. In general, we advise that lecturers carefully consider not just workload for students, but also time allocated for lecturer grading and ease of use of any grading system (Scholten et al, 2021). Secondly, lecturers also noted that additional support in creating learning goals could be advantageous as many students struggled to identify goals which were achievable in four weeks.…”

Effect of Research-Based Blended Learning with Scrum Methodology on Learners’ Perception and Motivation in a Laboratory Course

“…Blended learning has gained attention and interest, especially since the COVID-19 outbreak. − Blended learning combines face-to-face sessions with online elements. The online elements would provide students with a curated pool of resources.…”