Implementing an online homework program in a large organic chemistry lecture course

CHED 1608

Jaime L. Curtis-Fisk and Kevin W. Walker, walke284@msu.edu. Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University, 42 Chemistry, East Lansing, MI 48824
As a component of a large (~ 340 students) undergraduate Organic Chemistry lecture course at Michigan State University, an online web-based learning program was used to enhance student participation in working homework problems and understanding chemical concepts. The course instructor used the program to assign parameterized problems, provide feedback to submitted answers, and generate a data report on the performance of each student. The report includes information such as the answers, date and time of each student response submitted and the amount of time spent on each question. This information was extremely valuable towards optimizing the parameters of system to most effectively benefit student understanding. Overall, a direct correlation between student performance and homework participation was evident. For example, students completing at least 80% of the suggested homework problems, received an average score of 83% on the first exam, and those completing less received an average of 62%; this is one of many correlations that will be presented.