Personalized Learning System
The first few weeks of a typical organic chemistry course help create the foundational knowledge necessary to succeed in the class. The concepts in organic chemistry build on one another, so it is essential that students understand earlier concepts before moving on to new material.
A common trend that I was observing in my classroom was students not spending the necessary time to master the core concepts during the early weeks of the course. Often it was because there were more pressing commitments that made it difficult for students to concentrate on the course material. The students figured they could just “take a hit” on their grade whenever an unclear topic was assessed. They were approaching organic chemistry like they did general chemistry – for example, the Ideal Gas Law is covered in one chapter in Gen Chem but then the topic isn’t really brought up again in the course. My students were approaching resonance structures very much the same way. They just wanted this challenging section of the course to be over with and they hoped they wouldn’t have to ever see it again! The students would not get serious about my course until they received a grade that they thought was unsatisfactory on the first exam.
After the first exam, I would have students putting in 30-40 hours a week, but they weren’t getting the results they were hoping for. They were spending their time trying to understand and decipher the new material instead of going back and mastering the core concepts that were covered in earlier chapters. The problem was that their foundational knowledge of organic chemistry was shaky, so no matter how much they studied the current information their grade didn’t improve. This often led to frustration on the students’ end (and the spread of the rumor that organic chemistry is the hardest course in an undergraduate’s career). And when they came to me for help, I was often at a loss on how to even start explaining a more challenging concept like inversion of stereochemistry during an SN2 reaction when they weren’t sure what the wedges or dashes represented (or what these random zig zag lines I was drawing meant).
To prevent students from having to go through this frustration, I developed a personalized learning system (PLS) for the foundational topics of organic chemistry. With the PLS, students are asked to watch short, recorded lectures about a single topic. They can take their time absorbing the new information and when they feel ready, the students are assessed on how well they understand the topic. Students can’t move on to a new topic until they have shown that they understand the current topic through short quizzes on my college’s Learning Management System (Canvas). I call these quizzes “exit tickets”. There are 47 exit tickets that span 6 chapters. All 47 exit tickets must be completed by week 5, which is prior to the first exam. This averages about 10 exit tickets per week and they have 5 hours of lecture time to work on them. Students need to get 100% on the exit ticket before they can move on to the next topic. Students have 3 opportunities to get 100% on an exit ticket. If they don’t pass after 3 attempts, they are locked out and they meet with me during the normally scheduled class period (or office hours) to talk through their thought processes. I work with the students to figure out where their misconceptions are. After it seems like they understand the topic, I unlock the exit ticket for them to take again. Not only does this process minimize students struggling on their own with misconceptions, but it also gives me a chance to interact with students one-on-one. I can foster better connections with my students, and I see increased willingness for students to come seek help from me even after we move away from the PLS later in the semester. The rest of the semester has a partially flipped format.
The PLS also allows students to move at their own pace and take their time to understand a concept before moving on to the next concept. This way if something urgent comes up in their life and they can’t focus on the course material, they can temporarily put the course on the back burner with minimal consequences. In a traditionally paced course, the lecture typically continues to move forward even if some students are absent (physically or mentally).
The PLS was developed for the topics: review of general chemistry, molecular representations, resonance structures, acids and bases, alkanes, stereoisomerism, chemical reactivity, and general mechanistic arrow pushing. By forcing students to take their time and master the foundational knowledge of organic chemistry, I have been able to improve retention and success rates in the course. The improvements aren’t only seen in the first semester of organic chemistry where the PLS is implemented, but there are lasting positive effects seen in the second semester of organic chemistry. The second semester of organic chemistry also has improved retention and success rates; my students also score on average a whole standard deviation higher than the national norm on the end of term cumulative American Chemical Society Exam.
Here are a few highlighted quotes from my students about the PLS:
“I think it is a good system; it forces people to take more time to get it right, and by having people go to office hours to unlock more attempts is good feedback to know where people struggle the most and what to spend more time explaining.”
“The exit tickets were a fantastic way to start off the course. Not only does it teach us to be responsible, but it also forcibly molds us into having good studying habits and pacing ourselves. If we don’t understand something, we have to ask rather than do nothing about it.”
“A lot of people fall behind thinking they can just do [exit tickets] later but then realize they can’t wait to the last minute to do it so I believe the exit tickets help students get into the work habit that is required to be successful in an organic chemistry class.”
The PLS gives students an opportunity to:
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Master the material and spend more time on topics they find challenging.
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Develop study skills with no grade/point penalty.
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Learn that they aren't alone in their struggles (when they see other students asking questions).
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Thrive in a new course where they are still finding their bearings.
If you’re interested in implementing this PLS for the first few weeks of organic chemistry, I’d be delighted to tell you more about it! I am happy share the material that I have created for my PLS. Click here to request PLS material: recorded lecture videos, fill in the blank lecture notes, and/or exit tickets (Canvas quizzes).
Gidget Tay, Ph.D.
Pasadena City College