While general and organic chemistry tend to have consistent curricula across universities in the United States, the inorganic chemistry curriculum lacks a nationwide uniform structure. Recent publications have shown that inorganic chemistry courses can have wide variations depending on the institution. Although descriptive, these studies trigger the need to investigate why inorganic chemistry courses are so diverse and to fully characterize the curriculum. This project builds on prior research to determine inorganic chemistry instructors’ stated and assessed learning objectives, how they design their curricula and assessments, and the alignment between the stated and assessed learning objectives. Inorganic chemistry faculty members (<i>N</i> = 41) were purposefully sampled from a wide variety of chemistry programs (R-1, PUI and terminal M.S. granting institutions) with diverse research interests (e.g., organometallic chemistry, bioinorganic chemistry). The constant comparative method and multiple curricular frameworks were used to analyze semi-structured interviews, syllabi, and assessments. Preliminary results indicate that although faculty members are influenced by many of the same factors, these lead to very different curricular and assessment decisions. This poster addresses faculty learning objectives and how the assessments align with these learning goals. A report on the alignment between inorganic chemistry stated and assessed learning objectives can uncover the strengths and areas for improvement for undergraduate inorganic courses with the hope of informing and seeding curricular innovation.

Characterizing the alignment between inorganic chemistry faculty’s learning goals and assessments

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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