Online courses and virtual tools in chemistry education have been available for more than twenty-five years, and web-based learning is now an important current topic for contemporary educators. This seminar will highlight a few of the pedagogical opportunities and challenges arising from the current trend toward offering more virtual experiences for learners. One of the pressures in the massive open online course (MOOC) movement, for example, has been learner desire for entirely “on demand” courses and resources. These are courses that start at any time, can be completed at any pace, and are available to students 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. This type of highly asynchronous format has profound implications for how students interact with the materials, instructors, and each other to reach learning goals. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, we have probed various aspects of the online chemistry learning experience via analysis of survey responses, student writing in both formal and informal settings, and performance on graded assignments. We have also used semi-structured live interviews with a stratified sample of students in courses offered through Coursera to collect the authentic voices of the learners in MOOCs.  Attendees of this session will be invited to engage in an open dialogue about the goals, opportunities, challenges, and potential futures of virtual tools and e-learning in chemistry.

Teaching chemistry with evolving virtual platforms: Celebrations and challenges

2019 Spring National Meeting

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