The ability to explain a concept is often a valuable way to gauge understanding. It is no secret that organic chemistry is a course that covers a vast amount of concepts in a rather short time, making it difficult for both students and instructors to traverse. With the near ubiquitous integration of remote learning in varying degrees across academia, the use of videos as a means of delivering and or/supplementing instruction has become increasingly popular. In Fall 2020, organic chemistry students at Wagner College alternated between in-person and remote synchronous instruction. To supplement the material covered in class, short concept videos on topics that students commonly struggled with were recorded by the instructor, and were uploaded to the course management system. This allowed students to access the videos on their own time as needed. As a final project, students were required to create an original short video in which they explained one of the reaction mechanisms covered during the semester. In addition, they had to prepare a handout that illustrated the complete mechanism using chemistry drawing software. Both assignment pieces were uploaded to the course management system, ultimately creating a library of mechanisms accompanied by detailed explanations. Student feedback was positive overall, with many noting that the process solidified their understanding of the mechanism they selected. This student-generated repository also served as a useful tool in final exam preparation, therefore the assignment will be utilized in future organic chemistry courses at Wagner.

Solidifying mechanism understanding in sophomore organic chemistry through student-generated videos

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.