Due to the global pandemic, all academic courses at Slippery Rock University were held online from Spring 2019 to Spring 2020; therefore, tutoring organic chemistry had to be done online. Many organic chemistry topics include drawing reactions and mechanisms that are difficult to tutor in an online environment. In the summer of 2020, we began online tutoring alongside Dr. Lengyel’s organic chemistry course, which used Microsoft Teams, an app that allows a professor to make channels such as announcements, class material, tutoring, etc. A message was posted in the tutoring channel that informed students who the tutor was and how they could contact them. The majority of students reached out for tutoring by asking questions through the Teams app. Originally it was thought that students would be tutored through a Teams video call. However, it became unrealistic when over eight students would send a message to schedule a day and time while both the student and tutor worked full time. To overcome this challenge, we devised four additional methods to help tutor all students depending on the questions students would ask. First, some questions could be answered directly using the Teams messaging system. This method was primarily used for yes or no questions or when it was believed that a text would be sufficient. The second method was answering the student’s questions by sending an audio message. This method was mainly used if the student understood the topic but just needed clarity. The third method was answering the student’s questions by sending them a video explaining it. This method was mainly used when students had specific questions and needed to understand the topic. The fourth method was answering the student’s questions by sending them a helpful YouTube link. This was mainly used when students would ask a question where they didn’t understand the topic and wanted an entire lecture on it. Overall, five methods were used when tutoring organic chemistry online. While two methods, sending videos and audio messages, were very successful, video calls were the least effective. We are now working to adapt these strategies to tutoring in a mixed environment where most students have returned to in-person classes.

Tutoring organic chemistry online during a global pandemic

ACS Spring 2022

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