Technology and Assessment Strategies for Improving Student Learning in Chemistry

Although the difficulties many students encounter when learning chemistry have been known and explored for decades, there is no consensus on how best to assist and assess their learning. Over the past ten years, the availability of a range of technological innovations that are intended to improve student learning and assessment has made the choice of teaching and assessment strategies more complex. Many teachers are rapidly adopting new technologies in teaching and assessment although their impacts have not yet been extensively studied. Many researchers have investigated the use of specific technologies in aspects of their teaching and assessment, and this book contributes to a growing body of literature that allows some generalizations to be drawn. Most importantly, specific strategies are described in detail making it possible for others to take advantage of the learning experiences and allowing practitioners to adopt the practice best suited to their needs.

General tools for chemistry education range from tailored websites (including Web 2.0 interactive features), to optimizing the use of flipped classrooms, to the application of commercial packages in a coherent manner. The book focuses on these aspects of using technology directly in teaching chemistry. One area of great interest in chemistry education is the role of the teaching laboratory and how best to optimize laboratory learning. The use of short videos, animations, and best assessment practices are also covered. The chapters in the book reflect the somewhat different teaching contexts of the countries in which the authors work.

Madeleine Schultz completed her Ph.D. in Organometallic Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley and continued with research in catalysis at the University of Heidelberg and the Australian National University prior to commencing at the Queensland University of Technology in 2007. Observation of student difficulties when studying chemistry led to her growing interest in chemistry education and she undertook a Masters in Education to expand her understanding of the field. She is currently working at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany.

Siegbert Schmid completed his Ph.D. and Habilitation at the University of Tübingen in Germany in inorganic chemistry. During his postdoctoral appointment at the Australian National University he started lecturing and in parallel completed a Graduate Diploma in Higher Education. He took up an academic position at the University of Sydney in 2002 and has since supervised numerous chemistry education projects both at Honours and Ph.D. level. He has received a large number of teaching awards, including the Medal of the Chemistry Education Division of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute in 2016.

Thomas Holme completed his Ph.D. at Rice University in Theoretical Chemistry, and held postdoctoral appointments at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Pennsylvania, prior to his tenure track career, which took him to the University of South Dakota, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee and currently Iowa State University. He served as the Director of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Examinations Institute from 2002-2015 and was recently announced as the 2017 recipient of the Pimentel Award for Chemistry Education of the ACS.