David McGarveyChemistry

School of Physical & Geographical Sciences d.j.mcgarvey@keele.ac.uk

TAKING THE LECTURE OUT OF THE LECTURE

THE EYRING EQUATION

PRE-LECTURE SCREENCASTS

EXCEL SOLVER

‘HOW TO’ SCREENCASTS

WEB OF SCIENCE

‘HOW TO’ SCREENCASTS

‘HOW TO’ SCREENCASTS

BASF SUNSCREEN SIMULATOR

A screencast is a recording of the computer screen that can include

narration and synchronous visible

author activity such as mouse

movements, annotations, editing and

operational tasks.

Feedback (individual or cohort)

Use of online

resources

Worked examples

Use of software

Lecture supplement

Model Answers

Whole Lectures

Open Day Talks

Prime students for classes using pre-lectures.

Release contact time for more interactive learning activities.

As independent study tools for particularly challenging material.

Effective means of showing ‘how to’.

As revision tools.

Useful for colleagues

SCREENCASTS: WHY?

http://teachingchemistry.net/home/index.php/archives/267

BEDMAS

Units and unit conversions

Rearranging equations

Linear equations and making curves straight

Equation of a Straight Line

Principles of Logarithms

Graphs and TablesPowers, reciprocals and roots

Significant figures

Fractions

Differentiation(3 Screencasts)

Units and Equations

Integration(3 Screencasts)

Scientific Notation

Properties of Logarithms

LECTURE REPLACEMENT SCREENCASTS

MATHEMATICS FOR CHEMISTRY

EXAMPLE PRE-LECTURE SCREENCASTS

1ST YEAR CHEMISTRY

Integrated Rate Laws

Equations of Light

NMR Spectroscopy

IR Spectroscopy

Effective Nuclear Charge

VSEPR

Formal Charges in Lewis Structures

Writing Lewis Structures

MO Diagrams for Homonuclear

Diatomics

1st order kinetics

Using the Arrhenius Equation

MO Diagrams for Heteronuclear

Diatomics

Some of these topics have also been supplemented by additional screencasts on worked answers to problems etc.

EXAMPLES OF ‘HOW TO’ SCREENCASTS

WEB OF SCIENCE

BASF SUNSCREEN SIMULATOR

CHEMICAL STRUCTURE DRAWING

LINEST

Plotting Spectra in Excel

Plotting a Straight Line in Excel

EXCEL SOLVER MS EQUATION EDITOR

http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia-gslp.html

Camtasia Studio - powerful editing tool - create table of contents and navigation bar

SCREENCASTING SOFTWARE

1ST YEAR CHEMISTRY (70 STUDENTS, 91% RESPONSE RATE) COURSE EVALUATION

DECEMBER 2012

pre-lecture lecture mathematics IT skills use of software

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

% o

f stu

dent

sHave you accessed the screencasts for any of the following? (please tick all that apply)

SCREENCAST: EFFECTIVE NUCLEAR CHARGE (~70 CHEMISTRY

STUDENTS)

Lecture 20/11

Class test 3/12

Exam 9/01

‘I like the fact that I can prepare for the lectures to turn up understanding what the lecturer is saying. Also I found it really easy to use new software and Excel where I had the screencast to help me’.‘The pre-lecture screencasts helped me to understand the lecture content’‘Allows you to go to lectures knowing something about the topic, makes it easier to learn’‘Makes you think about what the lecture is going to be on – also a good revision tool’‘Excellent use of screencasts – very beneficial to learning’‘Screencasts improve understanding before and after lectures’ ‘If you don’t understand it, you could go back and watch the screencast over and over’.‘They were so detailed’.

STUDENTS’ COMMENTS ON SCREENCASTS:

‘They took you through what to do step by step as if you were in a lecture’.‘They were good revision’.‘Very thorough and lead on to lectures well’.Very useful for pre-lecture info and teaching extra-curricular skills (equation editor in Word etc.)’.‘They were useful for explaining things after the lecture’‘Extremely helpful, always there when you need to go back to them’.‘They are idiot-proof to find on the VLE and idiot-proof to understand’.‘They actually helped, especially when struggling after lectures’.‘Visual tutorials – shows exactly how to use a program’.

STUDENTS’ COMMENTS ON SCREENCASTS:

‘I am revising for exams at the moment, and the only way that I can understand some of the harder concepts is by having them explained to me via a screencast. I can watch them again and again until I understand the material, which is great. It is a much more efficient use of my time to watch screencasts whilst revising than reading through tricky textbook language’.

‘I think the screencasts are very useful. I've never experienced teaching in this way before, but when I came to Keele and I was introduced to them I was surprised at how good they are. You can go back to them whenever you want and use them to answer problem sheet questions, labwork and homework. I'm really glad I have access to them and it's like having a mini lesson at home one to one and you can pause and rewind if you don’t get it the first time. I think as a student I am really lucky to have access to these screencasts and hope they continue throughout my time at Keele’.

STUDENTS’ COMMENTS ON SCREENCASTS:

Have a plan/script with clear sections.

If available/applicable, employ navigational features for the end user and the facility to download the PowerPoint slideshow.

Avoid reference to specific modules, dates, etc. which can impact on the shelf-life/versatility and may require time-consuming editing or having to re-record.

Avoid editing unless absolutely necessary.

SCREENCASTS: TIPS

http://teachingchemistry.net/home/index.php/archives/267

Can free-up valuable lecture/contact time to use for more student-centred higher level activities.They allow the teacher to go into as much detail as desired without worrying about how much time it takes.They can generally be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection.They can be viewed again and again and again allowing students to study at their own pace and to digest complex and detailed topics.They can be transferable across modules, years, programmes and cohorts.They are well used by students and very popular.Useful for demonstrations of teaching technology on open/visit

days.You can teach your colleagues!

SCREENCASTS: PROS

Time-consuming to plan and prepare

Shelf-life

Managing student expectations

SCREENCASTS: CONS

HEA Physical Sciences Subject Centre

Keele undergraduate chemistry students

Dr Katherine Haxton, Chemistry, Keele

Dr Laura Hancock, Chemistry, Keele

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS