Contextualizing Learning Chemistry in First-Year Undergraduate Programs: Engaging Industry-Based Videos with Real-Time Quizzing

Abstract

First-year undergraduate classes present challenges in teaching as they usually have high student enrolment numbers and students studying across a range of higher education programs that require a fundamental understanding of knowledge that is not perceived in their area of study. This provides a challenge in terms of engaging and maintaining student interest, primarily because students do not recognize the application of knowledge to their field of study. The challenge is to contextualize the content for the range of student cohorts within the one course. This is a common issue within many of the programs offered at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. The teaching pedagogy and learning design pattern developed address the implementation of activities that incorporate the flexible delivery of content, including online media-rich interactive learning via the creation of short videos, to illustrate the direct application and relevance of the content and thereby capture student interest and increase their motivation to learn. It also includes formative feedback to students via real-time student quizzing. In this case study, seven YouTube chemistry videos were created for a first-year undergraduate chemistry course. The videos created needed to be short, sharp, and engaging and were based on relevant chemistry topics taught. Each video created also included at least one Australian-based industry to give real-life relevance and focus as well as tailor them to the local student cohort.