Abstract
A massive open online course (MOOC), Exploring Everyday Chemistry (eeDc), was delivered four times between 2017 and 2019, attracting a worldwide audience of over 15 000 learners from a wide range of backgrounds. This 4-week course was designed to show a variety of everyday applications of organic chemistry, targeted at high school students seeking to study a chemistry-related degree at university. A mix of video, text, polls, quizzes, and practical activities was incorporated with material designed to build on high school studies, highlighting aspects of university-level teaching and research, as well as showcasing some career opportunities for chemistry graduates. We monitored student attitudes toward this course, finding a consistent enthusiasm for the approach and selection of material. The impact of the course was evident from the significant number of students who mentioned it positively in their university applications.
Highlights
Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have attracted significant attention as a digital educational tool, offering versatile and free access to a worldwide audience.[1]
This paper describes a 3-year project designed to assess if a chemistry MOOC can attract and be of benefit to preuniversity students, helping them make the transition to study chemistry at university
We received positive feedback from University of York chemistry students in the second term of their degree including “the course made an excellent addition to my personal statement to help make my university application stand out”, “the course really built on my A level knowledge and helped with the step up to university level work” and “it gave me a good introduction to self-motivated independent study which is required at university”
Summary
Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have attracted significant attention as a digital educational tool, offering versatile and free access to a worldwide audience.[1]. MOOCs have been developed, which can provide preuniversity students with the opportunity to deepen their chemical knowledge and go beyond the curriculum of their educational program.[3] Examples range from introductory physical chemistry,[4] to analytical chemistry,[5] kitchen chemistry,[6] and general chemistry.[7] issues with MOOCs include low completion rates (typically under 10%), recent enrollment declines,[8] and questions over whether MOOCs can create opportunities to augment learning and increase academic preparedness.[9] This paper describes a 3-year project designed to assess if a chemistry MOOC can attract and be of benefit to preuniversity students, helping them make the transition to study chemistry at university It analyzes course enrollment, participation, and participant feedback and distinctively highlights how the MOOC impacts university chemistry applications. For run 2, 30 out of 39 respondents felt the level of interaction with the lead educator/undergraduate mentors was about right
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