Abstract
The author’s organic chemistry course at Thomas Jefferson University incorporated student engagement activities through Nearpod, a web-based classroom response system. After transitioning to remote instruction due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the spring of 2020, students were given the option to complete multiple-choice poll questions either synchronously with a videoconference lecture or asynchronously while watching the recorded lecture video. This provided a unique opportunity to investigate whether completing the polls synchronously (as opposed to asynchronously) is advantageous. Correlations between the rate of synchronous participation, the rate of correctness in answering polls, and exam scores were analyzed across the two class sections. The majority of students chose to participate synchronously. The cohort that participated synchronously the majority of the time had higher exam scores, but these differences were not statistically significant for most exams. Although these results suggest that synchronous engagement is correlated with slightly improved learning outcomes, further studies are needed to examine the generality and causality of this phenomenon. Ultimately, offering both synchronous and asynchronous delivery may be the optimal approach to student engagement in the small-enrollment remote classroom.
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