Analysing student response to feedback in practical chemistry courses Dr Pippa Coffer Department of Chemistry p.k.coffer@durham.ac.uk

Talk Outline Why is feedback important? Methods of assessment and feedback in practical chemistry Turnitin® Analysis of student engagement with feedback Changes for this academic year

Why is feedback important? Feedback is important for everyone Builds confidence Provides a focus for improvement NSS assessment and feedback questions Feedback on my work has helped me clarify things I did not understand I have received detailed comments on my work Feedback on my work has been prompt Providing effective feedback in a timely fashion is key

Assessment and Feedback in Chemistry Labs Verbal Feedback Written Feedback Practical Practical skills General lab practice Sample quality & quantity Quality of spectra or data Post-lab reports Pre-lab Exercises Post-lab reports

Interviews An additional method of assessment and feedback A 10-15 minute “interview” with a senior demonstrator to discuss the experiment, results and the background chemistry Process Student completes an experiment in the laboratory Student prepares and submits a lab report Student has “interview” during the following lab session

Interviews Receive immediate feedback Students have the opportunity to ask questions Can discuss any queries about the chemistry One to one personal feedback! Student feedback suggests: Very useful to ensure understanding of the chemical principles Sometimes did not provide sufficient feedback on the laboratory report itself Dislike the term “interviews”

Turnitin® Antiplagiarism software check for originality of work Drag and drop comments provide quick and consistent feedback by creating a set of QuickMarks Verbal feedback feedback as voice comments Rubric for additional breakdown of marks See http://turnitin.com/en_us/what-we-offer/feedback-studio for further information Images from “Turnitin_Instructor_User_Manual” from http://guides.turnitin.com (accessed 12/09/16)

Turnitin® Also monitor student engagement with feedback: Icon appears if a submitted laboratory report is viewed for > 30 seconds Image from “Turnitin_Instructor_User_Manual” from http://guides.turnitin.com (accessed 12/09/16)

Practical Chemistry 2 - Inorganic Students complete 4 weeks of inorganic laboratory sessions (8 full days) Alternating week pattern: Complete a total of 6 experiments and 6 laboratory reports: Week: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Group A/D Group B/C 2 day experiments 1 day experiments Exp. 1 – Stereochemistry and electronic structure of Ni(II) chelate complexes Exp. 2 – Silicones Exp. 3 – Isomers: Resolution of the [Co(en)3]3+ ion Exp. 4 – Job’s method Exp. 5 – Clathrates Exp. 6 – Conductimetry

Practical Chemistry 2 - Inorganic Exp. 1 – Stereochemistry and electronic structure of Ni(II) chelate complexes Exp. 2 – Silicones Exp. 3 – Isomers: Resolution of the [Co(en)3]3+ ion Exp. 4 – Job’s method Exp. 5 – Clathrates Exp. 6 – Conductimetry 2 day experiments 1 day experiments All laboratory reports were submitted online via turnitin® Two day experiments Assessment based on both laboratory report and interview Reports “pre-marked” using drag and drop comments, in addition to an interview One day experiments Assessment based solely on the reports Written feedback provided using “drag and drop” comments, no interview

Initial results of analysis for all experiments Figure 1: Percentage of laboratory reports viewed by week number where the red bars represent Group A/D, and the blue bars represent Group B/C.

Further analysis: marked and interviewed Figure 2: Percentage of Experiment 1 and 2 laboratory reports viewed (marked and interviewed) where the red bars represent Group A/D and the blue bars represent Group B/C

Further analysis: marked only, no interview Figure 3: Percentage of Experiment 3, 4, 5 and 6 laboratory reports viewed (1 day experiments – no interviews) where the red bars represent Group A/D and the blue bars represent Group B/C

Further analysis… Figure 4: Number of laboratory reports viewed by assessment method where the orange bars are “marked and interviewed”, and the green bars are “marked, no interview”.

This coming academic year Two 1-day experiments (formative) Completed in first week of lab course All students complete the same experiments Submit a lab report for each Feedback lecture the following week Two “2-day” experiments (summative) Reports not pre-marked Each interviewed by a single staff member All feedback given in interview Two 1-day experiments (summative) Reports marked using drag and drop comments No interview

Is sometimes too much feedback too much? Summary Turnitin® Very useful Antiplagiarism tool Providing feedback in a variety of forms Can be used to quickly monitor student engagement with feedback Feedback in laboratory classes Variety appears to be the key pre-lab quizzes feedback in lab sessions lab report marked online interviews Is sometimes too much feedback too much?

Thank you for listening! Any questions?