"Co-created pre-training for undergraduate chemistry students through Interactive Chemistry Experiments (ICE)"
“Co-created pre-training for undergraduate chemistry students through Interactive Chemistry Experiments (ICE)”

In 2021, I co-wrote a bid for funding from our department’s Collaborative Innovation Grant programme, which was accepted. We are creating a series of pre-training materials and simulations for a complex organic chemistry experiment, to prepare students for in-person laboratory practicals. This was identified as a particular need post-Covid; students have always been nervous and lacking in confidence in terms of lab work, but the pandemic severely limited students access to labs, and opportunities for practical experience, both for our current first year cohort, and those whose A-levels or other further education pathways were disrupted in the same way.

The project is taking place over the 2022-2023 academic years, and is being co-designed between myself as a developer, Litka Milian, Assistant Professor in the Chemistry department, student developers employed with the project funds, and some support from department demonstrators.

Download PDF of grant application

Notes

The project aims to:

  • To develop an interactive version of the sodium borohydride reduction experiment and lab familiarisation materials
  • To utilise DCAD’s existing software and tools to full effect, assessing their suitability for future virtual experiment development
  • To evaluate the impact of the interactive materials on the student experience and educational outcomes

The rationale for the project includes a description of the intended development approach, which emphasises a need to break a complex subject down into smaller chunks, eliminate unnecessary content and provide a stripped back approach that preserves fidelity where useful, but simplifies where this is more beneficial for managing the high level of cognitive load needed to complete the experiment sections.

Tags

Co-design Interactive Storyline

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