Faculty Spotlight | Maloney | Parker | Weller
Vince Maloney,
Associate Professor of Chemistry
Listen to IPFW Chemistry faculty member Vince Maloney explain how he uses eInstruction to engage his Organic Chemistry students. Also, see http://www.einstruction.com for examples of how eInstruction can be used in your classroom.
Vince Maloney has been using the eInstruction classroom response system (“clickers”) for two years with his CHM 255 Organic Chemistry class. He usually has about 90 students who are biology majors, pre-med, pre-dental, and pharmacy. His goal in adopting the in-class polling system was to do with 90 what used to do with 20-30 students. With the smaller classes he would have the students write answers to problems on cards and then tally the number of correct and incorrect answers to figure out what it was that they did or did not understand. Occasionally he will put a question from eInstruction questions on an exam to give importance to the concept and to the notes. This method would be impossible to implement in a class of 90. With the clickers, Vince has been able to keep using a very successful teaching strategy in spite of the increase in class size.
He also encourages them to talk with each other about their answers. He watches and listens in order to see when it’s time to cut discussion or add time. His purpose is to get the students engaged. He has noticed an improvement in attitude, students seem to like class better, and there is more peer-peer interaction. It helps with class rapport and nobody feels embarrassed about giving a wrong answer. Sometimes if he gets a response that shows students don’t understand, he will give them a piece of information, “ if I tell you this, how will you answer?” in order to get them to think about it, instead of just telling students the answer and explaining it.
Organic Chemistry 255 web site
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