3.091x Introduction to
Solid‐State Chemistry
M.J. Cima
3 091
3.091
• Students learn chemical principles through
the solid state
• Underlying theme: “The chemical bond
determines properties
properties”
• Emphasis on linking basic concepts with
applications
• Unique among first year chemistry courses
across the nation
• Satisfies the Chemistry GIR
edx platform
• Nothing like OCW
• No 50 minutes lectures
• 10 minutes of lecture or screencast on a topic
followed by self assessment tools
• Homework, exams, and finals
• Certificate earning course
• Free
• Courses have the same intellectual content as the
MIT course they are based on
Demo edx
Why do this?
• Research consistently shows equivalent learning
outcomes for residence‐based courses and on‐
line learning
• Superior outcomes are achieved by a
combination of residence based‐learning and on‐
line content
3 091x development
3.091x
• Preparation began June 2012
• Key staff
• One TA over summer
• Full time edx person. Additional half time edx person
• Production/engineering
• Full time video editor
• 1.5 FTE engineering
•
•
•
•
Part time admin support
Five forum moderators (paid)
Four “community
community TAs”
TAs
Two to five beta checkers
• Lecture video derived mostly from 2011 lectures. Only a few segments
from 2012.
• 330 lecture segments (50 unused)
• 65 screencasts
• Six additional video segments produced in 2011 via Dreyfus grant
• Launch
La nch 10/15/12 ‐ Final 1/11/13
Student participation
28,512
3,402
2 186
2,186
2 148
2,148
Using but not taking exams
15,000 students using
but not taking exams
Taking exams
Who were these people?
• Exit
E it ssurvey
r e as part of final eexam
am
• Responded to question “Which of the following
categories best describes your primary area of
employment? (Select one)”
Representation of students
• 13.0%
13 0% were graduate students
• 28.9% were University students
• 1.0%
1 0% were community
it college
ll
students
t d t
• 9.7% were high school students
Large numbers of teachers
• 0.7% teachers at professional schools
• 3.9% were University teachers
• 1.2% were community college teachers
• 2.9% were K‐12 teachers
• 8.7% were teachers of all types
Outcomes
class: numerically correct answer; closed
book*
edx: first attempt to answer numerically
correct score; open book
* Does not reflect partial credit
How would you characterize your experience
with
i h 3.091x?
3 091 ?
10.5%
27.4%
59.6%
1863 responders
d
Future directions
• Improved assessment tools
• Concentrate future screencasts on solving
problems
• 3.091
3 091 problem bank
• Integration of 3.091 and 3.091x
• How do we maximize the benefits of having all
this content and assessment tools?
q
• Should the on‐line content be “required”?
• Should Fall 2013 be a large change or a small
change?
Inputs
•
•
•
•
•
•
DMSE faculty retreat
DMSE undergraduate committee
Society of Undergraduate Materials Scientists (SUMS) meeting
Fallll 2011 and
d 2012 3.091
3 091 course evaluations
l i
Survey of 2011 and 2012 Fall 3.091 students
Shankar Raman and Jo Flessner‐Filzen
Flessner Filzen
Proposed experiment
• The on‐line content will replace the text(s)
• Lectures take advantage
g of the new text
• Summarize the on‐line content and more questions are taken from the class.
Problems are done on the board and demonstrations are emphasized.
• Two one hour recitations.
• Assessment is based on 37 proctored on‐line quizzes.
• Some of these may be “comprehensive” assessment. Tests currently underway.
• Each
E h quiz
i represents
t a llearning
i outcome
t
measure.
• There is a specified time window to complete each quiz.
• If a quiz is not answered correctly, the student may take the quiz again and
f as many times
for
ti
as they
th wantt within
ithi the
th time
ti
window.
i d
• There is a twenty four hour lockout between quiz attempts
3 091x Problem Bank
3.091x
• Each learning outcome quiz is randomly selected from a
group of many related problems
• Parameters for many of the individual problems are
randomly selected
• Being prototyped now and will be tested on the upcoming
3.091x midterm
Open ended question
AI grading results
Captured from the 3.091x
discussion forum
I'm a new high school chemistry teacher in north Louisiana. I changed careers
f
from
a consulting
lti job,
j b so I was a couple
l off years outt off college
ll
before
b f
I started
t t d
teaching. I'm hoping to get some good content refreshers to further my own
knowledge. I am also looking for new ways that I might teach the material that
will help
p myy own students draw more meaningful
gf connections to the topics
p we
cover.
Jessica
I am Stephen,
Stephen I am 14 and I wish to use this course to help with my AP chemistry
exams and advance my education. And although I live in Canada I live in the rain
shadow of the Rockies so I get very little snow.
I'm a senior in high school this year hoping to get in to MIT, but I know this class
will be excellent preparation for wherever I attend.
Captured from the 3.091x
discussion forum
Hi! My name is Vivian and I am from Brazil. Currently I work as a chemist for
an energy company. I took
t k interest
i t
t iin thi
this course b
because off my liline off workk
(petrochemical technology). I’m quite interested in materials science, especially
polymers science and taking this course it´s a great opportunity for me to
acquire
q
and update
p
myy knowledge
g on the subject.
j
I hope
p we can all learn a lot
from each other!
My name is Keith, and I live in Houston, Texas. I work for an oil equipment
manufacturer as a Six Sigma Black Belt
Belt. My operational division makes valves
for various oil and gas applications, and my team focuses on large projects
with major oil companies. I have a BS degree in General Management and an
MS in Operations Management, but I have never had a lick of Chemistry. I am
finding that a basic knowledge of chemistry will likely prove very useful in the
industry I work in as well as in my life as a whole. I am very excited to learn
with you all!
Captured from the 3.091x
discussion
forum
My name is Annalena, I'm from Germany and I'm studying for being a teacher for
math and chemistry. A friend told me about these courses and I'm really looking
forward to it. :)
I am Shinnelle, 21, and I currently live in the DC area. I'm very excited to see
people from all over the world come together to enjoy this learning experience.
experience
Although I am a Business major, I loved chemistry in high school and am ecstatic
at the opportunity to refresh my knowledge on the subject. I very much look
forward to the course and its discussions. Good luck to everyone!
Hi, I am Sarvesh, a 15‐year old high school student from India. I just love
chemistry so much that I can't wait till undergrad to know more about it. This is a
dream come true. I am feeling really excited but a little tense. Can't
Can t wait to get
started!!!
Hi! I'm Sofia from Italy. I'm 22 and about to graduate in economics, but I always
l d chemistry,
loved
h i t so, that's
th t' why
h I'm
I' here.
h
:))
Captured from the 3.091x
discussion forum
Hello everyone! My name is Elli and I am from Thessaloniki Greece. I am 23
years old and I am studying physics in the Aristotle University
University. I am so excited
about this course getting started! I think it is a great opportunity to enrich my
studies! See everyone of you around!
Good morning fellow students. I am Gemma from central Queensland, Australia.
I studied Chemistry as part of my secondary school curriculum many years ago ‐
but my heart wasn't in it. It's something I have always wanted to revisit and this
morning I stumbled across EdX as I was browsing Twitter tweets! Extraordinarily
I have ended up here ‐ enrolled as a student amid, from what I read, a diverse,
excited and education hungry group of people. I promise to give my best to this
new endeavor and I feel so privileged to be among you all. Best regards.
Long time at‐home mom. Last Chemistry class I took was 30 years ago. Hoping
this course will re‐train my brain.
Country of origin
28,512 at peak registration
Geographic distribution, top 25
home countries by enrollments
over enrolled students who
were located using ip address.
Age distribution
22
Self reported age distribution over 10582
engaged students who gave their date of birth in
the sign up form.
Demographics at entry
L l off education
Level
d ti
Drop‐out
Drop
out statistics
Last date of engagement
g g
What areas best describe your interests
or occupation? (Check
( h k all
ll that
h apply.)
l )
Employment status
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
14.3% employed at for profit institutions
1.85 employed at a not for profit
5.1% self employed
1 3% homemaker
1.3%
5.5% out of work and looking
1.1% out of work not looking
1.3% retired
0.6% local government employee
1.0% State government employee
1.3% Federal government employee