Student Interviews

Instrument 8: End-of-Semester College Chemistry Course Interview

Project: Sparky IntroChem: A Student-Oriented Introductory Chemistry Course
Western Carolina University

Funding Source: NSF - Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE)

Purpose: To assist faculty in understanding the effects of course innovation on student learning experience

Administered To: Undergraduate students in introductory college chemistry course

Topics Covered:

• Course Evaluation: satisfaction, effectiveness, activities, assessment
• Impact on Outcomes: student attitude, student understanding, instructional methods
• Instructional Practices: instructional approach, mentoring/suport
• Learning Environment: equipment, materials
• Plans and Expectations (Student): education plans
• Student/Teacher Interaction: student comfort, student engagement, information delivery, role assignment

Format/Length: 58 open-ended items

End-of-Semester
College Chemistry Course Interview

developed by
The Learning through Evaluation, Adaptation and Dissemination (LEAD) Center
University of Wisconsin Madison

adapted for use in Chemistry 132 at Western Carolina University

Spring Semester 2001

Chemistry Course Interview Consent Form for Students

The Chemistry Department is conducting interviews of some of our undergraduate courses. The interviews are designed to assist faculty in understanding the effects of course innovations on students learning experiences and may lead to improvements in the teaching of chemistry nationwide.

We are asking students who are enrolled in the participating lectures to be interviewed about their learning experiences in the course. The interview should take about 1 hour to complete. In order to correlate responses with demographic data and measures of achievement we are asking you to write your Student I.D. number on the survey.

All student responses will be held strictly confidential. We will generalize about student responses so as to obscure the identity of any particular students before reporting any survey findings. We may publish papers based on the results of this survey, but these materials will contain no information that would identify particular students.

Participation is completely voluntary. Refusal to participate will have no effect on your grade. There are no formal benefits or risks associated with participation.

Any questions you have you may ask now, or you may call Dr. Royce S. Woosley, at 227-3667.

I have read the above and give my consent to participate in the interview.

We wish to thank you for participating in this national study of how students learn in college chemistry courses. The questions in the interview are intended to help researchers understand your experiences in the chemistry course in which this survey is being administered. Your thoughtful responses to the questions will enable us to help faculty across the nation improve chemistry education.

Copies of this consent form can be obtained at 231 Natural Sciences.

Student Interviews for Chemistry 132

Introductions and presentation of the Informed Consent form.

Briefly review points from the Informed Consent, focusing on how the evaluation and assessment process relies on learning about what and how well students are learning in this course. The evaluators are allies who can help students communicate things to the instructors that might be awkward for students to say directly. Check that the student is comfortable with the tape recorder. If not, just take notes.