Lee, Jiwoong

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11Case- and problem-based group assignmentsand the effects of formative feedbackJiwoong LeeDepartment of ChemistryUniversity of CopenhagenIntroductionIn a common setting of teaching process, the mutual interactions betweenthe students and the teacher can be illustrated as continuous stream of in-formation exchanges by utilizing teaching materials, lectures, assignments,presentation and evaluations. According to the teaching portfolio and pre-defined ILOs (intended learning outcomes), the ultimate objective of theteaching process would be to improve the experiences of both parties -teachers and students – in a positive notion, meanwhile, maintaining highevaluation marks, with minimum inputs of resources. Among many prereq-uisite resources in a teaching process, time is the one of the most importantfactors, which can determine the quality of teaching and learning outcomesfrom the teachers’ point-of-view. The balance between research and teach-ing is tedious to achieve and time-consuming process is inevitable. In thissense, it is critical to manage good quality of teaching with high qualityresearch to maintain the research group more recognized in a field of sci-ence, which can tremendously stimulate the teaching process with obtainedauthority and attractive forces for students in the classroom as well.Here I describe how the burdensome of teaching process can quicklybe optimized by using web-based formative feedback process, which canminimize time resource, while providing high quality information to stu-dents in their learning process. The course title is: Reactions and Synthesisin Medicinal Chemisty for MSc students (2 blocks, 15 ECTS, 48 students,2 teachers). The group assignments were designed to serve as case-based(Wassermann, 1994) and problem-based learning (PBL) materials to create140 Jiwoong Leeactive-learning process. The provided feedback (Hattie & Timperley, 2007)is mostly through Absalon (web-based platform) to facilitate the interac-tions and to avoid the physical barrier between students and teachers. Theevaluation was performed via oral examination for 30 minutes. Due to thetime limit, this report is based on the evaluation of 3 students who havealready examined before the actual exam week.Course DescriptionContents: The topics are: Transition-metal catalyzed reactions includingcross-coupling reactions; Stereospecific aldol-additions; Chiral auxiliaries;Pericylic reactions including click-chemistry; Rearrangements; Fragmenta-tions; Radical reactions including carbenes; Microorganisms and enzymesin synthesis; Methods for the resolution of racemic mixtures: Classical res-olution, enzymatic resolution, spontaneous resolution and methods for de-termination of optical purity; Microfluidics in synthesis; Solid-phase sup-ported reagents for synthesis; Case stories from the medicinal industry:What is an invention? Scalability problems.Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)Competencies: Be able to analyze a complex synthetic problem andplan a feasible synthesis. Be able to analyze scientific papers and patentsdealing with synthetic problems and be able to spot inconsistent claims.Skills: Apply the acquired knowledge on organic synthesis on a giventarget molecule. Be able to translate known methodologies to new prob-lems.Knowledge: Have an in depth knowledge of modern synthetic organicsynthesis according to the content of the course.Evaluation: 30 minutes without preparation time. The subject of theevaluation is one of the assignments with which students had already dealt.(7-point grading scale).Workload: lectures 26 h, theory exercises 52 h, preparation 333 h, exam1h, total: 412 h.Outlined MethodsThe investigation was designed to know how ‘problem-oriented’ teachingwould influence Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) based on level of stu-dent activities. The students have diverse background (university, country,11 Case- and problem-based group assignments and ... 141education level) and therefore, it is hard to formulate a unified direction ofthe lessons. It is of utmost importance to enhance ILO under any circum-stances, and one of our solution is to utilize ‘problem-oriented’ teachingmethod. Each week, we display one target (to retrosynthesize) based onthe teaching materials of the week. The teaching materials is highly relatedto the target molecules, and therefore, the students are well equipped withmotivation and basic knowledge. The assignments will not be graded butare supposed to be handled with feedback. The selected group consisted ofthree international (visiting) BSc-level students, who are not familiar withcurrent teaching setting. The course is for MSc-level students therefore, itwas expected that this particular group might underperform compared tothe average of students.Challenges to faceIn many cases, teaching can be tedious due to the repetitive proceduresin assignment grading and teaching materials for students as well as forteachers. In this course, as shown in the course description, the studentsare obliged to submit their assignment bi-weekly, and each assignments areheavily associated to the topics of classroom teaching session, therefore,the classroom teaching and the assignments are more coherent. However,there are many expected challenges in the process:Formation of the Project Groups: In the project (assignment group) thestudents are allowed to choose their own group, therefore, the groups aretend to be formed based on previous friendships and acquaintances. Also,there are many students who couldn’t find an adequate project group (at thecurrent course set, we found 3 students), therefore, teachers had to interfereand force them to form a group. Eventually, it turned out to be positive,however, initial stress on the students could lead to drop-out or other per-sonal consequences, of which should be taken care.Collaboration Dynamics: The teachers have no information regardingthe dynamics of each groups, in terms of discussion culture, work load,structure of collaboration and how they deliver the project. These may af-fect the learning outcome from the projects, however, it is technically diffi-cult to follow up and manage in detail.Formats of Feedback: The formats of feedback that has been used inthis course is mainly texts in on Speed Grader. Other forms of feedback(drawings, graphics, additional literature) is also possible and it has been142 Jiwoong Leetried out. The feedback is mainly non-prioritized feedback as a continu-ous, line-by-line comments on assignments pdf. In the end, summary ofteacher’s feedback was given with remarks (it’s ok (D), good (C), verygood (B), excellent (A)). The main purpose of the given feedback is: to im-prove student’s ability to communicate in a language in organic chemistry,where many forms of communication in industry and academia happen bydrawing chemical structures and reaction mechanisms. The challenge is thedeviation of quality of students, therefore, the formats of feedback was di-vided two main groups: for beginners and intermediate to lead both groupsto competent level of organic chemists.Effects of Feedback: the project will be delivered via online platform(Absalon) as a pdf format only and the feedback process will be performedusing ‘speed grader’. This web-based system allows students and teachersto interact real-time without any barriers. Given feedback can be a nexttopic of discussion with students using the same platform. However, somestudents are not used to work with online formats, therefore diminishingthe effect of feedback significantly. As a teacher, it has been announcedand advertised to students to work with the online formats to encouragethe participation rate. Also it is found to be difficult to follow up hot muchthe given feedback has been used by the students since the interaction issemi-anonymous throughout the whole process. An intermediate face-to-face consultant would be desired but it was not realized many times due tothe time and space restrictions.Considering the current fixed setup at the classroom teaching and as-signment, and the above-mentioned challenges, the web-based feedbackprocess was performed as thorough as possible to maximize the outcomeof the project group assignment. It is noteworthy here that the MSc-degreestudents in organic chemistry section are subjected to two main passagesof curriculum: 1) 1-year class room teaching and 2) 1-year thesis researchproject (Figure 11.1, Rienecker, Jørgensen, Dolin, and Ingerslev (2015)).Therefore, the importance of the classroom teaching in the line withthe research competence of students can not be underestimated. The cur-rent group assignment and feedback process was also aimed to improvethe competence of potential research activities as an individual researcher,therefore, the provided feedback includes detailed information regarding 1)grammar skills, 2) chemical structure drawing skills, 3) chemistry jargons,and 4) non-prioritized comments on minor mistakes. Although self-esteemof students can be affected by this, the teachers decided to refurbish it asmuch as possible at the beginning of the course period to enhance the ef-11 Case- and problem-based group assignments and ... 143Fig. 11.1: Assignment-complexity relationship and correlated students’ ac-tivities in Department of Chemistry, MSc students (Orgnic chemistry sec-tion). (Adapted from Ch 4.3 Case-based learning, L. Krogh, D. Stentoft, J.Emmersen, P. Musaeus, University teaching and learning, 2015, Samfund-slitteratur)ficiency and also to provide comfortable environment in the end of courseperiod, where more difficult and important intended learning outcomes areplaced on.ResultsAs shown in Figure 11.2, the interface on Absalon is highly user-friendlyand intuitive to use. Along with the assignment, multiple tasks are feasible,to add comments, highlight, strike. A plagiarism detector can be also intro-duced, however it was not used in this study. The interface allows users tobe connected virtually with additional possibilities to add multimedia files.Although it is not attempted, it would be a good addition to upload videoor audio files as feedback materials.A designated group (international BSc students) are subjected to submitbi-weekly assignment on Absalon in the MSc-level course in the Depart-ment of Chemistry. Although the group consists of BSc students, the reports144 Jiwoong LeeFig. 11.2: Snapshot of Speedgrader system. A submitted assignment onthe left side with line-by-line comments. The interface allows you to addgraphical comments. Final remarks can be added on the right side, wherefurther discussion with students is possible.showed good level of chemistry knowledge in the first assignment besideminor mistakes and misunderstanding in certain key points. The summaryof feedback was formulated to be very simple and positive, starting high-priority feedback: general remarks. First two assignment were in the levelof B-D grades, however, the quality of report quickly increased to A-Bwith deep understanding in the topic, good quality of English writing inchemistry language (Schimel, 2012), and high-level of presentation skills.It was observed that much of only-positive comments gave lower qualityof reports for the next assignment round. It was assertive sign that the pro-vided feedback was used by the students and the course of learning could bechanged, and controlled to improve the intended learning outcomes. One ofthe important ILOs is to improve creative ideas, in parallel to a traditionalcase in the assignments.In the last assignment, the group presented an original idea to access apharmaceutical active ingredient. Additionally, two students of the groupreceived high marks (10 from 7-grading system), which showing that themajority of students of the group successfully achieved high standard ofILOs.11 Case- and problem-based group assignments and ... 145Fig. 11.3: Summarizing comments on assignments from a group. Startingfrom left-top, by providing formative feedback, the group achieved highstandard of assignment in the end of the course (right top).Discussion and ConclusionHere I showed how to balance formative and summative feedback in online-based platform. This was critical to increase the student’s abilities to iden-tify the problem sets and to tackle the problem with appropriate scientificbackground as quick as possible with high communication opportunitieswith teachers. To achieve ILOs, the key challenges were set to enhance theaverage level of competency in solving the problem set. Also, this chal-lenge could be associated with the learning outcomes and active learningprocesses, since the problem-solving process in a group is indeed an ac-tive participating process. The sample group showed high quality of reportsthroughout the assignments, with the help of positive and formative feed-back. Line-by-line comments were helpful strategy and Absalon systemgreatly reduced the time spent on the grading. Also, the web-based sys-tem allows students and teachers to have less activation barrier for activeparticipation and communication. Finally, in the case of group assignmentsreports it was found to be effective to use formative feedback rather thansummative feedback, to enhance competency of the students while prevent-ing diminishing self-esteem of groups of students.The sample group successfully achieved high marks in the evaluation.It would be highly interesting expend this sample group to the whole class,with an organized feedback structure for categorized student groups. Peer-146 REFERENCESfeedback system was attempted, however, it was not successful due to thelack of intense instruction from teachers at this juncture.In conclusion, I found that online-based feedback system is beneficialto save time for grading group assignment and also to improve the compe-tency of students in developing required skills sets in the course. Carefulfollow-up of a particular group of students showed that positive and forma-tive feedback can lead to successful achievement with the ILOs, based onthe final evaluation. Further studies in more detailed analysis and structuredevaluation would be highly interesting, which will be performed simulta-neously within my teaching and supervision.Future Perspective (based on the peer-feedback)The written feedback should not be an answer sheet for students while en-couraging students to find the answers by themselves. It will need morefine-tuning of the structure of the formative feedback. The online-feedbackplatform can actually saves a significant amount of time for teachers by pre-venting the time-consumed by non-academic processes (printing, delivery,meetings, writing). It was suggested that the online-feedback system couldbe connected to laboratory courses and MSc-thesis evaluation.After evaluation of the course period, few students argued that theonline-system gave negative effect on their learning process due to the factthat the students were not familiar with it. This should be resolved by in-troductory lecture on Absalon in practice, probably in the very beginningof the course. Also, it should be noted that the online-feedback should bemore carefully structured since those students may not follow it as much astraditional methods.ReferencesHattie, J. & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of edu-cational research, 77(1), 81–112.Rienecker, L., Jørgensen, P. S., Dolin, J., & Ingerslev, G. H. (Eds.). (2015).University Teaching and Learning (1st ed.). Samfundslitteratur.Schimel, J. (2012). Writing science: how to write papers that get cited andproposals that get funded. OUP USA.REFERENCES 147Wassermann, S. (1994). Introduction to case method teaching. a guide tothe galaxy. ERIC.

Case- and problem-based group assignments and the effects of formative feedback

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