Evaluating the Use of LearnSmart and Connect in Introductory General Chemistry Classes: The Pros and Cons of an Online Teaching and Learning System

When asked if they like chemistry, many first-year university students often groan and say it is the hardest course they take. While part of this assessment at the University of Ottawa is based on the fact the course load is heavy due to a lecture component, a lab component and many tutorial sessions, another major reason for this statement comes from the fact that students often have difficulty in integrating the conceptual and problem-based aspects of the course. Chemistry requires students to understand ideas that range from microscopic to macroscopic, to read large bodies of text and understand how the text can be converted into chemical equations or visual images, and then to integrate all these concepts and apply them to the solution of mathematical problems. It takes a great deal of maturity, introspection and time to develop these skills and students in first year often simply do not have the time required to gain these skills given that chemistry is only one of the many courses that they take. Many textbook publishing companies have begun pairing their textbooks with online homework programs with a view to helping students practice and apply the knowledge they are learning from the textbook in an interactive manner. McGraw-Hill Education has taken steps to help students acquire the necessary skills using online technology that builds a basis for their knowledge and then allows them to apply that same knowledge. McGraw-Hill Education Connect, the online teaching and learning program that is available with McGraw-Hill Education textbooks, comes paired with SmartBook (R) with LearnSmart (R) in many cases. As the instructors of general chemistry at University of Ottawa chose the McGraw-Hill Education text, this chapter will present a preliminary evaluation, as well as some of the advantages and disadvantages of the SmartBook vis a vis a standard or e-book. It will also look at whether the integration of SmartBook helps students to learn to determine what is important in a text, how to reinforce that knowledge and gain an understanding of the underlying concepts, and how to apply that knowledge to the solution of problems. Did pairing the conceptual knowledge gained by SmartBook with concrete problems provide a holistic approach to the study of chemistry and what were the advantages and disadvantages, given some of the student limitations mentioned above? While any homework takes time, whether paper or online, this chapter will present some information about SmartBook and an informal evaluation of whether use of this system was able to provide a successful learning outcome for students.