“I opened it once but it looked complicated.” Despite buying an expensive textbook, many students do not use it in the intended manner, if at all. Has the focus on academic reading skills been pushed aside in the era of YouTube videos and Google searches? First-year general chemistry and second-year organic chemistry classes were redesigned for flipped instruction using a Peer-Led Team-Learning style (Gosser and Roth, 1998) with Academic Reading Circles (Seburn, 2015). A mixed methods research study reveals the impact on student reading habits, learner opinions about learning, performance on assessments, and student evaluations of instruction. Attention will also be given to the role of open education resources in the study, and considerations for future implementation.
Brett McCollum is a Professor of Chemistry and the Acting Academic Director of the Institute for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at Mount Royal University. He is also a Nexen Scholar and an Apple Distinguished Educator. His research focuses on effective uses of technology for... Read More →