Presentation given by Dr Diane Rossiter and Dr Catherine Biggs of the Department of Department of Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Sheffield at the 2008 International Blended Learning Conference (University of Hertfordshire), entitled: "Development of online quizzes to support problem-based learning in chemical engineering"

1. Development of online quizzes to support problem-based learning in chemical engineering Dr Diane Rossiter Dr Catherine Biggs

13. Figure 1 WORD file format for multiple choice style question Title: Mixer Flowsheet 2) Using the flowsheet for the mixer provided and assuming steady state conditions with no reaction occurring, determine the overall material balance and select the correct answer from the following options: @ For steady state conditions and no reaction, the overall material balance becomes: total mass flowrate IN = total mass flowrate OUT *a. A + B = P @ Correct. b. A - B = P @ Incorrect, B is an input stream. c. A + P = B @ Incorrect, P is an output stream. d. P + B = A @ Incorrect, B is an input stream. Not possible for calculated style questions! Mixer A (kg/h) B (kg/h) P (kg/h)

15. Key steps Step 1. Brainstorming core concepts and relevant Q’s Step 4. Type question directly into Respondus v3.5 e.g calculated Step 2. Type question into MS Word e.g. MCQ, T/F Step 3. & 5 Combine in Respondus & preview Step 6. Publish in WebCT & do settings Based on what students found hard in the past

18. Was it worth it? Student focus group Student questionnaires Project leaders’ interview

20. Student focus group 2 2. Eight students – Interviewer R. Petrulis (CiLASS) 3 rd March 2008 “ The homeworks made us work hard, but the quizzes really helped us learn how to do the homeworks.” Did everyone else do the quizzes and the homeworks as well? [Yes.] Did you find that one was more useful than the other? “ I tried the quizzes a couple times, and they weren’t very hard . The homeworks were more challenging, and you could talk to the teachers about them. That felt so much more helpful.” A couple of you said you didn’t use the quizzes at all. Could you say why? “ They were beneficial because of the immediate feedback . With the homework, it took a week or so. The online quizzes also referred you to the book and page for more information. If you just get a grade, that’s meaningless.” “ Because you could access the quiz more than once , that made it really helpful for revision.” How about the online quizzes? What worked?

21. Project leaders’ Interview 3 3. Interviewer – R. Petrulis (CiLASS), Interviewees – D. Rossiter and C. Biggs, 20 March 2008 DR: It reinforces that you could describe something in three different ways and it would have meaning to different people. It’s not that the quizzes, assignments and homework cover different things—they don’t. They make it accessible to different types of learners . I think that was highlighted by what you got in the focus group. CB: The point of the quizzes was to help those who needed the basics; not to challenge those who needed to be challenged, because the homework assignments were there to do that. I think this shows that we were right to set this up in the first place. BP: Those students said they preferred to do the homework. CB: That was quite interesting. BP: There were two responses (at focus group) that I got when I asked about the online quizzes. One was that the students found it helpful for learning the material and for revision. Another, smaller group, said they found them to be too basic.

28. 50% exam, 50% cwk with quizzes 50% exam, 50% cwk 50% exam, 50% cwk Assessment 4 (5.7%) 1 (2%) 15 (23%) Results: exam fails 70 67 66 Students DR+3 CAB+DR+2 CAB+PAL+1 Resources IBL ; 2 hrs, weekly IBL; 2 hrs, weekly IBL; 2 hrs, weekly Tutorials 1 hour 1 hour 1 hour Lectures 2007/08 2006/07 2005/06

29. Figure 2 Respondus 3.5 for multiple choice style question