Alternative Assessments in Large Enrollment Gateway Chemistry Courses

Florida International University (FIU) is a Hispanic serving institution, and a majority of students are commuters who work at least part time. Other challenges for students include large class sizes, heavy course loads, fear of chemistry and unrealistic expectations about time commitment required. Performance in introductory "gateway" college-level General Chemistry courses has a huge impact on student engagement, motivation, persistence and progress to graduation. Most introductory college courses are typically designed as surveys of the discipline to be a "mile wide and an inch deep". Students typically are expected to "learn" vast amounts of content, but do not spend enough time making critical connections between concepts. The assessments for students in these courses usually include three exams and a final supplemented by a grade for participation and homework.
We need to provide students with opportunities to work on and build crucial connections and place them in context such that if they need to recall these ideas especially in a new context and apply them to explain real world phenomena. The COVID-19 pandemic and the switch to remote learning gave Drs Underwood and Swamy a unique opportunity to explore alternate (and authentic) assessments in their large-enrollment general chemistry 1 (CHM 1045) courses in Fall 2020. They reimagined learning in the remote environment where their team of trusted undergraduate Learning Assistants (LAs) worked with groups of students within breakout rooms to help them "tweak" their existing mental models, build crucial connections and place them in context. They will share their ideas and reimagined assessments, including replacing three exams with six mastery checkpoints and a final semester project, that allowed them to build a novel learning experience for students with the help of their Learning Assistants in the remote environment without compromising content and rigor.