Acid-base chemistry, and in particular the Lewis acid-base model, is foundational to understanding mechanistic ideas. This is due to the similarity in language chemists use to describe Lewis acid-base reactions and nucleophile-electrophile interactions. The development of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies has led to the…

Digital automated assessment is a valuable and time-efficient tool for educators to provide immediate and objective feedback to learners. Automated assessment, however, puts high demands on the quality of the questions, alignment with the intended learning outcomes, and the quality of the feedback provided to the learners. We here describe the…

The first-year undergraduate laboratory course in chemistry at the University of Bristol has been changed in an attempt to have students focus on learning practical skills, rather than on their experimental results. Analysis revealed a misalignment between the stated aims of the course--developing basic practical skills and developing laboratory…

First-year undergraduate classes present challenges in teaching as they usually have high student enrolment numbers and students studying across a range of higher education programs that require a fundamental understanding of knowledge that is not perceived in their area of study. This provides a challenge in terms of engaging and maintaining…

This article describes the development and implementation of an open-access organic chemistry question bank for online tutorials and assessments at University College Cork and Dublin Institute of Technology. SOCOT (structure-based organic chemistry online tutorials) may be used to supplement traditional small-group tutorials, thereby allowing…