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…

Administering exams in large enrollment courses is challenging and systems in place for accomplishing this task were upended in the spring of 2020 when a sudden transformation to online instruction and testing occurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the following year, when courses remained online, approaches to improve exam security included…

The affordances given to a structured, timed, and proctored paper exam are not as readily applicable in a digital medium. Accordingly, the rapid shift from in-person to online enactments may have forced instructors to consider changing their assessment practices and priorities. As assessments convey strong implicit messages about "what…

Summative year end assessments are a major component of student assessment at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London. More than 600 students participate in over 40 different exams during the summer term. At the end of the spring term, the college moved to fully remote operation due to COVID-19, leaving the academic…

When campuses across the world needed to transition to the online format due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were many challenges educators faced, and addressing academic integrity issues were some of the most important. Certain strategies, such as online proctoring or additional software, were not available to most institutions because the…

Effective assessment is an extremely important area of chemistry education. Typically tests measure students' knowledge of critical thinking skills, chemistry vocabulary, and application of concepts from one chapter to another. While it is relatively straightforward to measure concepts such as chemical vocabulary and algorithmic problem solving…

This communication describes a variety of virtual student assessment strategies employed at the University of Toronto during the academic disruption caused by the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. Instructors focused their efforts toward maintaining a positive learning environment and offering meaningful evaluation methods for students in each of…

The COVID pandemic forced many higher education institutions to pivot and switch to an online learning environment with minimal preparation. This transition was put in place during the middle of the spring semester, in March. During this transition, instructors had to quickly learn the tools of online teaching, navigate platforms like Webex and…

Five years of longitudinal data for general chemistry student assessments at the University of Georgia have been analyzed using item response theory (IRT). Our analysis indicates that minor changes in question wording on exams can make significant differences in student performance on assessment questions. This analysis encompasses data from over…

Considers how computers might help broaden assessment practices by examining the types of test items that might be used in computer environments. Explores ideas from cognitive psychology and research on problem solving. Contains 17 references. (DDR)