Instructor reflections

Once the key questions have been articulated, it is important to consider the source of the information and how the data may be collected within resource constraints of the program. Effective program evaluation makes use of multiple data collection methods at multiple points in the program. Some of the methods used in existing programs to determine quality and design plans for continuous improvement are described here. These include document reviews, interviews, surveys, instructor reflections, expert reviews, and longitudinal studies. 

In memos or reports or instructor reflections, instructors summarize their experiences with teaching, learning, and assessment in their respective courses. These reflections may address the following ... 

Course evaluation results and instructor reflection reports indicate that faculty are using a wide variety of teaching and assessment methods. 

PowerPoint Presentation—is organized by chap ter and ready for the classroom or the instructor can customize the lecture to reflect their own teaching style... 

A group of college and high school Chemistry instructors known as the AP Development Committee creates the AP Chemistry exam. The committees job is to ensure that the annual AP Chemistry exam reflects what is taught in college-level Chemistry classes at high schools. 

The underlying assumption in several of these cards was that a numerical example would overcome all of the troubles the student was having. The critical feature in comments that reflected the first of the students expectations was that examples were only valid if they were numerical. When instructors presented non-numerical examples, the students generally viewed the information as more theory. Consider Craig s reaction to the question of whether discussion of an example based on the particle in a box was what he wanted to see. 

Some experiments show traces of acetone, methylene chloride, chloroform, benzene, and dioxane in the air. Only in one instance (chloroform) was a TLV exceeded. However, pump error may have caused this result. When many solvents or air contaminants coexist in the environment, a total or equivalent exposure must be calculated. The equivalent exposure reflects the contribution of each contaminant to the total exposure. In these studies this value was very low and can be noted in the next to last column of Table II. Solvents like benzene, chloroform, and dioxane are presently suspected carcinogens (j>) and laboratory instructors should replace these compounds with safe substitutes whenever possible. 

We urge instructors to tailor any of the individual experiments in Experimental Biochemistry to fit the structural and time constraints of their course. We at the University of Illinois schedule a 14-week, 1-semester course that meets 3 times per week for a 4-hour period. In this time, we can typically perform 12 to 14 of the individual experiments in their entirety. The daily-schedule format of the protocols for each experiment reflect what we can perform with a class of up to 50 students in a reasonable period of time. If you are limited by time, you may choose to perform fewer experiments or selected sections from a number of individual experiments. 

As noted in the text, special care should be taken to avoid stray reflections of the laser beam used in this experiment (see Appendix C also). The pulse energies are high enough to cause serious eye injury and safety goggles should be worn at all times except when the instructor has determined that it is safe to remove them. Iodine is corrosive to the skin and should be handled with a spatula or tweezers in adding a few crystals to the fluorescence ceU. 

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