Enhancing Postgraduate Laboratory Experience with Innovative Adaptations

1. Adaptation of a third-year undergraduate laboratory experiment to be used at the postgraduate level Ben Howie & Dr Frances Docherty, university of glasgow

2. Introduction • Research into undergraduate learning heavily outweighs that of postgraduate research. • 1 in 4 students struggle with postgraduate workload2. • UK emphasis on independent work. • 36% of postgraduate students from outside the UK (2014/2015)1. • Language barrier felt by international students. • Evaluation of laboratories – how effective are they? Barnes, Macleod and Huttly, 2018 Higher Educational Academy, 2015

3. Difference between undergraduate and postgraduate • The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education3 (2005) describe some MSc postgraduate programme aims as: • enabling students to focus on a specific area of a broad subject they have previous knowledge on. • enabling students to focus on a particular subject area or field of study in greater depth than they encountered during the course of previous study or experience . • allowing students to conduct a research project whilst learning how to undertake research, which can be linked to a specific field. • enabling students to specialise or become more specialised in an area of practice or employment • Supporting progression towards profession registration in a particular profession.

4. What makes a successful laboratory experiment? • Defined learning goals. • Student preparedness– investment of time and knowledge. • Focus on procedure not product. • Prepping students by pre and post-laboratory activities.

5. Adaption of experiment • Introduced three new elements: • Green Chemistry – Area of chemistry focused on designing products and procedures which minimise the use and production of harmful substances. • Experiment design – Students were asked to complete a COSHH form (Control of Substances that are Hazardous to Health). • Reduction using a polymer – Not taught in lectures throughout course. Used in real-life application. Shutterstock/C&EN

6. Student feedback – Pre-lab questionnaire • 1. Your previous studies have allowed you to adapt well. • 2. You have felt welcomed by staff and feel they are approachable. • 3. You have felt welcomed by students and feel they are approachable. • 4. You are comfortable with the rate of learning in lectures. • 5. You find the material enjoyable. 6. You are confident entering a lab environment. Score 2= Strongly agree 1= Slightly agree 0= Neutral -1=Slightly disagree -2= Strongly disagree Question

7. Student feedback – Pre-lab questionnaire 7. You are confident with what is expected of you from the lab manual. 8. You understand the safety aspects of lab work. 9. You experience difficulty with the language in lectures. 10. Your past education has provided your with experience in the lab. 11. You were confident in completing a COSHH assessment form. Score 2= Strongly agree 1= Slightly agree 0= Neutral -1=Slightly disagree -2= Strongly disagree Question

8. Student feedback – Post-lab questionnaire • 1. You were confident completing the experiment independently. • 2. The laboratory manual provided you with enough information. • 3. You understood the theory behind the experiment. • 4. You felt confident asking demonstrators for help. • 5. You felt confident completing the procedures asked of you. Score 2= Strongly agree 1= Slightly agree 0= Neutral -1=Slightly disagree -2= Strongly disagree Question

9. Student feedback – Post-lab questionnaire • 6. You are confident in analysing data collected in your experiment. • 7. You are confident in completing the lab report. • 8. The lab has helped you integrate with students. • 9.The lab has helped you integrate with staff. Score 2= Strongly agree 1= Slightly agree 0= Neutral -1=Slightly disagree -2= Strongly disagree Question

10. Student feedback • All the students agreed that the conducting experiments at the postgraduate level are important. • Of the experiments completed, the most engaging involved a visible reaction e.g. colour change. • Whilst the majority of the students were confident in completing the experiment, they said that coming across problems they weren't aware of was useful to their learning. • Students commented on collaborative learning, saying their hardest perceived task was the completion of the individual report as it would be more difficult to help each other, as in the experiment they can discuss procedures and possible mistakes. • International students commented on language barrier, commenting that the MSc programme was difficult compared to their undergraduate degree in the sense of the language used, not the content. • Some international students commented they felt they would take more away from a one hour sessions reading over content over a hour in a lecture.

11. Conclusion • The adaption of third-year experiment to a postgraduate level has been successful. The adapted experiment has used the full lab-time effectively and challenged students with new topics and experimental design. • Student feedback aligned with literature that laboratories are an important setting for students to learn chemistry and see it in action. • Collaborative learning through the discussions of errors and unexpected results can help to reinforce learning. • Student concerns arose with the language barrier for international students and the lack of advanced challenges of knowledge.

12. References • 1. Barnes, T., Macleod, G. and Huttly, S. (2018). National Survey of PGT Directors and Administrators. [online] Ukcge.ac.uk. Available at: http://www.ukcge.ac.uk/article/pgt-directors-admins-abstract-381.aspx [Accessed 23 Nov. 2018]. • 2. Higher Educational Academy (2015). Taught postgraduates have a positive learning experience, but some struggle with workload and inconsistent teaching | Higher Education Academy. [online] Heacademy.ac.uk. Available at: https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/about/news/taught-postgraduates-have-positive-learning-experience-some-struggle-workload-and [Accessed 26 Feb. 2019]. • 3. The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (2015). Characteristics Statement: Masters Degree. [online] Available at: https://www.qaa.ac.uk/docs/qaa/quality-code/master's-degree-characteristics-statement.pdf?sfvrsn=6ca2f981_10 [Accessed 2 Mar. 2019].

13. Bridging the Gap Between Student and the Researcher the development of the Research Skills MSc project module using inquiry based learning By Lindsey vest and Dr Beth Paschke

14. Introduction to Thesis • There were three distinct sections to my thesis: • Research into inquiry based learning (IBL) • Design of IBL project practical work • Research into current lab teaching styles and how they prepare the students for their thesis

15. Inquiry Based Learning • IBL describes a teaching approach where the lecturer is focused upon aiding the students self-directed learning. It has four distinct levels: • Confirmation Inquiry • Structured Inquiry • Guided inquiry • Open/ true inquiry In the context of a chemistry project; IBL will aim to expose the students to all aspects of the scientific process.

16. Designing a Laboratory Experiment • Wittig reaction was the research starting point • Gathered three different options • Weighed the merits of different aspects of each experiment such as: • Cost and availability of components • Difficulty level for students • Time required for experiment • How stimulating the experiment is • Decided upon a green chemistry, solvent-free Wittig reaction • Explored various IBL techniques that could be implemented within the project

17. MSc Feedback on Project • A focus group was held to collect feedback from the students regarding their experience of the project. Some of their comments included: • It was good to be able to collaborate with others • It was good to get experience researching literature • Interesting to be introduced to new topics like green chemistry • I feel confident in the lab • Need examples of scientific writing

18. Current Lab Style • A questionnaire was given out to the students who have just completed their thesis project to understand how the current teaching lab style prepared them.

19. Conclusion and Future Work IBL Research • IBL is beneficial in building students transferrable skills Designing an IBL Project • It can be difficult to implement due to time and resources • Although students valued the experience Current Students Attitudes • Students felt that they were lacking in a wider variety of experience before starting their thesis • Questionnaires gathered from students can be misleading and long answer questions or focus groups are recommended.

20. Student-Led Curriculum Design • It is a unique opportunity to create material for the university curriculum. It allows us to develop may skills and overcome different obstacles including: • Work-related learning • Problem Solving • Collaboration • Organisation • Communication • Unique overview of the learning and teaching process

21. Thank you for listening