Implementing and Assessing the Efficacy of Open Access Hyperlibrary Textbook Resource

King Library 213

The ChemWiki is the primary and most developed component in the University of California, Davis Hyperlibrary project with six other pseudo-independently operating and interconnected “STEMWikis” that focus on developing and disseminating viable online post-secondary textbook alternatives within a central integrated environment. The Hyperlibrary is a “crowd-sourced” project that is developed by a consortium of students and faculty across multiple campuses and countries. Development entails collecting, integrating, vetting, and building open-access content within a unified and hyperlinked infrastructure. Preliminary results of a data-driven quantitative three-quarter pilot to test the efficacy of the ChemWiki are positive. The effectiveness of the ChemWiki was assessed during the spring quarter of 2014 in the third quarter general chemistry course at UCD. The experimental class (n = 478) used the ChemWiki as its primary resource, while the control class (n = 448) used the standard textbook for the general chemistry sequence. Both classes were taught back-to-back by the same instructor (Larsen) with the same set of teaching assistants and assessment protocols. Both classes used the same exams designed to measure the overall learning gain of the students in both classes, which were also confirmed with pre/post exam comparisons. The results showed that the normalized learning gains for both classes were not statistically different when accounting for student demographics. The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) chemistry survey was employed at the beginning and end of the quarter to determine if either class's beliefs about chemistry changed based on the primary resource they used.