Course Evaluation for KEMB01/KEMB11 Organic Chemistry and KOKN05 Organic
Chemistry – Theory fall 2013
General. The intermediate/advanced course in organic chemistry was given for the seventh time. Students from
the technical faculty followed the theoretical part of the course (KOKN05 or KEMB11, 7.5 credit units). The full
course comprises eight lectures and eleven exercises in the organic chemistry – theory part, six exercises/lectures
in the spectroscopy part, and six practical labs distributed over eleven full-day sessions. Lecturer in the organic
chemistry – theory part was Daniel Strand (DS) and in the spectroscopy part Karl-Erik Bergquist (KEB). Sophie
Manner (SM) was the seminar leader for KOKN05 and DS for KEMB01/11.
Results. The results on the formative exams were relatively weak indicating that many students were either
postponing their studies or not investing enough time in the theoretical part. In part, this is however a reflection
of the lab course being is set mostly early in the semester which overlaps with the formative exams.
Qualitatively, the results of both the final exam and the formative exams provided good representations of the
knowledge levels in the course; students that had very good results on the formative exam unanimously received
a strong grade on the final exam.
Table 1. Results from exam one and two.
Course
Regular exam grades
Re-exam one
KEMB01
U: 8 (50%); G: 8 (50%) VG: 0 (0%).
U: 3 (75%); G: 0 (0%) VG: 1 (25%).
Total: 16
Total: 4
U: 9 (60%); 3: 2 (13%); 4: 2 (13%);
5: 2 (13%).
Total: 15
U: 3 (37%); 3: 3 (37%); 4: 1 (13%);
5: 1 (13%).
Total: 8
KOKN05/
KEMB11
Changes introduced since last year.
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–
–
–
–
Two formative exams, each with a defined scope, compared to one formative exam last year.
Minor updates to the course compendium.
Better structured lectures in retrosynthetic analysis.
Two seminar groups instead of one.
Significantly more applied focus in the spectroscopy part of the course.
Course evaluation. A mid-term evaluation was distributed with the first mid-term formative exam. A meeting
with the course representatives was held and did not give cause for significant changes. A final course evaluation
survey was distributed with the regular exam and 29 surveys were handed in (Appendix 1). A retrospective
meeting with the course representatives has not been held. Improvements based on the evaluations are currently
being considered.
Comments DS. The overall impression is that the course is running relatively well in the current format. The
evaluation corroborates this notion. Most of the issues that have been raised in previous years have been
resolved. In particular, the students following only the theory part of the course gives very high grades and
positive comments throughout the survey.
Two seminar groups divided by faculty has significantly facilitated helping and meeting students with very
disparate backgrounds and experience levels.
That the course is given in English is an obstacle for many students. Active participation in the seminars in
English is uncomfortable for some students and their results likely suffer from this.
As previously noted, the seminar focused format of the course functions very well for students who adapts to it,
but less well for students that for various reasons are not able to not keep up. A continuing challenge is to aid
less self-motivated students to commence the self-studies early. An improved format for the self-study sessions
is likely both an efficient and cost-effective way to help these students. Such changes are currently under
development.
Last years stunning finding that the natural science faculty students felt that a formative exam reduced their
motivation to start studying early repeated this year. The technical faculty students, in stark contrast, responded
that the formative exams strongly encourage their motivation to start early. The course responsible is equally
bewildered as last year over this result, but will try to figure out what it means.
Some areas of improvements for the 2014 course:
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The lab course received less acclaim than previous years. Reasons for this will be looked into.
The compendium will be updated to reduce typos, better align with the intended learning outcomes, and
better conform to the book (including updated reading instructions).
The self-study sessions will be reformed with the intent to help students to be better prepared for and
more active in seminars.
Course responsible,
KEMB01, KEMB11, and KOKN05
Appendix 1 – Responses to course evaluation
Course
KEMB01
KOKN05
/KEMB11
6-60 h
20-40 h
(Avg. 40 h)
(Avg. 14 h)
1. ”I was well prepared for this course at the start of it”
2,9
3,0
2. ”In this course it was easy to know what was expected of me”
3,2
3,4
3. ”The phase of this course has been reasonable for an intermediates course”
3,3
4,0
4. ”I kept up with the pace from start”
3,2
3,0
5. ”The course content was well distributed throughout the course”
3,7
4,2
6. ”This course has improved my capacity to present orally and in writing”
3,3
2,7
7. ”This course has improved my capacity to reason”
3,6
4,1
8. ”The formative exams has motivated me to start study early”
2,3
4,0
9. ”The formative exams gave me valuable feedback”
3,5
4,1
10. ”I have participated in the self study sessions”
3,1
2,5
11. ”My teachers have been approachable for questions”
4,2
4,8
12. ”I have been well prepared for the lectures”
3,2
2,6
13. ”I have been well prepared for the seminars”
3,3
3,2
14. ”Overall I am satisfied with this course”
3,2
4,1
15. ”This course has increased my appreciation for the subject”
3,5
4,2
Self-estimate on hours of study per week
Table 1. Response to questions: 1 – strongly disagree; 5 – strongly agree
WHAT WAS GOOD ABOUT THE ORGANIC CHEMISTRY PART?
KEMB01 1. Great teacher; 2. Good teacher, good seminars; 4. Good lectures and a good book; 6. Nice
discussions; 7. Everything, interesting, good pace; 8. I like the course book; 9. Lectures were very easy to
follow; 10. The exercises and seminars and their content. Lectures are a good way of getting explanations from
spoken words rather than written; 11. Good teacher puts a lot of focus on learning us to think rather than to
memorize. KOKN05/KEMB11 12. Lectures were a very good complement to the book, very good lecturer.
Seminars were really good, a very good way of learning. The book was very good as well as the handouts; 13.
Det mesta; 14. The seminars have provided a lot of my understanding in the course. The lectures were good, but
there could have been a couple more of them. The cours material was generally good, though the reading
instructions can be improved; 15. Lectures – Daniel är mycket duktig. Seminars – riktigt givande och bra
diskussioner; 16. Seminars mainly, but really everything; 17. I liked the seminars and I thought the course book
was easy to read and understand; 18. Great lectures seminars and course material.
WHAT CAN BE IMPROVED IN THE ORGANIC CHEMISTRY – THEORY PART?
KEMB01 2. Isn’t much, I don't know what should be improved; 5. Answers to the compendium should be
provided after each seminar. There is no time to think about answers provided on the seminars. Too few
lectures; 6. More exam question time; 7. Lecture notes online sooner (including filled in, if the lecture was not
attended); 8. A more clear picture of what’s important; 9. Not sure; 10. Difficult to say, its covers what needs to
be relevant. KOKN05/KEMB11 12. A revision of the exercise book might be needed, otherwise its been a great
course; 13. Fler; 14. More seminars. I understand if that is not possible, but I probably learned the most from
the seminars. If there were more, there would be more space for discussion; 15. Skulle behövas mer litteratur om
orbitalteori; 16. Nothing; 17. I think it could have been some more lectures; 18. A higher number of lectures and
some kind of solutions for the seminar problems.
WHAT WAS GOOD ABOUT THE SPECTROSCOPY PART?
KEMB01 2. Good to know how to assign; 4. Good priority – the most important parts came early; 6. I’m more
positive to spectra than before, can’t point at some certain part though; 11. Nice with lectures on NMR-theory,
even though it was not included in the exam;
WHAT CAN BE IMPROVED IN THE SPECTROSCOPY PART?
KEMB01 2. Much more problem solving and less theory; 3. Mindre teori som inte är relevant för den nivån
kursen är på; 5. The lectures go far too deep; 6. Less theory on how it works, nice to know but focus on exercises
is better. Could be easier explained in the beginning; 7. Having lecture notes online; 8. More clear material
needs to be better presented, more focus on what’s important.
WHAT WAS GOOD ABOUT THE LAB PART?
KEMB01 1. “…”; 3. To work yourself; 5. Always have the introduction before the lab starts; 6. The laboratory
technique training; 7. Nice change of pace from theory; 8. It was fun to lab, I like the practical part. Good TAs
and creed for the speed they read your lab report; 9. Assistants were nice and good; 11. Learned a lot, starting
to feel as if I know what I’m doing in the lab.
WHAT CAN BE IMPROVED IN THE LAB PART?
KEMB01 1. A lot, change the lab assistant N.N; 2. More beakers and spoons; 3. Färre folk i labbet, kemikalier i
labsalarna; 6. Less labs, I know many have some reports left although it is still possible to pass, so …; 8. Too
stressful, needs more time to reflect before starting a lab. It felt like a marathon every day and you were afraid
not to be done in time. Less people in the lab; 9. A little too stressful, not enough time to spend on the theory
part; 11. Lack of equipment at times.
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KNOWING WHAT YOU KNOW TODAY, DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR NEXT YEARS
STUDENTS?
KEMB01 1. Be more motivated and study early; 2. Studdy 10h/day; 3. Börja plugga i tid, forsök förstå från
början, var aktiv på self-studies och seminars och ge inte upp!; 5. Read the Ellervik book before the start of the
course, because it will be expected that you know it by heart when the course starts; 6. Study NMR early, keep
up the speed and do study as often as possible; 7. Buy the textbook; 9. Don’t just read for lectures, read the
entire chapter above the seminar questions; 10. Without ambition, it will be extremely hard; 11. Start studying
early and don’t think that the Christmas break is actually a break. KOKN05/KEMB11 12. Keep up with the
pace, always read the chapters and do the exercises before the seminars; 13. Plugga; 14. Start studying from
day one of the course; 15. Läs på ordentligt inför seminarierna så att man får ut så mycket som möjligt av
diskussionerna; 16. Start stuying early, and make sure you remember (understand) everything at seminars.
Repeat the important stuff you discussed before entering a new chapter; 18. Start studying intensely from day 1.