Dr. Gabriela Weaver, Department of Chemistry, Purdue University

We are in the midst of developing a 10-chapter DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) to be an instructional supplement to the undergraduate Physical Chemistry course. Each chapter consists of a video movie about scientific research on a topic that relates to the Physical Chemistry curriculum and also has some "real life" applicability that students can relate to. The DVD now has three modules completed and a four more in the editing phase. The completed modules have been used with students at three different institutions for the last three years.

In the assessment studies we have looked at student navigation strategies and compared them with student preferred learning styles and with performance in the course. We have also carried out pre/post-test design studies that look at student content learning gains as well as affective domain measures. This talk will briefly demonstrate and describe the features of the DVD and will then discuss the various approaches we are taking to assessing its effectiveness as a learning tool. Preliminary results from qualitative and quantitative studies will be shared.