The successful first offering of COL’s Teaching Chemistry with Technology MOOC (TCT MOOC) was held earlier this year, attracting 1,333 participants (508 female; 825 male) from 81 countries. Of the 296 certificate recipients, 53 per cent were awarded a certificate of completion and 47 per cent a certificate of participation.

Based on extensive educational research on how to engage students through an intuitive, game-like environment, the TCT MOOC has been designed to help them learn through exploration and discovery.

During the MOOC, the willingness of participants to build a community of learners through sharing resources, providing examples and engaging in discussions demonstrates that they were not only learning about chemistry teaching but also online teaching and open educational resources.

After a live interactive session, one of the participants reported that this type of session had given much more insight into the use of simulations in teaching abstract concepts in chemistry.

Dr Evode Mukama, COL Adviser: Teacher Education, remarked that “While PhET simulations helped relate abstract notions to chemistry processes and reactions, the TCT MOOC was also a gender-responsive learning opportunity offered by COL to increase the number of qualified teachers in science education using technology in the Commonwealth and beyond.”

Founded in 2002 by Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman, the physics education technology (PhET) Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado Boulder creates free interactive math and science simulations.