Video reports as a novel alternate assessment in the undergraduate chemistry laboratory

The increased use of video capable cellular phones to document everyday life presents educators with an exciting opportunity to extend this capability into the introductory laboratory. The study assessed whether students enrolled in a southeastern U.S. university's first-year laboratory course retained technical information at a higher rate after creating a technique video. These videos were created on hand-held video capable devices that students owned prior to enrolling in the course, eliminating additional cost to students. Pre-/post-test analysis (N = 509) was performed to determine short- and long-term learning gains regarding reporting the volume of graduated glassware to the proper number of significant figures. Though both groups used various graduated glassware throughout the term, chi-square analysis showed that students who created a video detailing use of a Mohr pipet reported the volume of graduated glassware correctly on the final exam and laboratory practical at a significantly higher rate than those students who received only verbal instruction on the technique.