You’ve Got Mail (and Homework): Simple Strategies for Promoting Student Engagement with Prelecture Videos

The use of video productions in chemistry courses, though pedagogically beneficial, is not sufficient in and of itself. Students must also be willing to engage with these productions, especially when the videos are meant to be viewed prior to a class. Accordingly, we describe herein the implementation of two simple but effective strategies to promote student engagement with prelecture videos in a sophomore organic chemistry course. These two strategies, e-mail reminders and online homework assignments, represent easy-to-implement tools that have allowed us to achieve consistently high levels of student engagement with assigned videos.