Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Crisis: Adjusting Assessment Approaches within Introductory Organic Courses

This communication describes a variety of virtual student assessment strategies employed at the University of Toronto during the academic disruption caused by the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. Instructors focused their efforts toward maintaining a positive learning environment and offering meaningful evaluation methods for students in each of three introductory organic chemistry courses. Assessment schemes were initially modified in response to moving courses to a virtual platform, and a variety of support measures were used while students completed the course material and prepared for online “final assignments”, which in two courses included a virtual rehearsal test. The readiness for and delivery of online final assignments is outlined (including methods to effectively maintain academic integrity), and the important roles of graduate student teaching assistants in successfully completing each course are highlighted. Specific outcomes and reflections are discussed, including approaches which, with hindsight, were considered unnecessary, and others that proved to be valuable virtual teaching and assessment tools.