MATTHEW SIGMAN

Philosophy: Our modern world is not just more connected; it appreciates the value of connection. For learning, for collective innovation, for helping each of us reach our own potential, actively collaborating with others makes use of connection as essential to human nature. Collaborating in practice, however, is complex. In the classroom and laboratory, collaborating plays out in dynamics that can be awkward, sometimes adversarial, exhilarating, occasionally genius. In the process of engaging intellectually with colleagues, it can at times seem simpler, and therefore appealing, to withdraw and go it alone. Students will have the opportunity for the rest of their careers to work with a spectrum of personality types. Further, they will use technologic platforms to connect across cultures and continents. I view my job as an educator to help students learn to navigate the process of deep intellectual engagement with their colleagues and by doing so enhancing the rigor and depth they learn a topic. I have found that forging successful collaborations takes as much training as any laboratory technique. For our next generations of scientists to take full advantage of the opportunities in the field, they need to know how to cultivate others' contributions. The students in my classes and trainees in my lab are expected to hone their own abilities while working in concert with colleagues. As an educator in the classroom, a research advisor overseeing trainees in my lab, and, more recently, as the Department Chair supporting the holistic educational mission, below are highlights of how collaboration and connection have been essential to my education mission at the University of Utah.

Undergraduate Curricula – Organic Chemistry: Since arriving at Utah in 1999, I have mainly taught second semester organic chemistry both at the Honors level (CHEM 2321, enrollment 25-35 students) and our mainline service course (CHEM 2320, enrollment 150-250 students). This is a required class for students majoring in chemistry and students planning to attend medical or pharmacy school as well as many other degrees or chemistry minors. As a result, the student population is heterogeneous both in terms of student interest, competitive spirit, and preparation. Organic chemistry is a complex and rigorous topic wherein the students study how organic molecules react by combining pattern recognition with fundamental chemical principles. The goal is to provide the students with the ability to understand what underlies biochemistry (the next course taken) and how one synthesizes complex molecules often found in the modern pharmaceutical industry. As a consequence of the student heterogeneity and complexity of the topic, CHEM 2320 is viewed as a “gauntlet” course for many that enroll in it. Thus, besides providing the students with a rigorous education, a major aim is to override this perception by enhancing student success through a highly supportive, inclusive, and structured classroom environment.

My first undergraduate course assignment was CHEM 2321, Honors Organic Chemistry II. The content and book are the same as the mainline course, but the depth and number of contact hours are enhanced. Since the students are so motivated, this is a spectacular course to teach. It has served through the years as a lab for experimenting with teaching strategies and content. Traditionally, this was a pure lecture format with assigned problems discussed by a TA or professor in a discussion section. After teaching this class a few times, it became clear that students needed more direction in problem-solving skills. I experimented with peer-learning activities in 2003 by integrating problem-solving sessions within the traditional lecture periods. The students were assigned small groups to solve problems and I would interact with the groups to guide them through any difficult content. It seemed important for learning to problem-solve that students let go of the handrail of expecting a top-down instruction. At the time, this now-common framework was unique—and considered odd—in the department.

Curious how to increase a sense of personal relevance of o-chem for students, one of the several things I tried was incorporating an “Aside” feature into lecture time. “Asides” focus on topics related to the medical profession to appeal to the pre-med clientele in the class. This connects content to the students interesting and often focused on various aspects of synthesizing medically important compounds and their modes of action. I got positive feedback, and so brought the  “aside” concept to an National Science Foundation Collaborative Center. The collaboration resulted in a formalized education outreach tool termed Organic Pedagogical Electronic Network (OPEN, http://www.nsf-cchf.com/eod/open.html). OPEN creates curriculum modules accessible to instructors and students worldwide to supplement organic chemistry courses with modern topics and applications. I now use these modules to supplement instruction.

These experiences teaching 2321 prepared me for what would come next. In 2008/9, the department underwent significant budget cuts (associated with the recession) reducing our TA resources and increasing the discussion section sizes to >100 students. This was the year I was asked to transition from teaching CHEM 2321 to CHEM 2320 with an enrollment of greater than 225 students. Prof. Cindy Burrows was assigned to teach the prerequisite course (CHEM 2310). We were concerned that the situation could be harmful to student interaction and learning experience, so we took the opportunity to overhaul the two-semester O-Chem (CHEM 2310/2320) series. Given the success of peer learning in CHEM 2321, we took two integrated steps. The first was to utilize Clickers to engage in Active Learning. This was the first example of the use of Clickers in the department and now serves as a standard method of teaching in many of our large lecture courses. The second, which has had a more far-reaching influence, was to enhance the peer learning by recruiting undergraduates to serve as TAs for the integrated problem-solving sessions. This not only solved the initial issue of large discussion sections but also introduced a means to provide a broader support and educational network for the students in the course. Essentially, we developed what is now defined as a “Learning Assistant”, a program that has been adopted by most large service-level classes in our department and throughout the university. This strategy allows us to build a collaborative classroom environment that supports students through a network of TAs and senior students. This provides the students a supportive and educational experience that reduces the anxiety of learning organic chemistry. 

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