Ashton T. “T” Griffin, lead chemistry instructor at Wayne Community College, presented at two national conferences in April.
His topic at the back-to-back forums was online tools he uses in teaching.
At the 216th Two-Year College Chemistry Consortium (2YC3) Conference, his talk was “Learn How Using WebAssign, Google Classroom and the G Suite for Education Can Make Teaching General Chemistry Better for Both Students and Faculty.”
He was one of 22 speakers at the two-day conference held in Reno, Nevada which had a theme of “Chemistry Inside and Outside the Classroom.”
During the “Advances in e-Learning & Online Chemical Education” symposium organized by the Division of Chemical Education of the 253rd American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition, Griffin provided an oral presentation of his paper “WebAssign, Google Classroom and maybe even a little slack can make teaching general chemistry better for both students and faculty.”
His was one of 14,639 papers presented at the San Francisco, Ca event that drew nearly 19,000 attendees. That meeting had a theme of “Advanced Materials, Technologies, Systems, and Processes.”
Among the advantages of using these platforms to enhance his classroom teaching are the ability to share assignments, documents, and videos as well as track attendance and give tests, Griffin said.
Further, he found, “The ‘online’ benefits of Google Classroom and WebAssign were evident last October when Wayne Community College was closed for nine days due to flooding and power outages from Hurricane Mathew. Once power was restored to the area, students were able to quickly get back to their chemistry studies even while the college remained closed.”
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With nearly 157,000 members, ACS is the world’s largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. ACS does not conduct research, but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
The 2YC3 is an affiliate group of the American Chemical Society that is dedicated to maintaining and improving the quality of chemistry offerings in two-year colleges. The consortium provides a forum for chemistry educators to enhance student learning through professional development conferences.
Wayne Community College is a public, learning-centered institution with an open-door admission policy located in Goldsboro, N.C. As it works to develop a highly skilled and competitive workforce, the college serves around 12,000 individuals annually as well as businesses, industry, and community organizations with high quality, affordable, accessible learning opportunities, including more than 70 college credit programs. WCC’s mission is to meet the educational, training, and cultural needs of the communities it serves.