Engaging students in large lecture-based courses presents a challenge. Queen's University is addressing this through a project that redesigns traditional courses into blended versions that integrate "in-class, face-to-face learning with online learning in a purposeful, thoughtful and complementary way to enhance student engagement." This paper presentation describes how the introductory chemistry course has been redesigned into a blended format, and discusses the effectiveness of the redesign. The course has undergone significant changes: weekly lectures have been reduced in number and refocused, online learning activities have been introduced, and labs and tutorials have been integrated more purposefully. "Routine" lecture material (primarily problem-solving techniques) is delivered using a publisher-supplied online problem and assessment system, enabling lectures to focus on "big picture" applications and current research relevant to the weekly lab sessions. Labs have been completely redesigned to consist of intensive weekly 90-minute benchtop experiments, coupled with tutorial sessions in which students engage in group-based inquiry. A course website integrates all these activities, acting as a primary resource for students. Key to this project is an evaluation of how students engage in their learning differently in blended and traditional course designs. We present the results from a series of classroom student engagement surveys (CLASSE, similar to the program-based NSSE surveys) conducted on student populations who took the traditional lecture course, and the new blended version.
