Aktiv Chemistry

What Aktiv Chemistry is

Aktiv Chemistry is an online homework, active learning and assessment platform for college chemistry courses, sold to instructors and departments rather than to individual learners. The site carries a Tophatmonocle Corp. copyright and links to Top Hat, and it presents the product next to a sibling, Aktiv Mathematics. One testimonial on the site carries a note that it was given "at a time where Aktiv Chemistry was named Chem101", so instructors who knew that name are looking at the same product.

The pitch is chemistry specificity. Its problems ask students to draw structures, write equations and set up unit conversions, then grade those answers automatically with feedback on each one. The site describes material for five courses: General Chemistry for chemistry and STEM majors across the year-long sequence, Introduction to Chemistry for non-STEM majors or students preparing for General Chemistry, GOB Chemistry for nursing and allied health majors in a one-term or two-term format, Organic Chemistry for second-year chemistry students, premedical students and non-majors, and Biochemistry for a similar group.

The problem library and answer types

The core of the product is its content library. The home page describes "an extensive library of over 20,000 problems and activities" covering General Chemistry, Introductory Chemistry, GOB and Organic Chemistry, and the exams page shows the same figure as "20K+ Problems". Problem types named on the site include molecule drawing, chemical equations and naming, dimensional analysis and numerical entry.

Several answer modules carry most of the chemistry:

• Lewis structures: students draw Lewis structures and visualize VSEPR geometry in what the site calls a game-like interface.
• Dimensional analysis: students drag and drop tiles to set up scaffolded conversions with units, stoichiometry, densities and concentrations.
• Nomenclature, formulas and reactions: students write chemical names and equations with smart suggestions, for inorganic and organic compounds, so syntax errors do not get in the way.
• Equilibrium calculations: scaffolded, step-by-step work on chemical, weak acid-base and solubility equilibria.
• Organic structure drawing: skeletal and structural formulas drawn on a tool the site calls AktivGrid.

Every question carries targeted feedback. A student who submits a wrong answer sees a hint, and a student who runs out of attempts is shown a step-by-step solution that works through the problem. Instructors can write their own questions in an authoring tool that handles superscripts, subscripts and special symbols, and the in-class page adds that clicker questions from existing slides or problems from old worksheets can be brought in and given the same kind of feedback.

Homework, in-class work and exams

The site organizes the platform around four uses. Readiness diagnoses each student's math and chemistry prerequisite gaps for a specific course and then delivers personalized remediation automatically. Homework and Practice assigns interactive problem sets with instant feedback and automatic grading. In-Class Active Learning covers attendance, polls, quizzes, worksheets and think-pair-share activities. Timed Online Quizzes and Exams handles summative assessment.

In class, instructors see results as students submit, and the platform lists the three most common mistakes for each problem, which gives a starting point for discussion. The attendance tool generates a randomized check-in code for each class or lecture, with a strict or lenient lateness policy. The site pitches the same tools for flipped classrooms, where class time goes to extended problem solving, live feedback and group discussion, in person or online.

Grading is configurable per activity: points per problem, participation credit, late submissions with penalties, variable attempts per problem, and penalties for incorrect attempts. The gradebook can show summary columns or individual assignments, and it syncs with "nearly any LMS such as Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, or D2L". The support page has a form to request an integration with a campus LMS. Students and instructors reach the platform through the Aktiv Learning app on iPhone, iPad and Android, or on the web from a Mac, PC or Chromebook.

Exam security and accommodations

For exams the platform combines several layers. Algorithmic problems use built-in variables to create what the site calls "thousands of question variants", randomizing numbers, words or compounds in the problem statement. Question pools group similar questions and hand each student a random subset, and the order of questions on any assignment can be shuffled. Proctoring is optional and runs through Proctorio: when it is turned on, the exams page says it locks down student browsers and uses an artificial intelligence system to flag unwanted behavior through webcams and microphones, and instructors receive a report of suspected cheating after submission.

The exams page also lists accommodation tools that matter in practice. An instructor can set a percentage of extra time for an individual student, which then applies to every timed assignment; set individual early or late start times and extensions; reset a student's assignment; and request a printed version of any assignment for students with vision impairments. Make-up exams are handled by exempting particular students or pre-set groups from an assignment, or by building variants for different sections. Partial credit can go to one student or to everyone who gave the same incorrect answer.

Textbooks and AI course setup

Aktiv is built to be textbook independent. Its content team has made library filters and pre-made assignments that map to many common publisher titles across General, Intro, Organic, GOB and Biochemistry courses. Two integrations go further. Aktiv is an OpenStax partner, and General Chemistry students get one-button access to the OpenStax Chemistry or Chemistry Atoms First textbooks while working on a problem; the two have also integrated the 10th edition of John McMurry's Organic Chemistry as a free, open textbook, with problems from the text in the Aktiv library. The platform also connects to four Top Hat Interactive eTexts for General and Organic Chemistry, which include reading questions, problem-solving videos and simulations.

The home page adds an AI course builder: an instructor uploads a syllabus or course schedule as a PDF and the platform generates a full semester of assignments for the class, free to try. The site says the syllabus is encrypted before it is shared with its LLM provider and that the contract bars the provider from using it to train models. The menu also lists an AI-powered learning feature called Ace.

Adoption, support and getting access

The home page says Aktiv Chemistry is "Adopted by faculty at 700+ campuses", and it backs its student claims with a Spring 2024 student survey of 6,474 respondents on whether the platform helped their chemistry grades and whether they would want their instructor to use it again. Success stories on the site include Vanderbilt University, where the site says Dr. Tara Todd combined Aktiv Chemistry with Top Hat's Atoms First General Chemistry eText and reduced DFW rates to below nine percent, and Thomas Jefferson University, where Professor Kyle Wagner used the Readiness module to build the math skills students need for General Chemistry. Stephanie Dillon of Florida State University is quoted on the home page calling it "a clicker system and an online homework system all-in-one".

The product pages promise support by email, live chat or phone with "extended hours that include late nights and weekends", and say every instructor works with an individual member of the Success Team on course setup, gradebook and LMS integration and best practices. The support page itself lists hours of 9 am to 9 pm ET on weekdays with weekends closed, plus a knowledge base and a ticket form, so the weekend promise and the posted hours do not match.

The site publishes no prices. Access runs through a sign-up or a demo with a Learning Specialist, who gives a tour and sets up "a free instructor playground account with access to the content library", and the support page lets campus bookstores order student activation codes.

Who it suits

Aktiv Chemistry suits chemistry instructors and departments that want one platform for homework, class participation and exams, with answer types built for chemistry notation. Large General Chemistry and GOB sections get the most from algorithmic variants, question pools and automatic grading, and the accommodation tools help with the make-ups and extra-time requests that come with big classes. Departments committed to open textbooks get direct OpenStax and McMurry integration, and those using a publisher text can work from the mapped assignments. Testimonials on the site come from a community college as well as large universities, so it is not limited to one type of campus.

The limitation is scope. The product covers chemistry only, so a physics or biology instructor needs something else; the same site offers Aktiv Mathematics for math courses. Departments also have to go through a demo to learn what the platform costs.