“White Board Talks”: Using Collaborative, Peer-Evaluated Presentations of Secondary Literature as a Tool for Advanced Organic Chemistry Learning

White Board Talks represents a collaborative learning experience that allows students to utilize secondary literature to develop group presentations for a graduate level advanced organic chemistry course. Each group is composed of three to five students whose objective is to communicate the construction of organic compounds, application, and importance of an organic synthesis review topic that is assigned by the instructor. During the one semester course, each group presents five white board talks. Each student participates in individual peer reviewing based on provided rubrics. This paper describes the design and implementation of White Board Talks over the course of 10 years at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. The learning tool improved students’ critical skills in oral communication, peer reviewing, and collaboration, as well as their confidence, chemical literacy, and deeper knowledge of organic synthesis.