========================================================================= Date: Sun, 1 Jun 1997 09:28:57 EDT Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Donald Rosenthal Organization: Clarkson University Subject: Pre - Conference Instructions and Schedule MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT To: CHEMCONF Registrants From: Donald Rosenthal and Thomas O'Haver Date: June 1, 1997 Re: SUMMER 1997 ON-LINE CONFERENCE June 1 to August 1, 1997 It is Sunday, June 1. During the coming week you are expected to read the first five conference papers and send any SHORT QUESTIONS you may have to the authors and the conference participants. Discussion of the papers will not begin until the week of June 9. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ SCHEDULE June 1 to June 20 - On-Line Session 1 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Retrieve the papers from the Conference World Wide Web Site: http://www.wam.umd.edu/~toh/ChemConf97.html SHORT QUESTIONS June 2 - Short Questions for Paper 1 Paper 1. Scott E. Van Bramer "Using Netscape as a Presentation Manager" June 3 - Short Questions for Paper 2 Paper 2. I. Dwaine Eubanks "Assessment in Chemistry/New Strategies for New Times" June 4 - Short Questions for Paper 3 Paper 3. Mary L. Swift and Theresa J. Zielinski "What Every Chemist Should Know About Computers, II" June 5 - Short Questions for Paper 4 Paper 4. Brian M. Tissue "The Costs of Incorporating Information Technology in Education" June 6 - Short Questions for Paper 5 Paper 5. Michael Epstein, Margaret Bullard, Brad Buwhler and Robin Koster "Using Pseudoscience to Teach General and Analytical Chemistry" Short Questions should be sent to CHEMCONF@UMDD.UMD.EDU Please include the PAPER NUMBER, YOUR INITIALS AND THE TOPIC IN THE SUBJECT LINE, e.g. "Paper 1 - AB: Role of the Teacher". These messages will be received by the authors AND the conference registrants. To send comments or questions privately to the author of the paper, send your message to the author's e-mail address given in the paper. Reports of typographical errors, spelling or grammatical errors should be sent directly to the author and not to CHEMCONF. DISCUSSION June 9 and 10 - Discussion of Paper 1 June 11 and 12 - Discussion of Paper 2 June 13 and 16 - Discussion of Paper 3 June 17 and 18 - Discussion of Paper 4 June 19 and 20 - Discussion of Paper 5 ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 1 Jun 1997 09:30:10 EDT Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Donald Rosenthal Organization: Clarkson University Subject: Review of Instructions - 1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT SOME CHEMCONF INSTRUCTIONS To send a message to all the people currently subscribed to the list, just send mail to CHEMCONF@UMDD.UMD.EDU. This is called "sending mail to the list", because you send mail to a single address and LISTSERV makes copies for all the people who have subscribed. This address (CHEMCONF@UMDD.UMD.EDU) is also called the "list address". You must never try to send any command to that address, as it would be distributed to all the people who have subscribed. All commands must be sent to the "LISTSERV address", LISTSERV@UMDD.UMD.EDU (or LISTSERV@UMDD.BITNET). It is very important to understand the difference between the two, but fortunately it is not complicated. The LISTSERV address is like a FAX number that connects you to a machine, whereas the list address is like a normal voice line connecting you to a person. If you make a mistake and dial the FAX number when you wanted to talk to someone on the phone, you will quickly realize that you used the wrong number and call again. No harm will have been done. If on the other hand you accidentally make your FAX call someone's voice line, the person receiving the call will be inconvenienced, especially if your FAX then re-dials every 5 minutes. The fact that most people will eventually connect the FAX machine to the voice line to allow the FAX to go through and make the calls stop does not mean that you should continue to send FAXes to the voice number. People would just get mad at you. It works pretty much the same way with mailing lists, with the difference that you are calling hundreds or thousands of people at the same time, and consequently you can expect a lot of people to get upset if you consistently send commands to the list address. You may leave the list at any time by sending a "SIGNOFF CHEMCONF" command to LISTSERV@UMDD.UMD.EDU (or LISTSERV@UMDD.BITNET). You can also tell LISTSERV how you want it to confirm the receipt of messages you send to the list. If you do not trust the system, send a "SET CHEMCONF REPRO" command and LISTSERV will send you a copy of your own messages, so that you can see that the message was distributed and did not get damaged on the way. After a while you may find that this is getting annoying, especially if your mail program does not tell you that the message is from you when it informs you that new mail has arrived from CHEMCONF. If you send a "SET CHEMCONF ACK NOREPRO" command, LISTSERV will mail you a short acknowledgement instead, which will look different in your mailbox directory. With most mail programs you will know immediately that this is an acknowledgement you can read later. Finally, you can turn off acknowledgements completely with "SET CHEMCONF NOACK NOREPRO". Following instructions from the list owner, your subscription options have been set to "MIME" rather than the usual LISTSERV defaults. For more information about subscription options, send a "QUERY CHEMCONF" command to LISTSERV@UMDD.UMD.EDU (or LISTSERV@UMDD.BITNET). Contributions sent to this list are automatically archived. You can get a list of the available archive files by sending an "INDEX CHEMCONF" command to LISTSERV@UMDD.UMD.EDU (or LISTSERV@UMDD.BITNET). You can then order these files with a "GET CHEMCONF LOGxxxx" command, or using LISTSERV's database search facilities. Send an "INFO DATABASE" command for more information on the latter. This list is available in digest form. If you wish to receive the digested version of the postings, just issue a SET CHEMCONF DIGEST command. Please note that it is presently possible for anybody to determine that you are signed up to the list through the use of the "REVIEW" command, which returns the e-mail address and name of all the subscribers. If you do not want your name to be visible, just issue a "SET CHEMCONF CONCEAL" command. More information on LISTSERV commands can be found in the LISTSERV reference card, which you can retrieve by sending an "INFO REFCARD" command to LISTSERV@UMDD.UMD.EDU (or LISTSERV@UMDD.BITNET). ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 1 Jun 1997 09:31:17 EDT Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Donald Rosenthal Organization: Clarkson University Subject: More Instructions - 2 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CHEMCONF (CHEMistry CONFerence) is devoted to the operation of * * on-line computer conferences in any area of academic chemistry * * research and education. Specific conferences on particular topics * * will be conducted from time to time; dates and topics will be * * announced via the chemistry-related listserv lists and newsgroups. * * This list is used for announcements to participants and to support * * discussion of papers among participants and authors. Members of * * the chemistry research and education community who wish to propose * * topics for future events should contact Tom O'Haver, Department * * of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park * * MD 20742. to2@umail.umd.edu http://www.wam.umd.edu/~toh/toh.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ************************************************************************* Please note that CHEMCONF is NOT a general-purpose chemistry listserv discussion group. It is devoted to SCHEDULED conferences at planned intervals. In between these scheduled conferences, CHEMCONF is not active. ************************************************************************* INSTRUCTIONS FOR EMAIL CONFERENCES A. To send comments or questions about a particular topic to all participants, mail your message to: CHEMCONF@UMDD.UMD.EDU or CHEMCONF@UMDD.BITNET Only discussion which is sent from the SAME MAIL ADDRESS from which you subscribed will be accepted and distributed to participants. Please place THE TOPIC IN THE SUBJECT LINE of the message so that participants can more easily sort out different discussion threads. At the end of your message place your name, affiliation and e-mail address. Remember that messages sent to CHEMCONF will be distributed to all participants. As a courtesy to other participants, please keep your messages concise and avoid irrelevant, redundant, and personal comments ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ which are not of general interest. Comments about conference procedure should be directed to Tom O'Haver (to2@umail.umd.edu). B. To send comments or questions privately to another participant, send your message to the participant's e-mail address. On most mail systems, use of the Reply option in responding to a message received from CHEMCONF will send a message to ALL participants. C. To send comments, questions or suggestions about the operation of the conference, send a message to: to2@umail.umd.edu D. To send commands to the LISTSERV host computer (e.g. to SUBSCRIBE, SIGNOFF, get HELP, etc.), send the commands to LISTSERV@UMDD.UMD.EDU (or LISTSERV@UMDD.BITNET). Refer to APPENDIX 1 for a list of commands accepted by LISTSERV. DON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE OF SENDING COMMANDS TO CHEMCONF, as that will send the commands to the conference participants and the commands will not be executed. You may send these commands to LISTSERV at any time. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- APPENDIX 1: LISTSERV COMMANDS The following is a partial list of commands accepted by the LISTSERV host computer. These commands MUST be sent as e-mail messages to LISTSERV@UMDD.UMD.EDU (or LISTSERV@UMDD.BITNET). Don't make the mistake of sending commands to CHEMCONF@UMDD.UMD.EDU (or CHEMCONF@UMDD.BITNET), as that will send the commands to the participants instead. Make sure that you send commands from the SAME MAIL ADDRESS from which you subscribed. You may send these commands at any time. SUBSCRIBE CHEMCONF Register for the On-Line Discussion SIGNOFF CHEMCONF Cancel your registration SET CHEMCONF NOMAIL Turn off delivery of CHEMCONF mail SET CHEMCONF MAIL Restore delivery of CHEMCONF mail SET CHEMCONF DIGEST Switch to digest mode (get one message per day containing all messages from previous day). The following commands cause the LISTSERV to return the indicated information to you by e-mail: INDEX CHEMCONF List of files in the CHEMCONF database. The filetype, date, time and subject are indicated in the list (FILELIST). GET CHEMCONF filetype For example, GET CHEMCONF 95-00001 would retrieve file 95-00001 from the database. Select the filetype you wish from FILELIST. GET CHEMCONF WELCOME Retrieve Welcome message Instructions REVIEW CHEMCONF BY NAME List of all participants on CHEMCONF, by name (arranged alphabetically by last then first name). HELP List of most commonly used commands INFO GENINTRO General information about LISTSERV including LISTSERV commands INFO REFCARD Provides more information on LISTSERV commands INFO ? List of information guides available from LISTSERV@UMDD.BITNET You can request any number of items in one mail message. Each item must be on a separate line. Each item will be sent to you in a separate mail message. Depending on the network load, these materials will be mailed to you within a few minutes or hours, although longer delays are possible. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- APPENDIX 2: HELPFUL HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS a. One of the problems with e-mail discussion is sorting out all the overlapping threads of conversation. Placing the topic on the Subject line helps. When you are responding to or asking about a previous message, refer to the message by specifying THE AUTHOR, TIME AND DATE, e.g. John Smith 4-21-94 8:53 EST. A very helpful technique is to quote a small passage from that paper or message in your response and to place a ">" character at the beginning of each quoted line, e.g.: > We used the....so-and-so...in order to.... We tried that too, but we found that.... The ">" character in this example is an e-mail convention indicating thatthe particular line is quoted from another message. There is no need to re-type the quoted passage if you have saved it on the file system of your computer; just Copy and Paste the desired passage into your message, then type ">" characters in front of each line. b. Many mail systems have a "Reply" command which saves you the trouble of typing the return address. BE CAREFUL when using the Reply command to reply to messages received from CHEMCONF. Many mail system interpret the Reply command to mean that your reply is to go to the ENTIRE LIST; everyone sees it. This is often what you want in a public discussion. If, on the other hand, you intend to reply ONLY to one individual and not to the whole list, you have to use the Send or Mail command and type the individual's e-mail address. c. If you use your word processor to compose messages off-line, limit your text to "plain ASCII", i.e. don't use special characters that ASCII e-mail can't handle and that other people's computers can't display properly, e.g. Greek characters, special math characters, "curley quotes", subscripts, bullets, em-dashs, the "degree" symbol, arrows, European characters (accents, tilde, umlaut, etc.), control characters (e.g.form-feeds, tabs, escape sequences, etc.). boldface, underlining, or italics. Change the font of the entire text to a mono-spaced font and adjust the margins so that the line length never exceeds 70 characters. If your word processor or text editor is of the type that simulates a left margin by inserting leading spaces in front of each line, set the left margin to zero. Replace tab formatting with spaces. (Remember that the effect of TAB CHARACTERS in a document depends on the position of the TAB STOPS in the reader's editor or terminal program. So you have to format indented lines and tables using spaces, assuming a mono-spaced font). Save the document in "text only" format with a carriage return at the end of each line. d. You can have the CHEMCONF materials e-mailed to you upon demand. Send an e-mail message to LISTSERV@UMDD.UMD.EDU or LISTSERV@UMDD.BITNET, in which the message body contains one or more lines like: GET CHEMCONF WELCOME GET CHEMCONF filetype To get a more complete listing of available files in the CHEMCONF LISTSERV database, send the command INDEX CHEMCONF to LISTSERV@UMDD.UMD.EDU or LISTSERV@UMDD.BITNET. Any file in the index can be retrieved by using the "GET CHEMCONF filetype" command. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tom O'Haver Professor of Analytical Chemistry University of Maryland Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry College Park, MD 20742 Maryland Collaborative for Teacher Preparation (301) 405-1831 to2@umail.umd.edu FAX: (301) 314-9121 http://www.wam.umd.edu/~toh/toh.html ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 1 Jun 1997 13:16:05 -0500 Reply-To: chm_tgc@shsu.edu Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: "Dr. Red Chasteen" Organization: Analytical Biospheric Insanity Subject: Paper 1 - TGC: Using Netscape as a Presentation Manager MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Excellent work Dr. Van Bramer. Your description of using the Netscape CACHE for browser presentations in classrooms that aren't networked in your section Technical Details:Network is VERY useful. Thanks. -- chm_tgc@shsu.edu Dr. Thomas G. Chasteen Department of Chemistry Sam Houston State University Huntsville, Texas 77341-2117 All the Masters theses from my research group are available as on-line Adobe Acrobat Documents in PDF format-complete with images, data, and bibliographies. They can be downloaded and viewed with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader at: http://www.shsu.edu/~chm_tgc/theses/abstracts.html ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 2 Jun 1997 07:56:48 EDT Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Donald Rosenthal Organization: Clarkson University Subject: SHORT QUESTIONS FOR PAPER 1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT To: CHEMCONF Registrants From: Donald Rosenthal Re: SHORT QUESTIONS FOR PAPER 1 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ It is 8 AM EDST (Eastern Daylight Saving Time) on Monday, June 2. During the next 24 hours you may send SHORT QUESTIONS about Paper 1 - "Using Netscape as a Presentation Manager" by Scott E. Van Bramer to the author and the conference participants. Discussion of Paper 1 will begin on Monday, June 9. ^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ The paper can be retrieved from the Conference World Wide Web Site: http://www.wam.umd.edu/~toh/ChemConf97.html Short Questions should be sent to CHEMCONF@UMDD.UMD.EDU Please include the PAPER NUMBER, YOUR INITIALS AND THE TOPIC IN THE SUBJECT LINE, e.g. "Paper 1 - AB: Role of the Teacher". These messages will be received by the author AND the conference registrants. To send comments or questions privately to the author of the paper, send your message to the author's e-mail address given in the paper. Reports of typographical errors, spelling or grammatical errors should be sent directly to the author and not to CHEMCONF. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 2 Jun 1997 09:24:00 EDT Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: to2 Subject: CHEMCONF registrations I just wanted to take this opportunity to welcome you all to the 1997 ChemConf summer conference. As of this morning (Monday), we had 932 people subscribed to the conference listserv list, representing 57 contries! If you are interested in getting a list of all subscribers, listed by country, send the message: rev chemconf by country to listserv@umdd.umd.edu Tom ChemConf listowner ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tom O'Haver Professor of Analytical Chemistry University of Maryland Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry College Park, MD 20742 Maryland Collaborative for Teacher Preparation (301) 405-1831 to2@umail.umd.edu FAX: (301) 314-9121 http://www.wam.umd.edu/~toh ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 2 Jun 1997 10:54:03 -0500 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: "GERALD MORINE, PHONE:218-755-2792 FAX: 4107" Subject: Paper 1 - Using Netscape as a Presentation Manager Scott Van Bramer has obviuosly put a lot of time and energy into learning to use many software tools, to prepare his presentations -Mathcad, Quicktime, etc. I am unclear about a couple of aspects, however. 1. In the Student Access section, it says the students can check out CD-ROM's. Are these the Suanders General Chemistry CD's or have you "burned" your own CD's? If you have not put your presentations on CD's, what are your thoughts on the pro's and con's of doing so? 2. In the Introduction, the author writes that multimedia "needs to do more than traditional presentations." Some parts of Dr. Van Bramer's materials could be done equally well on paper and/or using an overhead projector. Since preparing web materials is time consuming, should a web-site be restricted to only those items that are "value-added"? I.e., where the computer does something extra? 3. As I understand it, this web-site is to be used by the instructor in lecture and then by the students to review the material later. Are there any parts that are only available through the web-site, such as material helping students do their homework assignments or explore topics in greater depth? Would having computer-exclusive access be undesirable, by diminishing the role of the in-person instructor? I look forward to the author's comments. Gerald Morine Visiting professor of Chemistry Knox College ghmo@vax1.bemidji.msus.edu ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 2 Jun 1997 13:32:53 -0500 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: George Long Subject: Paper 1 GRL: testing in a multimedia class MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Nice Job, Scott - Lots of useful information My question - Has the way you test the students changed since you began using the multimedia ? Do you use the multimedia material at all during the exams. I guess I worry that the students get tested in static black and white, when they are taught in multimedia (oops, thats a comment, not a question) George **************************************************************************** George R Long, Ph.D. Department of Chemistry, Indiana University of Pennsylvania Indiana, PA 15705 grlong@grove.iup.edu, http://www.iup.edu/~grlong/ Technology has made the world a neighborhood, now it is up to us to make it a brotherhood - Dr. M.L. King **************************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 2 Jun 1997 13:36:34 -0400 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Scott Van Bramer Subject: Re: Paper 1 GRL: testing in a multimedia class Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" George, Good question, I'll put together my "answers" and post them next Monday for the discussion. Scott At 13:32 6/2/97 -0500, you wrote: >Nice Job, Scott - Lots of useful information > >My question - Has the way you test the students changed since you began >using the multimedia ? Do you use the multimedia material at all during the >exams. I guess I worry that the students get tested in static black and >white, when they are taught in multimedia (oops, thats a comment, not a >question) Respectfully, Scott Van Bramer Department of Chemistry Widener University, Chester, PA 19013 svanbram@science.widener.edu http://science.widener.edu/~svanbram ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 2 Jun 1997 13:50:57 EDT Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Terrell Wilson Subject: PAPER 1 - RTW: Using Netscape as A Presentation Manager MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Scott, I am tremendously impressed with the time, effort, and ingenuity you have put into this very innovative idea. Most of my questions deal with the bottom line: Is it worth it? Especially after reading paper 4. Here are my questions: 1. How many students are you working with? 2. You say,"2/3 look at each lecture." Is there any evidence that those 2/3 are doing any better than the other 1/3? 3. I am a little uncertain what percentage of your lecture material is on Netscape, and what is something else. Is it 100% Netscape? 4. This one is underhanded, and I know it, but how does the cost of developing this course compare with the cost of just sending everybody to the bookstore to buy a $40 textbook? Sincerely, Terrell Wilson Department of Chemistry Email: RTWILSON@VMI.EDU Virginia Military Institute Phone: 540/464-7423 Lexington, VA 24450 Fax: 540/464-7261 ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 2 Jun 1997 17:11:39 +0600 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Brian Tissue Subject: Paper 1 BMT: printing and organizing HTML files Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Scott, Are there tools for displaying or printing multiple HTML files? I'm thinking of the capabilities of presentation programs such as Powerpoint or Freelance Graphics to view multiple slides, and to print handouts with multiple slides on a page. If not, do you know if there is any likelihood of the future HTML specifications to include these capabilities? Brian *************************************************************** Prof. Brian M. Tissue phone: (540) 231-3786 Department of Chemistry FAX: (540) 231-3255 Virginia Tech e-mail: tissue@vt.edu Blacksburg, VA 24061-0212 http://www.chem.vt.edu/ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 2 Jun 1997 16:04:18 -0500 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: G L Carlson Subject: Paper 1 LC 3 questions about "Netscape as presentation mgr" (fwd) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII A comment: I agree that technology in the classroom is most successful if it performs some task(s) that cannot be performed nearly as well by more mundane means. Here, animations and spreadsheet manipulations seem to me to have great promise. My questions about the presentation are these. 1. You note in several places in your paper that students "can" access computerized lecture material outside of class for review. This seems like a very attractive idea. Have you any statistics that show how much your students actually make use of this feature of on-line presentation? When materials are (for example) on reserve in the library, they are not much used, and I wonder if this carries over to materials "reserved" on-line as well. 2. I feel that many topics taught in chemistry, especially those that show dynamic relationships, can be taught exceptionally well with some of the applications you describe. However, what evidence is there in your classes, or from anyone else's reading this, that the learning taking place with the technology used is "better" or "more effective" or more complete that the same learning presented in more traditional, low-tech ways? Please understand, I believe this to be true, but I wonder if anyone has any hard evidence on the matter. 3. I'm still a newcomer to this kind of use of technology. Often I see someone else's hard work on a web site, and would like to link it to mine for use by my students. What is the "netiquette" observed by people using other's work? Just adding a link feels like plagiarism or pirating, somehow. Thanks for your very interesting paper. Lynn Carlson Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Parkside Box 2000 Kenosha, WI 53141-2000 ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 2 Jun 1997 17:42:30 -0500 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Nora Sabelli Subject: Re: Paper 1 LC 3 questions about "Netscape as presentation mgr" (fwd) In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" A comment on the following question: >2. I feel that many topics taught in chemistry, especially those that >show dynamic relationships, can be taught exceptionally well with some >of the applications you describe. However, what evidence is there in your >classes, or from anyone else's reading >this, that the learning taking place with the technology used is "better" >or "more effective" or more complete that the same learning presented in >more traditional, low-tech ways? Please understand, I believe this >to be true, but I wonder if anyone has any hard evidence on the matter. There is mounting evidence (though mostly in pre-college) that the significant effects are (a) increased retention of concepts and ability to apply them is seen in subsequent courses, and (b) differential gains are larger for lower achieving students. This is true also beyond dynamic relationships and 3-D effects, and is based on students manipulating the computer applications, rather than the material being presented to them. Nora Sabelli ******************************************************************************** Nora H. Sabelli, Senior Program Director, National Science Foundation Division of Research, Evaluation and Communication (REC), Stafford Building, Suite 855, Directorate for Education and Human 4201 Wilson Blvd, Resources, Arlington, VA 22230 Phone: (703) 306-1655, x5888; Coordinator, NSF Initiative on Fax: (703) 306-0434 Learning and Intelligent Systems (LIS) Internet: nsabelli@nsf.gov LIS home page url: http://www.nsf.gov/lis EHR home page url: http://www.ehr.nsf.gov ******************************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 2 Jun 1997 19:01:44 -0400 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Bill Jarvis Subject: Paper 1 - BJ: Alternatives to Netscape - Course Management Systems, LotusNotes MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Scott, Very nice and timely paper. Thank you. I just attended a workshop on TopClass, a course management system (CMS) at SUNY's (State U of NY) CIT (Conf on Instructional Technol) at SUNY Brockport. My "short" question: This may be beyond the scope of the discussion for this paper/conf, but I am interested in hearing about anyone that has experience (or is getting some now/soon) with this CMS or similar systems that combine all of what you have mentioned with some other potentially vey useful and attractive features such as threaded discussion forums. (see description below) TopClass is CMS that combines in one "package" (a Web Browser and a Web server) email, threaded discussion forums (like DecNotes), course materials such as syllabi, objectives, assignments, announcements, or any other course materials, tests and exercises (both multiple choice and essay type questions and auto graded and graded by annotation in word processor such as MS Word - or "by hand"), and management of grades. Since a Web browser is used here also, I assume that TopClass can utilize all of the info sources and other materials you mention in your paper. This kind of package is sort of like "one-stop shopping" for the students - and of the point and click variety students seem to love these days. I particularly like the threaded discussion forums motif, but I have had limited luck with getting the students to use 3 different programs, one each for for email, discussion (DecNotes), and a Web browser for course information not available from the first two (and for other WWW info sources). The TopClass system is relatively new and is still under development, but it seems to offer great promise. The workshop I attended briefly compared using TopClass to two other ways to accomplish at least parts of what TopClass offers: 1. Do it yourself with whatever tools you wish to use (this appears to be what you are doing) 2. LotusNotes (SUNY and other institutions are using this for distance learning and other courses). Anyone use anything like this? Bill Bill Jarvis, Biology/Chemistry Division, Corning Community College, Corning, NY 14830 jarviswf@corning-cc.edu ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 2 Jun 1997 19:38:35 -0400 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Mary Swift Subject: Paper 1: mls: time committment This paper highlights the new trend in multimedia, and explains the procedure well too! Good job. How much time is required to prepare materials for one lecture? one homework assignment? How do you select topics for this treatment? Is it based solely on the chemistry or your experience with "what students find difficult"? Have you thought about 'testing' on-line? Mary L. Swift Voice: 202-806-6289 Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Fax : 202-806-5784 College of Medicine Howard University E-mail: mswift@umd5.umd.edu Washington DC 20059-0001 ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 2 Jun 1997 22:52:59 -0400 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: dianekrone Subject: Paper#1-DK-Using Netscapeas a Presentation Manager Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" This is a great article with creative ideas. Where do you find your sources for animations and quicktime movies? I see the search and review of material as being very time consuming. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Out of clutter, find simplicity, from discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." -- Albert Einstein Diane Krone e-mail adtkrone@qed.net Northern Highlands Regional High School 298 Hillside Avenue Allendale, New Jersey 07401 ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 3 Jun 1997 09:10:30 +0100 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: "Rzepa, Henry" Subject: Paper 1 - HSR: Netscape as a Presentation Manager X-cc: a.tonge@ic.ac.uk Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Please excuse: I am one day late for the short questions, but I will be out of the country on the date the full discussion opens, so I had thought I would get my question in now! Scott Bramer in http://www.science.widener.edu/~bramer/chemconf/ shows how a variety of data types can be downloaded and viewed. The problem is of course in configuring the Browser to support the various types. Indeed we had to confront that problem in the paper we presented at ChemConf 96 ( http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa/cc96/ out of which grew the course: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/local/it/ Scott has gone the plug-in route (full of pitfulls, ie Netscape vs Internet Explorer, Windows vs Mac vs Unix etc). What are his views regarding Java? On a more specific point, he uses the proprietary Nuts program to view NMR data. What are his views on using eg JCAMP-DX (MIME Type chemical/x-jcamp-dx). We use Bob Lancashire's JCAMP Viewer (see http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/vchemlab/DATABASES/main.html ) but admitedly, this does not handle 2D datasets. PS I routinely include URLS in e-mails (for my own records as well as the benefit of the recipient) because my e-mail program can resolve them in a single click. Is this standard taught practice amongst educators? ) Dr Henry Rzepa, Dept. Chemistry, Imperial College, LONDON SW7 2AY; mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk; Tel (44) 171 594 5774; Fax: (44) 171 594 5804. URL: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa/ ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 3 Jun 1997 03:57:44 -0400 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Mike Epstein Subject: Paper 1 - ME: Questions on Netscape as a Presentation Manager MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/enriched; charset="us-ascii" Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Scott: First, congratulations on an impressive accomplishment. Now, the questions: 1 - You note that you used this approach for the past year. What have you done in previous years? How long did it take to put all the material together? I would suspect that this is the culmination of years of trial and error. 2 - With a large general chemistry class, I would expect this to put a strain on your computer lab facilities. How many computers are available on your campus for students to access your WWW site? 3 - Why Netscape rather than Internet Explorer? 4 - I too am interested in how you test the students. I would think that your approach would be most compatible with out-of-class examinations, but then, particularly in large general chemistry classes, collaboration becomes a problem. I'm looking forward to hear more about this one. 5 - Is there any attempt to make the students literate (or semi-literate) in some of the applications you use (spreadsheets, mathcad), particularly in your upper level courses ... which brings up the question, how much do you use this approach in your upper level courses (instrumental, advanced spectroscopy, etc.) From a quick glance at your web site, it appears that you also use the approach in those courses too. 6 - Finally, what do you do when the power goes out :-) Seriously, what have been some of the biggest problems you've had using this approach to lecture? Thanks, and again, nice job... Mike Epstein
Mike Epstein Research Chemist National Institute of Standards and Technology Michael.Epstein@nist.gov http://esther.la.asu.edu/sas/epstein/epstein.html > "From tomorrow on, I shall be sad - from tomorrow on! << > Not today; no! Today I will be glad. << > And every day, no matter how bitter it be, I will say: << > From tomorrow on, I shall be sad, not today!" << > Motele - Theresienstadt <<
========================================================================= Date: Tue, 3 Jun 1997 07:55:42 EDT Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Donald Rosenthal Organization: Clarkson University Subject: SHORT QUESTIONS FOR PAPER 2 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT To: CHEMCONF Registrants From: Donald Rosenthal Re: SHORT QUESTIONS FOR PAPER 2 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ It is 8 AM EDST (Eastern Daylight Saving Time) on Tuesday, June 3. During the next 24 hours you may send SHORT QUESTIONS about Paper 2 - "ASSESSMENT IN CHEMISTRY/NEW STRATEGIES FOR NEW TIMES" by I. Dwaine Eubanks to the author and the conference participants. Discussion of Paper 2 will begin on Wednesday, June 11. ^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ The paper can be retrieved from the Conference World Wide Web Site: http://www.wam.umd.edu/~toh/ChemConf97.html The paper is in PDF format and must be viewed using Adobe Acrobat Reader. See the Conference Web page if you need further instructions. Short Questions should be sent to CHEMCONF@UMDD.UMD.EDU Please include the PAPER NUMBER, YOUR INITIALS AND THE TOPIC IN THE SUBJECT LINE, e.g. "Paper 2 - CD: Role of the Final Examination". These messages will be received by the author AND the conference registrants. To send comments or questions privately to the author of the paper, send your message to the author's e-mail address given in the paper. Reports of typographical errors, spelling or grammatical errors should be sent directly to the author and not to CHEMCONF. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 3 Jun 1997 08:53:57 EDT Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Donald Rosenthal Organization: Clarkson University Subject: Paper 2 - DR: SQ on Course Content and Assessment MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT 1. On page 2 of your paper you list under "What we hope students will be able to do" a. understand facts and concepts b. apply principles to explain phenomena c. construct and test explanations Can the author and the conference participants provide examples of a few ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ examination assessment questions which would be particularly useful in assessing each of these skills. Indicate which skill is being assessed. ^^^^ 2. Can the author provide examples of some of the questions on the conceptual general chemistry examination mentioned on page 2. 3. In your article you state: "New paradigms for chemistry instruction increasingly diversify what was once a narrowly focused view of what chemistry is and how it should be taught." This is certainly true. It seems to me that in such an environment developing and using standard tests is difficult and may tend to inhibit diversity in chemistry courses. How useful are such standardized tests? How should we decide what is to be included in such tests? Donald Rosenthal Clarkson University ROSEN1@CLVM.CLARKSON.EDU ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 3 Jun 1997 11:48:07 -0400 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Mary Swift Subject: Paper 2 - MLS: On-line testing Dr. Eubanks raises some interesting questions, which I hope will elicit a spirited discussion later. Are there any plans to initiate on-line testing? The National Board of Medical Examiners is well along on such a project, and it may lend itself to solving some of the issues raised in this paper. Mary L. Swift Voice: 202-806-6289 Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Fax : 202-806-5784 College of Medicine Howard University E-mail: mswift@umd5.umd.edu Washington DC 20059-0001 ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 3 Jun 1997 12:13:50 -0500 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Mike Epstein Subject: Paper 2 - ME: Assessment in Chemistry Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Regarding Paper 2 - Assessment in Chemistry An obviously important and worthwhile initiative, but the most important comment in your paper seems to me to be "Time is also a major problem ...". In a small college where a general chemistry instructor has 45 to 50 students, limited undergraduate student help, and 18 contact hours per week, time becomes *the* major problem. So, could you address more fully the issue of how, if possible, to make better assessments of student abilities and knowledge *without* a significant increase in time required for grading, so that new assessment designs can realistically be implemented? The more complex the question, the less likely that "undergraduate assistants" can help grade the material. The examples you give in "Standardizing Assessments for Assessing Standards", while obviously much superior questions, would *significantly* increase the time required for grading. Thanks .... ME > ======================================================== < > Mike Epstein < > Research Chemist, Analytical Chemistry Division < > National Institute of Standards and Technology < > Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899 USA > [Opinions expressed are mine ... not necessarily theirs] < > PHONE: (301) 975-4114 FAX: (301) 869-0413 < > Michael.Epstein@nist.gov < > WWW Home Page: http://esther.la.asu.edu/sas/epstein/epstein.html < > ======================================================== < > "From tomorrow on, I shall be sad - from tomorrow on! < > Not today; no! Today I will be glad. < > And every day, no matter how bitter it be, I will say: < > From tomorrow on, I shall be sad, not today!" < > Motele - Theresienstadt < > ======================================================== < ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 3 Jun 1997 11:34:34 -0500 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: "Dr. Red Chasteen" Subject: PAPER 1 - TGC: Using Netscape as A Presentation Manager In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To augment the discussion about Distance Learning/Web based Course Managment Systems, vis a vis Bill Jarvis' comments on TopClass: We have been using WEB COURSE IN A BOX since last year here at Sam Houston State University. It does what TopClass does (in the main). ALL interactions--both instructors input and students access--are via Netscape. It allows access to QuickTime movies, GIF Animations, native format files handled via Netscape helper applications or plugins, easily postable web links, password protection for only registed students, AND a student forum whose management by the course instructor is a snap. Here is our directory of courses taught with the Web Course in a Box course management tool. Many are maintained in public access mode http://unx1.shsu.edu/wcb/ chm_tgc@shsu.edu Dr. Thomas G. Chasteen, Graduate Advisor Associate Professor of Chemistry Department of Chemistry Sam Houston State University Huntsville, Texas 77341-2117 USA 409) 294-1533 phone 409) 294-1585 fax ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 3 Jun 1997 14:01:10 +0100 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Dwaine Eubanks Subject: Re: Paper 2 - ME: Assessment in Chemistry In-Reply-To: <3.0.32.19970603121350.009081d0@mailserver.nist.gov> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I wish there were a way both to do a better job of assessment and simultaneously spend less time at it, but I don't know a way to do that. Good structured response items, which are a snap to grade, are very difficult to construct because there can be little or know adjustment made for student misinterpretation of the intent of the question. Free response items are somewhat easier to construct, but--as your message suggests--very time consuming to grade. One suggestion for free response items is to construct a scoring check-list, with point assignments, for each item. Rather than reading every word of the response (which is often hopeless convoluted), scan only for the check-list words (in minimally appropriate context), calculations, or whatever. This technique greatly speeds grading, and probably introduces fewer errors than does reading every word without a check-list. ------------------------------------------ >Regarding Paper 2 - Assessment in Chemistry > >An obviously important and worthwhile initiative, but the most important >comment in your paper seems to me to be "Time is also a major problem >...". In a small college where a general chemistry instructor has 45 to >50 students, limited undergraduate student help, and 18 contact hours per >week, time becomes *the* major problem. So, could you address more fully >the issue of how, if possible, to make better assessments of student >abilities and knowledge *without* a significant increase in time required >for grading, so that new assessment designs can realistically be >implemented? The more complex the question, the less likely that >"undergraduate assistants" can help grade the material. The examples you >give in "Standardizing Assessments for Assessing Standards", while >obviously much superior questions, would *significantly* increase the time >required for grading. Thanks .... > >ME > > >> ======================================================== < >> Mike Epstein < >> Research Chemist, Analytical Chemistry Division < >> National Institute of Standards and Technology < >> Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899 USA >> [Opinions expressed are mine ... not necessarily theirs] < >> PHONE: (301) 975-4114 FAX: (301) 869-0413 < >> Michael.Epstein@nist.gov < >> WWW Home Page: http://esther.la.asu.edu/sas/epstein/epstein.html < >> ======================================================== < >> "From tomorrow on, I shall be sad - from tomorrow on! < >> Not today; no! Today I will be glad. < >> And every day, no matter how bitter it be, I will say: < >> From tomorrow on, I shall be sad, not today!" < >> Motele - Theresienstadt < >> ======================================================== < I. Dwaine Eubanks Director, ACS DivCHED Examinations Institute Professor, Department of Chemistry Clemson University Clemson SC 29634-1913 eubanki@clemson.edu Voice: 864-656-1394 FAX: 864-656-1250 http://chemistry.clemson.edu/ChemDocs/eubanksd.html ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 3 Jun 1997 14:06:28 +0100 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Dwaine Eubanks Subject: Re: Paper 2 - MLS: On-line testing In-Reply-To: <199706031548.LAA04072@holmes.umd.edu> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" On-line testing has some really interesting possibilities, but I'm not convinced that all the necessary security problems can be worked out to assure a level playing field for every examinee. If the National Board of Medical Examiners has solved the crucial security problems, the ACS Exams Institute would be most eager to learn about their strategy. The actual delivery of the exam content and return of responses is no longer any problem. Security certainly is. --------------------------------------------------- >Dr. Eubanks raises some interesting questions, which I hope will elicit >a spirited discussion later. > >Are there any plans to initiate on-line testing? The National Board of Medical >Examiners is well along on such a project, and it may lend itself to solving >some of the issues raised in this paper. > >Mary L. Swift Voice: 202-806-6289 >Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Fax : 202-806-5784 >College of Medicine >Howard University E-mail: mswift@umd5.umd.edu >Washington DC 20059-0001 I. Dwaine Eubanks Director, ACS DivCHED Examinations Institute Professor, Department of Chemistry Clemson University Clemson SC 29634-1913 eubanki@clemson.edu Voice: 864-656-1394 FAX: 864-656-1250 http://chemistry.clemson.edu/ChemDocs/eubanksd.html ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 3 Jun 1997 15:29:02 +0100 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Dwaine Eubanks Subject: Re: Paper 2 - DR: SQ on Course Content and Assessment In-Reply-To: <970603.085423.EDT.ROSEN1@CLVM.CLARKSON.EDU> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/enriched; charset="us-ascii" 1. There is always substantial risk in offering items to illustrate particular levels of understanding, because what is rote recall for one student (who has had the example piece worked through in detail in class) can require a great deal of thought for a student who has not been exposed to that particular example. The three categories that you called out (understanding; applying; and constructing/testing) are generally defined in assessment circles this way: UNDERSTANDING represents the lowest level of knowledge. Students can recall and describe either simple or complex information, but are not required to process that information. (Most scientists would not describe that level of ability as understanding, but that's how the term is used.) A typical exam question that tests understanding would be "What is the definition of the mole?" or "What is the formula for iron(II) sulfate?" APPLY and EXPLAIN are normally considered to be dealing with algorithmic manipulations (either mathematical or theoretical). One example might be, "Given the standard half-cell potentials for a Zn/Zn2+//Sn2+/Sn electrochemical cell, what is the cell potential if [Zn2+] = 0.05 M and [Sn2+] = 0.02 M?" Another: "Given that molecular oxygen has two unpaired electrons and a bond order of two, what is the number of unpaired electrons and bond order in O2+?" CONSTRUCT and TEST explanations require the student to use concepts and models they have already learned to solve unfamiliar problems. Here's a problem of this type: "Mg(OH)2 is LESS soluble than Ba(OH)2, yet MgSO4 is MORE soluble than BaSO4. Why? How can you test your explanation?" 2. The conceptual questions are often written to probe the mental images students have of the models their teachers offer to explain phenomena. One might pose a simple question this way: "When direct current is passed through a dilute solution of sodium sulfate in water, gases are released at both the anode and cathode. Sketch a molecular model for the gas released at each electrode. Indicate the relative numbers of each gas molecule." 3. I agree that new material and new instructional goals strain the system. That's great! Good new ideas soon become incorporated into "standard" courses, and exams do change to reflect the new priorities. Compare, for example, a modern ACS exam in any specialization with those of a decade ago. There has been enormous change. Also, special ACS exams have been produced for a couple of the new curricula, Chemistry in the Community (ChemCom) at the high school level, and Chemistry in Context at the college level. As mainstream curricula changes, the committee members who write the ACS tests make every effort to be certain that their exams reflect those changes. ------------------------------------------------------------- >1. On page 2 of your paper you list under > "What we hope students will be able to do" > > a. understand facts and concepts > > b. apply principles to explain phenomena > > c. construct and test explanations > > Can the author and the conference participants provide examples of a few > ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > examination assessment questions which would be particularly useful in > assessing each of these skills. Indicate which skill is being assessed. > ^^^^ > >2. Can the author provide examples of some of the questions on the conceptual > general chemistry examination mentioned on page 2. > >3. In your article you state: "New paradigms for chemistry instruction > increasingly diversify what was once a narrowly focused view of what > chemistry is and how it should be taught." This is certainly true. > It seems to me that in such an environment developing and using > standard tests is difficult and may tend to inhibit diversity > in chemistry courses. How useful are such standardized tests? > How should we decide what is to be included in such tests? > >Donald Rosenthal >Clarkson University >ROSEN1@CLVM.CLARKSON.EDU I. Dwaine Eubanks Director, ACS DivCHED Examinations Institute Professor, Department of Chemistry Clemson University Clemson SC 29634-1913 eubanki@clemson.edu Voice: 864-656-1394 FAX: 864-656-1250 http://chemistry.clemson.edu/ChemDocs/eubanksd.html ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 3 Jun 1997 15:27:27 -0700 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Jim Diamond Subject: Re: Paper 2 - ME: Assessment in Chemistry MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Tue, 3 Jun 1997, Dwaine Eubanks wrote: > Good structured response items, which are a snap to grade, are very > difficult to construct because there can be little or know adjustment made > for student misinterpretation of the intent of the question. Free response > items are somewhat easier to construct, but--as your message suggests--very > time consuming to grade. One suggestion for free response items is to > construct a scoring check-list, with point assignments, for each item. I've been using free response questions in General Chemistry exams for over a dozen years. Our program has grown from a few dozen students to one hundred gen chem students with little change in staff. For the last two years, I've been using a mix of multiple choice, fill in the blank, brief essay, and free response questions in each exam in General Chemistry, because of the onerous task of interpreting and grading large numbers of free response questions. Here is my experience: Without any doubt, the free response questions take far more effort to grade than any other type, regardless of the difficulty of the question, because the students in the bottom third of the class routinely make several types of errors, including - errors in chemical understanding - failure to test for physically/chemically plausible results - errors in reading the data presented in the question - errors in interpreting the question - failure to answer the question - algebraic errors - arithmetic errors - errors due to inappropriate precision in calculations In these responses below the median, it is not uncommon to find three or more errors, which may include more than one instance with the same type of error. The end result has been that there has almost always been a pseudocontinuum of responses in this type of question, ranging from the preposterously low (for example, a partial pressure less than zero) to the ridiculously high (e.g., a molar mass larger than Avogadro's number). I find these responses extremely difficult to grade (even with a "check-sheet" AND heap-sorting by error type and severity). I find myself still spending on the average about six minutes (yes, I've logged the time) to grade a single exam response. With typically one hundred exams to mark, that's TEN HOURS on one question. I cannot afford to ask more than three questions of this sort on any single exam, or else I get no other work done that week, and I do have other courses to teach. Has this been others' experience as well? Am I being too pokey in grading? Personally, I think that "better assessment" includes the aspect that assessment must be achievable with existing resources in a REASONABLE amount of time. In other words, "better" does not exclude the possibility that the mode of assessment may result in more efficient use of OUR time as faculty. To that end, I have been following with interest Reed Howald's comments about multiple choice exams (with a relatively large number of possible responses), and in this coming year expect to implement these sorts of questions on our own exams. Dwayne and fellow chemeders, have you experimented with this sort of question? If so, how does your experience contrast with the more traditional "free response" question? Best Wishes, Jim Diamond, chair Chemistry Department Linfield College jimd@calvin.linfield.edu McMinnville OR 97128 (503)-434-2471 ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 01:01:26 -0400 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Stephen Cain Subject: Paper 2-Process orientation X-cc: eubanki@clemson.edu I enjoyed reading your paper. I have a thought on the "shifting emphasis" section. You posed a question, "...for us to incorporate more material on how chemistry is done...and, if so, what do we drop from the course?" I think you would agree that incorporating *more material* about doing chemistry would not accomplish the goal. In fact, if this idea is to succeed, students must *do* more chemistry, i.e., more realistic lab experiences in which they have some degree of ownership of the development of the investigation (exactly how we accomplish this, I'm not sure.) In terms of the 'what to drop' issue, I believe we have to come to terms with the copious amount of information that exists in chemistry (and other sciences as well). Chemistry was a lot easier in 1897 (simple atomic theory, first subatomic particle had just been discovered, no quantum numbers, etc., etc.). Perhaps instead of deciding what to drop, we need to start from scratch and decide what we should *include* at each level (K-16). At this point, I think we have generally kept just about everything, and in great detail, perhaps in too much detail at the 13th level (general chemistry). Stephen Cain Professor of Chemistry Montgomery College Germantown, Maryland ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 07:53:49 EDT Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Donald Rosenthal Organization: Clarkson University Subject: SHORT QUESTIONS FOR PAPER 3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT To: CHEMCONF Registrants From: Donald Rosenthal Re: SHORT QUESTIONS FOR PAPER 3 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ It is 8 AM EDST (Eastern Daylight Saving Time) on Wednesday, June 4. During the next 24 hours you may send SHORT QUESTIONS about Paper 3 - "WHAT EVERY CHEMIST SHOULD KNOW ABOUT COMPUTERS, II" by Mary L. Swift and Theresa Julia Zielinski to the authors and the conference participants. Discussion of Paper 3 will begin on Wednesday, June 13. ^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ The paper can be retrieved from the Conference World Wide Web Site: http://www.wam.umd.edu/~toh/ChemConf97.html Short Questions should be sent to CHEMCONF@UMDD.UMD.EDU Please include the PAPER NUMBER, YOUR INITIALS AND THE TOPIC IN THE SUBJECT LINE, e.g. "Paper 3 - EF: Role of the Computer in the Laboratory". These messages will be received by the author AND the conference registrants. To send comments or questions privately to the author of the paper, send your message to the author's e-mail address given in the paper. Reports of typographical errors, spelling or grammatical errors should be sent directly to the author and not to CHEMCONF. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 10:01:58 -0500 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: George Long Subject: Paper 3- GRL : computing for chemists vs chemistry students. MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT I was struck by what I see as a disconnect between what industry is doing with computer use, and what academia is doing. In this paper ( I'll admit to reading ahead)and the next paper, serious questions are raised concerning the cost vs effectiveness of IT. While many faculty still do their jobs without IT, their students clearly cannot. My Question, Is there a connection between student use of computers for tasks, such as word processing, data analysis, and Molecular visualization, and computer use for delivering information , as in paper 1, for example. : **************************************************************************** George R Long, Ph.D. Department of Chemistry, Indiana University of Pennsylvania Indiana, PA 15705 grlong@grove.iup.edu, http://www.iup.edu/~grlong/ Technology has made the world a neighborhood, now it is up to us to make it a brotherhood - Dr. M.L. King **************************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 10:42:29 -0400 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Theresa Julia Zielinski Subject: tjz Re: Paper 3 Update Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dear Colleagues Version 9 of the paper is tweaked to correct a few minor typos and to fix a few links. A new reference was added, 91b. I will be tweaking the paper regularly as I check and update links and maybe add links to the document, for example there is a link for 91b but I don't have my hands on it just at this moment. You will always know if you have the most current version by checking the date at the top of the document. True to the spirit of the WWW this is a dynamic document. Other than for minor tweaks the paper is complete. Theresa At 08:46 AM 6/4/97 EDT, you wrote: >Paper 3 was updated sometime yesterday. >The current version will have "Version 9: Revised 6/2/97" at the top. > >Donald Rosenthal >Conference Co-Director >315-265-9242 >ROSEN1@CLVM.CLARKSON.EDU > Theresa Julia Zielinski Professor of Chemistry Department of Chemistry Niagara University Niagara University, NY 14109 theresaz@localnet.com http://www.niagara.edu/~tjz/ 716-639-0762 (H - voice, voice mail and fax) 716-286-8257 (O - voice and voice mail) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 10:14:03 -0500 Reply-To: G L Carlson Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: G L Carlson Subject: PAPER 3 LC WHAT EVERY CHEMIST SHOULD KNOW? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII The authors present an admirable and somewhat daunting list of IT skills required of the graduating chemist. A 1993 list of skills, listed in the Introduction, seems to have become modified in the next paragraph, but is still formidable. In that paragraph, the authors begin >...In the four years since that conference and survey, advances in software, as well as our ability to apply information technology to chemical problems, have altered the details of this list. We now believe...> My first question is this. Who is the "we" in the paragraph above? The authors, the ACS Ed division, the 1993 conference participants? The reason I'm asking is as a lead-in to my second question: Did the group who determined the recommendations inquire of industrial employers what IT competencies they expect of new hires? I asked this question of a division R&D head of a major consumer chemical company which employs hundreds of BS and higher chemists. His reply was that there are only a few "types" of competency the new hire should have: they should be able to use a word processor, a spreadsheet, some kind of communication package that uses email and a modem, and a database package. Web skills are nice, but easy to pick up. Other job-specific IT skills can be learned as necessary, and many of the programs are in-house specials, anyway.It's noteworthy that all of these could be considered business skills, not chemical skills. This person has a PhD in chemistry and is considered one of the most computer literate executives in the company, so he is not speaking from an outmoded point of view. Not all of our graduates will be heading for graduate school and specialized chemical research. They do need to be unafraid of IT and able to use specific applications as the need develops, which is the central theme of this paper. I agree that IT should be included in courses where it makes a difference and helps in the learning process, but I'm still at the stumbling block of "what do we leave out to teach these specialized skills?" Are we trying too hard to teach everything at once? Lynn Carlson Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Parkside Box 2000 Kenosha, WI 53141-2000 ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 11:07:52 -0400 Reply-To: "Jeff Davis (CHE)" Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: "Jeff Davis (CHE)" Subject: Paper 3 - JCD: Computerized Lab Notebooks MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Wow! A really thorough job. Congratulations. It seems to me that one way for students to gain facility with computing as well as become familiar with how much of modern experimental work is done is through their laboratory work. Specifically, through use of an electronic notebook. That is, all of their data, notes, data analyses, reports, etc., are on a floppy that they can carry around and use at various locations to perform various tasks. Nowadays much of our instrumentation is computer-based. Retrieving data is downloading a file, not recording point by point off a graph paper or meter (but there should be room in the student's repertoire to do this as well and get it on his disk in one form or another). Spectra and chromatograms can be downloaded from instruments and from database libraries, often on CD-ROM. Rather than cope with LAN-based libraries, students could utililze word processors, spreadsheets, curve-fitting programs, etc., stored on PCs to work with their data and write their reports. What they would carry around with them is the files that contain their datasets, word processing and spreadsheet documents, etc., and perhaps an application that helps with the downloading functions. Have any academic programs had experience with this mode or anything close to it? Jeff C. Davis, Jr. Dept. of Chemistry Univ. of South Florida ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 11:31:38 -0500 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Mike Epstein Subject: Re: Paper 3 - JCD: Computerized Lab Notebooks, response to Jeff Davis Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Yes, I did that last semester in an analytical chemistry class for the first time. I learned a lot from the experience, which will be related in a paper I submitted to the Fall97 version of CHEMCONF. In the end it worked out well, but only after I solved a few difficulties ... not the least of which was that some of the students didn't grasp the usefulness of some programs immediately (for example, they would use the spreadsheet as a notebook page and still do calculations with a handheld calculator - from force of habit ... they had to be forced to use the calculation powers of the spreadsheet). Mike E. Jeff Davis asked: > >Have any academic programs had experience with this mode or anything close >to it? > ======================================================== < > Mike Epstein < > Research Chemist, Analytical Chemistry Division < > National Institute of Standards and Technology < > Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899 USA > [Opinions expressed are mine ... not necessarily theirs] < > PHONE: (301) 975-4114 FAX: (301) 869-0413 < > Michael.Epstein@nist.gov < > WWW Home Page: http://esther.la.asu.edu/sas/epstein/epstein.html < > ======================================================== < > "From tomorrow on, I shall be sad - from tomorrow on! < > Not today; no! Today I will be glad. < > And every day, no matter how bitter it be, I will say: < > From tomorrow on, I shall be sad, not today!" < > Motele - Theresienstadt < > ======================================================== < ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 08:46:58 -0700 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Ken Hirano Subject: unsubscribe request Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" please unsubsribe me from your list ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 13:03:20 -0400 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Theresa Julia Zielinski Subject: tjz - paper 3 - my adress Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dear Colleagues Apparently the e-mail address for me on the paper was incorrect. What was there was a hybrid of two addresses. Although both originals of the hybrid are good, the hybrid is useless. I have tweaked the paper to show the correct address. Please make a note on the copy you have on hand. One incorrect word was also tweaked. The version number of the paper has not changed. Also the url for reference 91b is now in the document. cheers Theresa Theresa Julia Zielinski Professor of Chemistry Department of Chemistry Niagara University Niagara University, NY 14109 theresaz@localnet.com http://www.niagara.edu/~tjz/ 716-639-0762 (H - voice, voice mail and fax) 716-286-8257 (O - voice and voice mail) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 13:21:48 -0400 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Michael A Vaksman Subject: Paper #3 (by Swift & Zielinski) Enjoyed reading this paper. I feel there is one more reason to the need to have compters available to students DURING the class time. Not only it creates a ?lively learning atmosphere? (as it happened at NU). In our chemistry lecture hall, we have a computer presentation system, and after showing my Gen. Chem. students several examples on the screen I have encouraged them to work on this material after class (I have downloaded this software also on the harddrives of computers in our Student Computer Center). To my dismay, only about 5% did (and those were of course the strongest students who would have mastered the subject anyway!). I think that to have a set of computers in the classroom (at least, say, 7 for the class of 20) and to alIocate some time during the class period when small groups of students would work on the computers under your supervision might be the easiest way to get the weaker students engaged in the out-of-class IT studies. Michael Vaksman ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 11:18:00 -0700 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Kimberley Cousins Subject: Paper#2: question In-Reply-To: from "Michael A Vaksman" at Jun 4, 97 01:21:48 pm MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I just read paper 2. A single document "assess.pdf" downloaded to my hard drive, and opened with Acrobat 2.1 (Macintosh). Near the end of the paper was an apparent hyperline (no reference URL or traditional reference given) for a document "Standardizing Assessments for Assessing Standards." When activated, this link went looking for a second pdf document, which was not downloaded. How do I find this document? Kimberley Cousins Department of Chemistry California State University, San Bernardino 5500 University Parkway San Bernardino, CA 92407 (909)880-5391 kcousins@wiley.csusb.edu http://chem.csusb.edu/~kcousins ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 21:09:08 -0400 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: scott donnelly Subject: Paper 3 - EF: Role of the Computer in the Laboratory Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I disagree with the authors' following bold statement: "It is impossible to teach modern chemistry without exposing students to computers and their uses." My undergraduate experience and no doubt many of my colleagues show that this is an overstatement. I graduated in 1990 with an undergraduate degree in chemistry and then went on to a successful graduate school career. My undergraduate chemistry education did not involve computers. In addition, my undergraduate chemistry department was instrument poor. The instrumentation used in the instrumental analysis courses was obsolete by today's standards. None was computer operated. This though in no way lessened my understanding of modern chemistry and future graduate school research. I am an advocate of computer technology. I gave a presentation at the ACS meeting in San Fran this spring on my use of the Internet in my freshmen chemistry courses. Currently, I am developing more Internet exercises. But I am not quick to embrace the use of computer technology at all levels of chemistry. I am always mindful of what my father told me: A hammer does an excellent job knocking nails into wood and it can do an excellent job hurting someone as well. The nuts and bolts of chemistry and science is the ability to think and not push buttons. May be we should watch and learn from what our colleagues in mathematics have had to go through with the introduction of calculators in their courses. I have seen it myself teaching freshmen chemistry. Students are whizzes at pushing the buttons but when asked how the answer was arrived at oftentimes the question goes unanswered. This is not uncommon even among the more advanced students. Finally, why is that all of a sudden the lecture method is, by many arguments today, the worst way to teach or to learn? The first job of the leaders of this revolution is to show how bad the past way of doing things was. Yet, over and over I read about the "passivity" of the lecture approach but such statements rarely are referenced to the pertinent studies. Is this a case of quoting from a quote from a quote from a quote etc.? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Scott Donnelly Professor of Chemistry Arizona Western College Yuma, AZ 85366-0929 email: aw_donnelly@awc.cc.az.us phone: 520 344 7590 I never came upon any of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking. -Albert Einstein ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 22:16:22 -0400 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Rohan Abeyesundere Subject: Re: Paper 3 - EF: Role of the Computer in the Laboratory In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII I agree with the comments made by Scott Donnelly. I too favor the use of computer technology in teaching chemistry. I think that computer technology is helpful in teaching modern chemistry but feel that it is not critical to a student's understanding of the concepts of chemistry. - Rohan ----------------------------------------------------------------------- R. Abeyesundere email: rohana@umd5.umd.edu Chemistry Department WWW: http://www.wp.com/ROHAN/ Montgomery College phone: 301-251-7637 51 Mannakee Street Rockville, MD 20850 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- On Wed, 4 Jun 1997, scott donnelly wrote: > I disagree with the authors' following bold statement: "It is impossible to > teach modern chemistry without exposing students to computers and their > uses." My undergraduate experience and no doubt many of my colleagues show > that this is an overstatement. > ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 11:57:36 -0700 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: "Alexey A. Kubasov" Subject: reply to S.Donnelly MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=koi8-r Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear prof. Scott Donnelly I don't quite agree with your opinion on using computers in Chemistry.If we want to learn the students not only to store the formulas, and to understand as they work, mathematical modeling with by use of computers has doubtless advantage.Especially it concerns to theoretical chemistry. Alexei A.Kubasov Associate professor Moscow State University ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 12:50:51 -0700 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: "Alexey A. Kubasov" Subject: paper 3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=koi8-r Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear prof Theresa Julia Zielinski Thank you and prof.MARY L. SWIFT, for such excelent paper. Would liked to make one addition not for criticism of the report. Can be costed to give more than attention to mathematical modeling. But it faster concerns to my personal interests. Alexei A.Kubasov Moscow State University ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 10:16:17 +0000 Reply-To: ian_newington@kodak.com Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Ian Newington Organization: Kodak European R&D Harrow Subject: Re: Papers 3 & 4 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit As an industrial research chemist I now use computers for everything I do. Before I started my career, I had barely used a computer at all - I finished my doctorate in 1985. What is (science) education all about? Shouldn't it be about learning the basic principles and the tools and motivation for learning more? The question for the educator then becomes: What methods are available to get this across? IT is just one option among many. (We still use low-tech methods, like blackboards, in industry!) It's therefore good to see some questioning of the rush into using IT perhaps simply to justify the money spent. The issue that confronts the graduate (not just in science) entering the workforce today is surely one of being ready to continuously learn to use new tools and techniques throughout their career. -- Ian Newington Kodak European R&D, Headstone Drive, Harrow, HA1 4TY, UK Tel: +44-(0)181-424-4451 FAX: +44-(0)181-424-5788 ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 08:00:24 EDT Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Donald Rosenthal Organization: Clarkson University Subject: Short Questions about Paper 4 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT To: CHEMCONF Registrants From: Donald Rosenthal Re: SHORT QUESTIONS FOR PAPER 4 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ It is 8 AM EDST (Eastern Daylight Saving Time) on Wednesday, June 5. During the next 24 hours you may send SHORT QUESTIONS about Paper 4 - "THE COSTS OF INCORPORATING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION" by Brian M. Tissue to the author and the conference participants. Discussion of Paper 4 will begin on Tuesday, June 17. ^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ The paper can be retrieved from the Conference World Wide Web Site: http://www.wam.umd.edu/~toh/ChemConf97.html Short Questions should be sent to CHEMCONF@UMDD.UMD.EDU Please include the PAPER NUMBER, YOUR INITIALS AND THE TOPIC IN THE SUBJECT LINE, e.g. "Paper 4 - GH: Costs and Benefits of Computers". These messages will be received by the author AND the conference registrants. To send comments or questions privately to the author of the paper, send your message to the author's e-mail address given in the paper. Reports of typographical errors, spelling or grammatical errors should be sent directly to the author and not to CHEMCONF. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 08:42:34 -0500 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: George Long Subject: Paper 4-GRL :What about the Costs of NOT using technology? MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Brian Tissue has raised some important questions. At some point it is appropriate for us to ask ourselves if some "Evil Genius" has tricked us into thinking that Teaching using IT is so fantastic. (apologies to Descartes). However, I do have some questions/comments on the paper. First, as to the ability of any new technology to deliver information effectively, There are 248 papers that report "no significant difference" between various kinds of technological delivery of information, and standard lectures. see http://tenb.mta.ca/phenom/phenom.html for references. By the way, this includes the use of radio and correspondence classes from as far back as 1928. So from this there should be a net cost savings if you use IT to replace Lecture rooms, without a loss in the quality of the education, since there is the cost of heating and cleaning the large building, matenance, etc. Second, and more importantly, There is nothing mentioned concerning the cost of NOT using technology. Students need to know how to work with, and use technology. At some point, they will have to learn, be it on the job, on their own, or in college. If we don't use technology, it will save universities money, at the expense of a loss in value of the degrees we offer. (anecdotally, in the last 5 years, the only chemistry major that had more than one job offer upon graduation was a student that was a dual comp. sci, and chemistry major) Last, some of the costs Brian mentions, particularly for Faculty time, involves redistribution, not added costs. While this may have a significant impact on Faculty, it doesn't necessarily raise the overall costs. Sorry to be so long - I Can't wait 'til the 17th. Thanks to Brian for a thought provoking paper (which is what I think he intended.) **************************************************************************** George R Long, Ph.D. Department of Chemistry, Indiana University of Pennsylvania Indiana, PA 15705 grlong@grove.iup.edu, http://www.iup.edu/~grlong/ Technology has made the world a neighborhood, now it is up to us to make it a brotherhood - Dr. M.L. King **************************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 09:40:30 -0400 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Mary Swift Subject: Paper 4-MLS: teaching technology My thanks to Brian for an excellent thought provoking paper. As chemists we always teach/taught technology. In the past it might have limited to spectrophotometers or liquid chromatographs, etc but we taught it. How many of us are old enough to remember the sessions in general chemistry on use of the slide rule? Granted computer technology (IT) is taking more time to teach, but is this 'bad' considering its (potential) power? How different is teaching computer technology from the past models of chemical education s cited? Mary Mary L. Swift Voice: 202-806-6289 Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Fax : 202-806-5784 College of Medicine Howard University E-mail: mswift@umd5.umd.edu Washington DC 20059-0001 ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 08:47:59 -0600 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: John Mackin Subject: Paper 3 - JM: Role of the Computer in the Laboratory Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" As a high school teacher, I want to initiate my students into the basics of computer use in chemistry so they are prepared for the college experience. What do you see as the core skills high school students should have after completing a one-year chemistry course? John Mackin Kirkwood High School Kirkwood, MO ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 09:53:15 -0400 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Erik Ricker Subject: general comment - EKR I must add my congratulations to the many others, I have enjoyed the papers to this point. I do feel it is necessary however to make one comment; I may be seeing things from a fairly unique point of view in this discussion. As techonology advances, perhaps the one most often asked question is: What good are these bells and whistles? In effect: how is this better than me writing on the chalkboard, and the students taking notes. My answer, from a student POV, is this: The technology is the new medium. True, the underlying concepts are unchanged, and there is no substitute for a fundamental understanding. However, presentation and comprehension in and of this new medium are essential. A professor may verbally explain the phenomena of benzene. S/he may then draw a picture of the structure on a chalkboard. The latter method requires that the student of course understand the structure conventions. The professor may then download a graphical representation of benzene, replete with bond angles, stresses, and lengths, and a myriad of links to almost any particular quirk of the molecule, should it spark the interest of the student. My point is, there may not currently be any apparent benefit to putting relatively mundane things into the computer medium. But, we hedge our bets against the day that students will not be hard-pressed to learn the medium, they will be hard-pressed to remember the old ways, of the 'sage-on-a-stage' type of instruction. 5 years ago the web was barely known. 2 years ago it was still moderately esoteric. 5 years from now... who can say? Erik Ricker ERicker788@aol.com ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 10:21:19 -0400 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: "Harry E. Pence" Subject: Re: general comment - EKR In-Reply-To: <970605095314_-1229061828@emout01.mail.aol.com> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Erik Ricker says >.............The professor may then download a graphical >representation of benzene, replete with bond angles, stresses, and >lengths, and a myriad of links to almost any particular quirk of the >molecule, should it spark the interest of the student. My point is, >there may not currently be any apparent benefit to putting relatively >mundane things into the computer medium. My experience is quite the opposite. The most useful images that I use in class are simple representations of small molecules. As has often been pointed out, one of the main problems that students have with chemistry is the need to switch between abstract concepts, like atoms and molecules, and the macroscopic world. Anything that we can do to make the microscopic world easier to visualize helps many of our students understand chemistry better. Thus, images serve a very useful purpose at even the most mundane level. Cordially, Harry ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | Harry E. Pence INTERNET: PENCEHE@ONEONTA.EDU | | Professor of Chemistry PHONE: 607-436-3179 | | SUNY Oneonta OFFICE: 607-436-3193 | | Oneonta, NY 13820 FAX: 607-436-2654 | | http://snyoneab.oneonta.edu/~pencehe/ | | \\\//// | | (0 0) | |_______________OOO__(oo)__OOO____________________________| ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 10:18:01 -0500 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: "James N. Stevenson" Subject: Paper 4 - JNS Dark rooms & Cost of Using IT Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The problem of students taking notes in a darkened room is not new. I have seen all too many instructors think that the room lights must be off in order for the students to properly view a video tape presentation or a slide using an overhead projector. When it comes to $10000-worth of IT that is wasted because of a lighting problem, would not a simple solution, such as desk lamps at each desk be a means to allow the use of the IT? Let me explain. Our bookstore has small, student desk lamps for sale at $15. I am sure that one could get similar items at a wholesale cost of around $10 if purchased in quantity. For a classroom for 20 students, then a $200 for lamps and $30 for extension cords ($3/each; if needed) - one could get lamps for each student station. These could be kept in a cabinet and the students would obtain and return them as they entered and left the classroom. Seems workable, with a modest effort; certainly worth it if it means utilizing IT costing $10000. If your are talking about a larger number of student stations then the cost is increased but not necessarily proportionately. If a large lecture hall has room for 250 students, then the lamps might be installed permanently and one might serve two stations for note-taking. Sincerely, James N. Stevenson Phone: 512 454-7662 Ext. 1209 Concordia University Fax: 512 459-8517 3400 N IH34 e-mail: ctxstevenjn@crf.cuis.edu Austin Texas 78705 or: jims@austin.concordia.edu ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 12:37:55 -0400 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Harry Ungar Subject: Re: Paper 4 - JNS Dark rooms & Cost of Using IT Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >The problem of students taking notes in a darkened room is not new. I have >seen all too many instructors think that the room lights must be off in >order for the students to properly view a video tape presentation or a slide >using an overhead projector. When it comes to $10000-worth of IT that is >wasted because of a lighting problem, would not a simple solution, such as >desk lamps at each desk be a means to allow the use of the IT? > Harry Ungar C4: Computers in Chemistry at Cabrillo College Aptos, CA 95003 408-479-5059 http://www.cabrillo.cc.ca.us/CWIS/AcademicPrograms/BECHO/Chemistry/organic/i ndex.html. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 12:38:01 -0400 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Harry Ungar Subject: Re: Paper 4 - JNS Dark rooms & Cost of Using IT Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >The problem of students taking notes in a darkened room is not new. I have >seen all too many instructors think that the room lights must be off in >order for the students to properly view a video tape presentation or a slide >using an overhead projector. When it comes to $10000-worth of IT that is >wasted because of a lighting problem, would not a simple solution, such as >desk lamps at each desk be a means to allow the use of the IT? > >Sincerely, >James N. Stevenson Phone: 512 454-7662 Ext. 1209 We faced the same problem when we began to use a portable computer projection system in one of our lecture rooms and then started planning for more permanant installations. Our room lighting is all fluorescent which can not readily be controlled by dimmers. A very satisfactory, cost-effective solution was found through the installation of track lighting, not on the ceiling, but on three walls of the room, about 18" below the ceiling. Fixtures are installed on the tracks so that they point *upwards* toward the ceiling; all of the light bounces off the ceiling before reaching the rest of the room. These lights are all connected to a continuous dimmer switch conveniently located near the instructor's usual position. A fourth track lighting strip is mounted on the ceiling above the blackboards with its fixtures pointing downward to illuminate the blackboard. These lights are on a separate dimmer switch. Advantages of this system include: all materials are readily available at reasonable cost through local electrical outlets; installation is straightfoward; the number of fixtures mounted on each track can be varied according to the room size and other conditions; the lighting levels can be varied with the dimmer switches, depending on the amount of outside light entering the room and the brightness of the projected images; the lights above the blackboard allow the instructor to move easily beteen the two media. The only disadvantage is that the tracks and their associated electrical conduit are on surface of the walls which is slightly ugly. If anyone would like more details they could contact me directly. Harry Ungar C4: Computers in Chemistry at Cabrillo College Aptos, CA 95003 408-479-5059 http://www.cabrillo.cc.ca.us/CWIS/AcademicPrograms/BECHO/Chemistry/organic/i ndex.html. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 14:50:46 -0500 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: "Dr. Red Chasteen" Subject: Paper 4 - TGC: The Costs of Incorporating Information Technology in Education In-Reply-To: <970605095314_-1229061828@emout01.mail.aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" In response to Erik Ricker's partial comment: "...spark the interest of the student." THAT is an important component at my medium-sized state school. Engaging students is a relatively significant component in my department. For the ones who have the abilities and who have already decided their major, some of this may just appear to be "bells and whistles" (Ricker, again). But for the students who are capable and yet are going to decide based on what lots of us use as a basis for decision---what is enjoyable---having some of these bells and whistles available in a chemistry program may not be so bad---or may even be good since so many of the most important concepts are VERY difficult to picture. Brian Tissue has done an excellent job in Paper 4 of describing the push we are all feeling for IT from other educators and the society at large. Not mentioned, as I recall, is the push we are feeling from the commercial sector. This is the same behometh that has us now using $90 freshman textbooks (and $100 organic texts...). I know; I know; it is not one entity; it is the free-enterprise system), but who out there gets even $70 worth from the $90 text? So why are we surprised that IT is being "sold" as the next natural step? chm_tgc@shsu.edu Dr. Thomas G. Chasteen, Graduate Advisor Associate Professor of Chemistry Department of Chemistry Sam Houston State University Huntsville, Texas 77341-2117 USA 409) 294-1533 phone 409) 294-1585 fax There are some interesting analytical chemistry based QuickTime movies at: http://www.shsu.edu/~chm_tgc/sounds/sound.html Can't handle QuickTime? There are GIF Animations on the same Web Page. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 16:04:28 -0400 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Theresa Julia Zielinski Subject: general comments Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hay guys, lets save the more extended discussions for next week. then we can all join in the fray. Cheers Theresa Theresa Julia Zielinski Professor of Chemistry Department of Chemistry Niagara University Niagara University, NY 14109 theresaz@localnet.com http://www.niagara.edu/~tjz/ 716-639-0762 (H - voice, voice mail and fax) 716-286-8257 (O - voice and voice mail) ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 13:16:55 -0700 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Walter Volland Subject: Re: general comment - EKR MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello, I have to agree with Harry. My experience with students indicates that they do not have the visual or other images of molecules, ions, crystals that we have. They need multiple exposures to models and representations so they can develpo the needed "mind's eye". The mundane is only mundane to the teacher not to the student. With interest, Walt Volland Bellevue Community College Bellevue, WA 98006 wvolland@bcc.ctc.edu >---------- >From: Harry E. Pence >Reply To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education >Sent: Thursday, June 5, 1997 7:21 AM >To: CHEMCONF@UMDD.UMD.EDU >Subject: Re: general comment - EKR > >Erik Ricker says >>.............The professor may then download a graphical >>representation of benzene, replete with bond angles, stresses, and >>lengths, and a myriad of links to almost any particular quirk of the >>molecule, should it spark the interest of the student. My point is, >>there may not currently be any apparent benefit to putting relatively >>mundane things into the computer medium. > >My experience is quite the opposite. The most useful images that I use in >class are simple representations of small molecules. As has often been >pointed out, one of the main problems that students have with chemistry is >the need to switch between abstract concepts, like atoms and molecules, >and the macroscopic world. Anything that we can do to make the >microscopic world easier to visualize helps many of our students >understand chemistry better. Thus, images serve a very useful purpose at >even the most mundane level. > Cordially, > Harry > > > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > | Harry E. Pence INTERNET: PENCEHE@ONEONTA.EDU | > | Professor of Chemistry PHONE: 607-436-3179 | > | SUNY Oneonta OFFICE: 607-436-3193 | > | Oneonta, NY 13820 FAX: 607-436-2654 | > | http://snyoneab.oneonta.edu/~pencehe/ | > | \\\//// | > | (0 0) | > |_______________OOO__(oo)__OOO____________________________| > ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 06:55:00 EDT Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: to2 Subject: How to get off of this list Yesterday several people sent messages to the entire list asking that they be removed from the ChemConf listserv list. ChemConf is like any other listserv list - it allow autonomous subscription and signoff. You do *not* have to ask for public permission or assistance - you can do it all by yourself. Here's how: To sign off the ChemConf list, send an email message to: listserv@umdd.umd.edu containing the one-line message: signoff chemconf Make sure you use the same email account that you subscribed from. Please do *not* send signoff requests to the public listserv address (chemconf@umdd.umd.edu) - if you do so, everyone will read your removal request and know that you did it wrong. Thanks! ;0) Tom ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tom O'Haver Professor of Analytical Chemistry University of Maryland Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry College Park, MD 20742 Maryland Collaborative for Teacher Preparation (301) 405-1831 to2@umail.umd.edu FAX: (301) 314-9121 http://www.wam.umd.edu/~toh ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 07:55:31 EDT Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Donald Rosenthal Organization: Clarkson University Subject: SHORT QUESTIONS FOR PAPER5 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT To: CHEMCONF Registrants From: Donald Rosenthal Re: SHORT QUESTIONS FOR PAPER 4 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ It is 8 AM EDST (Eastern Daylight Saving Time) on Friday, June 6. During the next 24 hours you may send SHORT QUESTIONS about Paper 5 - "USING PSEUDOSCIENCE TO TEACH GENERAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY" by Michael Epstein, Margaret Bullard, Brad Buehler and Robin Koster to the authors and the conference participants. Discussion of Paper 5 will begin on Thursday, June 19. ^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ The paper can be retrieved from the Conference World Wide Web Site: http://www.wam.umd.edu/~toh/ChemConf97.html Short Questions should be sent to CHEMCONF@UMDD.UMD.EDU Please include the PAPER NUMBER, YOUR INITIALS AND THE TOPIC IN THE SUBJECT LINE, e.g. "Paper 4 - GH: Costs and Benefits of Computers". These messages will be received by the author AND the conference registrants. To send comments or questions privately to the author of the paper, send your message to the author's e-mail address given in the paper. Reports of typographical errors, spelling or grammatical errors should be sent directly to the author and not to CHEMCONF. DISCUSSION SCHEDULE FOR SESSION 1 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Discussion of the papers in Session 1 will begin next week. June 9 and 10 - Discussion of Paper 1 June 11 and 12 - Discussion of Paper 2 June 13 and 16 - Discussion of Paper 3 June 17 and 18 - Discussion of Paper 4 June 19 and 20 - Discussion of Paper 5 ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 08:27:55 EDT Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Donald Rosenthal Organization: Clarkson University Subject: DR- A Correction and Directions MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT In the message which I sent a few minutes ago the following appears: Re: SHORT QUESTIONS FOR PAPER 4 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Of course, this should be PAPER 5 NOT 4 - I'm sorry. The first week of each session is intended for participants to read the papers and to ask SHORT QUESTIONS about the papers. These questions may be directed to the AUTHORS and/or the PARTICIPANTS. DISCUSSION of the Papers will occur during the second and third week of the session. I have instructed AUTHORS to answer short questions at the beginning of the time allocated for the discussion of their paper, e.g. early on June 9 for Paper 1. This gives each author and participants at least a week to frame a response to the short questions and to consider topics to be introduced into the discuss. Hopefully, this will improve the quality of the discussion. Also, you have been asked to include the PAPER NUMBER, YOUR INITIALS AND THE TOPIC IN THE SUBJECT LINE e.g. "Paper 5 - GH: Costs and Benefits of Computers". Several participants have not done this. The subject line can be very useful in sorting out the papers and discussion threads. Donald Rosenthal Clarkson University Potsdam NY 13699-5810 ROSEN1@CLVM.CLARKSON.EDU 315-265-9242 Co-Chair of On-Line Conference ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 14:09:15 -0500 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Mike Epstein Subject: Paper #5 ME:General question to CHEMCONF participants Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I would like to address several general questions to CHEMCONF97 participants on topics related to Paper #5: First, what efforts are made within your departments (chemistry or science) to address issues of scientific ethics. I know some departments actually have courses dealing with the topic, but for those that don't, how do you address it (or do you address it)? Or, by college, is it too late to address issues of scientific ethics ... except perhaps to illustrate what happens to those chemists that cross the line. Although physicists are often chided as being the source of all pathological scientce (Robert Park, APS, often speaks of this), chemists are, after all, not immune (polywater, biotransmutation, cold fusion, etc.). Second, is using outlandish topics (as most pseudoscientific subjects are) a valid way of increasing student interest in what is, to many, a difficult subject ... or is it opening a Pandora's box that should just remain shut and ignored. Thanks... ME > ======================================================== < > Mike Epstein < > Research Chemist, Analytical Chemistry Division < > National Institute of Standards and Technology < > Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899 USA > [Opinions expressed are mine ... not necessarily theirs] < > PHONE: (301) 975-4114 FAX: (301) 869-0413 < > Michael.Epstein@nist.gov < > WWW Home Page: http://esther.la.asu.edu/sas/epstein/epstein.html < > ======================================================== < > "From tomorrow on, I shall be sad - from tomorrow on! < > Not today; no! Today I will be glad. < > And every day, no matter how bitter it be, I will say: < > From tomorrow on, I shall be sad, not today!" < > Motele - Theresienstadt < > ======================================================== < ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 14:34:48 +0600 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Brian Tissue Subject: paper 5 - BT: pseudoscience resources Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Mike, Are there compilations of pseudoscience examples, either on-line or in print, that you would recommend as good resources for both students doing projects and educators looking for ideas? Brian ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 11:42:09 -0700 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Trent Nordmeyer Subject: Re: How to get off of this list Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Thanks, this info helped me avoid a potentially embarrasing situation. At 06:55 AM 6/6/97 EDT, you wrote: >Yesterday several people sent messages to the entire list >asking that they be removed from the ChemConf listserv list. > >ChemConf is like any other listserv list - it allow autonomous >subscription and signoff. You do *not* have to ask for public >permission or assistance - you can do it all by yourself. Here's >how: > >To sign off the ChemConf list, send an email message to: > >listserv@umdd.umd.edu > >containing the one-line message: > >signoff chemconf > >Make sure you use the same email account that you subscribed from. > >Please do *not* send signoff requests to the public listserv >address (chemconf@umdd.umd.edu) - if you do so, everyone will >read your removal request and know that you did it wrong. > >Thanks! ;0) > >Tom >------------------------------------------------------------------------- >Tom O'Haver Professor of Analytical Chemistry >University of Maryland Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry >College Park, MD 20742 Maryland Collaborative for Teacher Preparation >(301) 405-1831 to2@umail.umd.edu >FAX: (301) 314-9121 http://www.wam.umd.edu/~toh > > ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 18:16:48 -0400 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Tom Kenney Subject: Papers 1, 2, 3... -tek- The Emperor's New Computer? In-Reply-To: <970605095314_-1229061828@emout01.mail.aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII BACKGROUND: When I tried to read paper #2, I found that my computer and I were lacking in the abilities referenced in papers #1&3. After an hour of downloading, installing, re-configuring, etc., I was finally able to read and print most of the rest of the papers. Luckily, I am a college teacher (i.e., unemployed for the summer) so I didn't have to justify the time to anyone. However..... The unasked (unaskable?) question is: "What is there about copyrighted comic strips, blinking bullets, dripping blood and full color photos that would have justified the time to my bosses?" That is: "How were these features necessary to my *understanding* of the paper?" SHORT QUESTIONS TO THE LIST: 1. At what point does the method of presentation overshadow the content? 2. How do we measure if, and when, we get (got) to that point? Tom Kenney e-mail: tkenney@umd5.umd.edu s-mail: Chemistry Department Montgomery College Rockville, MD 20850 ***Standard disclaimers apply.*** ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 20:50:30 -0500 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Peter Lykos Subject: Re: Paper #5 ME:General question to CHEMCONF participants In-Reply-To: <3.0.32.19970606140915.0090bc60@mailserver.nist.gov> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII At IIT we have a center for the study of ethics in the professions that just celebrated its 25th anniversary. Vivian Weil is the director. Among other activities she runs a monthly brown bag luncheon for IIT faculty and others, summer workshops with NSF support for IIT faculty and others, and otherwise promotes - quite successfully - attention to ehtics issues in our required two two credit freshman year courses required in all disciplines Intro to the Professions. She has built a major library resource on the subject and publishes a newsletter. Perhaps with help form electronic journal afficienados she can be helped to convert that system to an electronic journal. Our Galvin library is state of the art in that regard so all the essential ingredients are in hand. The CHEMCONF organizers may wish to consider some sort of birds of a feather rump session with that focus. Bob Fillera, recently quasi-retired chem prof has been a regular participant in Vivian's programs. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 22:51:50 -0400 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Mike Epstein Subject: Papers 1, 2, 3... ME response to -tek- The Emperor's New Computer? MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/enriched; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable While discussion should be limited at this point, since I am responsible for= 75% of Tom's complaint (blinking bullets, dripping blood and full color= photos), I do need to respond now. =20 The point of having a conference on the WWW is two-fold. First, obviously,= is to allow participation without travel costs. Second, is to take= advantage of the information resources of the WWW, such as hyperlinks. = Finally, is to take advantage of the multimedia aspects of WWW publishing.= Now I'll admit that putting the dripping blood, animated icons, and color= jpgs was not necessary for the content of my paper (I'm glad you didn't= have Internet Explorer 3.0, or you would have gotten background music as= well). But it was *FUN* and that is what this whole thing is about. = Teaching and learning should be fun for both teachers and instructors. If= I can make teaching more fun for me and learning more fun for students,= then I've done something good. Many of my general chemistry students had 3= hours of lectures before having to listen to me. If I can perk them up by= showing a video of a 20-year old alka-selzer commercial (Speedy saying= pop-pop-fizz-fizz) or doing *psychic chemistry*, I'm certainly going to do= it. Fun for them and fun for me. I'm afraid that I applied the same= psychology to this conference. By Friday, I figured that everyone would be= a bit exhausted, so I decided to spice the manuscript up a bit. Hopefully= it made it more enjoyable for some. I'm sorry that you had to "download, install and re-configure", but most= browsers can handle the animated icons, color jpg files in my paper and the= pdf files (of paper #2). And you could have downloaded my pages as a text= file and not looked at the *effects*. =20 In any event, I understand what you are driving at, but I stand by the= opinion that anything that makes learning more enjoyable is worth it ...= anything! ME At 06:16 PM 6/6/97 -0400, you wrote: >BACKGROUND: > >When I tried to read paper #2, I found that my computer and I were lacking >in the abilities referenced in papers #1&3. > >After an hour of downloading, installing, re-configuring, etc., I was >finally able to read and print most of the rest of the papers. Luckily, I >am a college teacher (i.e., unemployed for the summer) so I didn't have to >justify the time to anyone. However..... > >The unasked (unaskable?) question is: "What is there about copyrighted >comic strips, blinking bullets, dripping blood and full color photos that >would have justified the time to my bosses?" That is: "How were these >features necessary to my *understanding* of the paper?" > >SHORT QUESTIONS TO THE LIST: > >1. At what point does the method of presentation overshadow the content? >2. How do we measure if, and when, we get (got) to that point? > >Tom Kenney e-mail: tkenney@umd5.umd.edu > s-mail: Chemistry Department > Montgomery College > Rockville, MD 20850 > > ***Standard disclaimers apply.*** > >
Mike Epstein Research Chemist National Institute of Standards and Technology Michael.Epstein@nist.gov http://esther.la.asu.edu/sas/epstein/epstein.html > "From tomorrow on, I shall be sad - from tomorrow on! << > Not today; no! Today I will be glad. << > And every day, no matter how bitter it be, I will say: << > From tomorrow on, I shall be sad, not today!" << > Motele - Theresienstadt <<=20
========================================================================= Date: Sat, 7 Jun 1997 11:25:59 -0400 Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Mike Epstein Subject: Re: Papers 1, 2, 3... ME: Response to question on *FUN* MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/enriched; charset="us-ascii" Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT The following question was addressed to me personally, and I think it needs to be presented to the list so that my original statement is clarified. Then I *promise* to keep quiet until the official discussion time. QUESTION: If *fun* is an important component of teaching/learning (I don't entirely disagree, but it's not my top priority), do we have to spend thousands of $ on computers and software to have it (i.e., fun)? My response: My top priority isn't fun. My top priority is getting the message across to students, to get them enthused about the subject I'm teaching, and (most important) providing them with a curriculum that will get them the best job possible after they graduate. The *FUN* part is a motivational tool for both them and me. If an instructor is an outstanding performer who can keep a class interested in a mundane subject for an hour using only his hands and mouth ... hey, that's great. He or she doesn't need multimedia. But that also takes a great deal of practice, preparation, and natural skill. Those who are not blessed with all those tools, and/or who, like me, do this on a very part time basis, holding a regular job at the same time, with limited preparation time, find computer-aid to be an incredible blessing that allows us to do far more in the limited time we have. In addition, and this has been brought up previously, computers in the lecture are only part of the picture. By providing computer-based education outside of lecture, particularly in the laboratory, students are being prepared for the real world. They can tell the prospective employer that they know how to do statistical analysis using Excel; that they built a computer-based titration system, etc. So, no, you don't have to spend thousands of dollars on computers and software ... unless you want to provide the best educational experience for kids who are spending thousands of dollars paying us to educate them! ME >In a message dated 97-06-07 00:57:05 EDT, you write: > >> But it was *FUN* and that is what this whole thing is about. Teaching and >> learning should be fun for both teachers and instructors. If I can make >> teaching more fun for me and learning more fun for students, then I've done > >> something good.
Mike Epstein Research Chemist National Institute of Standards and Technology Michael.Epstein@nist.gov http://esther.la.asu.edu/sas/epstein/epstein.html > "From tomorrow on, I shall be sad - from tomorrow on! << > Not today; no! Today I will be glad. << > And every day, no matter how bitter it be, I will say: << > From tomorrow on, I shall be sad, not today!" << > Motele - Theresienstadt <<
========================================================================= Date: Sat, 7 Jun 1997 13:45:22 -0500 Reply-To: chm_tgc@shsu.edu Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: "Dr. Red Chasteen" Organization: Analytical Biospheric Insanity Subject: Paper 5:TGC Using Pseudoscience as an Aid to Teaching General and Analytical Chemistry MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I think that considering the following will go a long way to describe the rift that has developed in the last few days' comments on this CHEMCONF. While the argument is not simply on the level of a schism between Neo-Luddites and those who like to have fun teaching with computers, it does show a division in this conference's contributors--very similar to those in my own chemistry department. In general, this can be framed as a discussion between: 1) those who see an inherent value in teaching and learning something new that--while not strictly necessary to teach chemistry--hardly hurts that process (cost aside) and has the potential to greatly improve it and 2) those who are cautious about fooling with a process that they has also worked hard to improve and for which dedicating a large amount of additional time--to only marginally improve student involvement--seems ill-advised. While in the former camp, I think all are served by remembering that everyone who has contributed--authors and "commentators"--clearly seem to have teaching/learning chemistry as the object. No doubt. We all just try to achieve it different ways. That's why we all write different syllabi! Red Head -- Dr. Thomas G. Chasteen Department of Chemistry Sam Houston State University Huntsville, Texas 77341-2117 All the Masters theses from my research group are available as on-line Adobe Acrobat Documents in PDF format-complete with images, data, and bibliographies. They can be downloaded and viewed with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader at: http://www.shsu.edu/~chm_tgc/theses/abstracts.html ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 7 Jun 1997 16:54:15 EDT Reply-To: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education Sender: Conferences on Chemistry Research and Education From: Donald Rosenthal Organization: Clarkson University Subject: Paper 5 - DR: SQ on Pseudoscience and Life-Changing Exper MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT At the end of your paper you state: "The students found many of the topics fascinating and those who participated in actual experimental work and attended the conference on controversial research found that the experience actually helped to direct their career choices. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ In an evaluation essay, it was described by one student as a life-changing experience." ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ A teacher always hopes that what we teach and how we teach will influence the students. Can you provide more information about how exposure to pseudoscience helped to direct their career choices and serve as life-changing experiences? Donald Rosenthal Clarkson University ROSEN1@CLVM.CLARKSON.EDU