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Fall 1998 CCCENL Newsletter
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Note: This article was scanned using OCR from the Spring 1997 CCCE Newsletter. Please contact us if you identify any OCR errors.
Submissions: General articles should be sentto editor Brian Pankuch atthe above address. We would appreciate both 1) printed copy (hardcopy) and 2) a readable file on a Macintosh or IBM compatible 3 1/2" diskette. We have fewer problems with 31/2" diskettes. Email submissions are frequently lost, and formatting and special characters are changed. If attachments are used please send a description of what your using-such as Microsoft Word 6 with Netscape 4, separately. This gives me a chance to decode it.
Submission deadlines: Fall issue - Sept. 25; Spring issue - March 15.
ALL NEW AND RENEWAL SUBSCRIPTIONS: PLEASE SEND REMITIANCE TO:
Donald Rosenthal
CCE NEWSLETIER
Department of Chemistry, Clarkson University
Potsdam, NY 13699-5810.
ROSEN©CLVM.CLARKSON.EDU.
RATES: USA 1 year $2.50, two years $4.50: Other countries 1 yr $5, two yr $9. Please make a check or money order payable in US funds to Computers in Chemical Education Newsletter. Two issues are published per vear.
Consulting Editor
Donald Rosenthal
CCE NEWSLETIER Department of Chemistry, Clarkson University
Potsdam, NY 13699-5810.
Send meeting notices, etc., to Don.,
ROSEN@ CLVM.CLARKSON.EDU.
Managing Editor
Henry R. Derr
Laramie County Community College
Cheyenne, WY 82007
HDERR@ eagles. Icc. whecn .EDU.
Contributing Editors:
Wilmon B. Chipman
Dept of Chemical Sciences, Bridgewater State College
Bridgewater, MA 02325,
chipman@topoat bsc.mass.edu
Thomas C. O'Haver
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
ThomasO'Haver@UMAIL.UMD.EDU
List of Papers
Computer-Based Facilitation of Pedagogically Valuable Learning Activities In Large Classrooms
Abby L. Parrill
University of Memphis
A Sunscreen Experiment Using the World Wide Web and Molecular Modeling
David M. Whisnant
Wofford College
Spartanburg, SC 29303-3663
Integrating Computational Chemistry and Molecular Modeling into the Undergraduate Chemistry Curriculum.
A Symposium Report
Harry E. Pence
SUNY Oneonta
Why Use Presentation Software?
Harry E. Pence
SUNY Oneonta, Oneonta, NY
A Simple Strategy for Creating Web-based, Interactive, Multiple· Choice, Practice Examinations.
Carl H. Snyder
Chemistry Department, University of Miami
CoraiGables FL
Chairman's Comments
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
Harry E. Pence
SUNY-Oneonta
In the previous issue of the Newsletter, my editorial focused on the achievements of the CCCE under the chairmanship of Don Rosenthal. This was appropriate, since these accomplishments have been significant. It would be a mistake, however, to think that the work of the Committee is largely completed. The changes in chemical education in the past few years are only a prelude to what lies ahead.
Let me give you an example of how far we have to go. Two years ago, during the ACS meeting in Orlando, I attended a symposium on the international chemical industry. My main motivation was curiosity; how have changes in communications affected the waythat chemical companies do business? The answer surprised me.
One speaker discussed the development of a new product, which began with an initial discovery at a university in Massachusetts. Then the Massachusetts group worked with the main company laboratory in New Jersey to confirm their results. There was almost no face-to-face communication; the two groups exchanged information mainly by means of teleconferences and electronic mail. Next, a pilot plant in Holland was brought into the process, and now all three groups communicated by telecommunications. Finally, a production plant in the Carolinas produced the product, while all four groups now cooperated by means of electronic communications.
As I heard this description, I could not help but ask myself, "Are we preparing our students to work in this kind of workplace?" When I looked around the room, I was startled to realize that I was probably the only chemical educator present. The total audience was only a dozen people, and most of them were the speakers from the symposium. It left me with an uneasy feeling about how far we in higher education have to go in order to give our students a solid preparation for the world they will encounter after graduation.
This fall I attended the ACS meeting in Boston and came away with at least a partial answer to my concerns. During a symposium organized by Dr. George Long (Indiana University of Pennsylvania), a member of this Committee, I heard several papers that described how electronic collaborative methods were being used for teaching. In two cases, consortia of professors from
several different campuses had created an opportunity for their students to work together in the physical chemistry course. Another paper reported on the latest On-Line Chemistry Course, in which students from several different campuses work cooperatively. I was delighted and gratified to note that many of the faculty who are involved in these projects are members of the
CCCE, and, of course, the On-Line Chemistry Courses are sponsored by this committee.
Higher education will not adopt new technologies overnight, nor will there be an immediate consensus about how to use these technologies for teaching. The process of exploring and implementing new methods will require both time and dedication. One job of the CCCE is to test the most promising new technologies. There may still be a long way to go before I can be satisfied that we are preparing our students for the new world of telecommunications, but the members of the committee are working hard to learn how to do this. It is clear that the CCCE has a full agenda for some time to come.
Editor:
Brian Pankuch
Department of Chemistry, Union County College
Cranford, NJ 07016
pankuch@eclipse.net, or pankuch@hawk.ucc.edu
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