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Spring 1998 CCCENL Newsletter
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Note: This article was scanned using OCR from the Spring 1998 CCCE Newsletter. Please contact us if you identify any OCR errors.
Submissions: General articles should be sent to editor Brian Pankuch at the above address. We would appreciate both 1) printed copy ( hardcopy ) and 2) a readable me on a Macintosh or IBM compatible 3 1/2" diskette. We have fewer problems with 3 1/2 " 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 NEWSLETTER, 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
HOERR@ 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
Thomas O'Haver@UMAIL.UMD.EDU
CONTENTS
1. CHAIRMAN'S COMMENTS
Harry E. Pence
SUNY Oneonta
Oneonta, NY 13820
1. FROM THE EX-CHAIR
Donald Rosenthal
Clarkson University
Potsdam, NY 13699-5810
3. FINISHING UP AT PRINCETON
Brian Pankuch, Editor
Union County College
Cranford, NJ 07016
4. MULTIMEDIA IN LECTURES AND ON THE WORLD VIDE VBB, PART I
Brian Pankuch, Editor
7. AN INTRODUCTION TO CASCADING STYLE SHEETS AND DYNAMIC HTML
Susanne M. Dana
Roanoke Valley Governor's School for Science and Technology
Roanoke, VA 24015
Brian M. Tissue
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0212
9. COLLABORATIVE INTERCOLLIDIATE PHYSICAL CHEHISTRY PROJECTS
David Whisnant
Wofford College
Spartanburg, SC 29303
Lisa Lever
University of South Carolina at Spartanburg
Spartanburg, SC 29303
Jerry Howe
Converse College
Spartanburg, SC 29303
12. SPARTAN IN ORGANIC CHEHISTRY
Wilmon B. Chipman
Wilmon B. Chipman
Bridgewater State College
Bridgewater, MA 02325
13. CCCE NATIONAL WORKSHOPS
Donald Rosenthal
Clarkson University
Potsdam, NY 13699-5810
15. PHARMACEUTICALS, THEIR DISCOVERY, RIDULATION AND MANUFACTURE OLCC-3
James M. Beard
Catawba College
Salisbury, NC 28144
16. SWITCHING STUDENTS ON TO SCIENCE An On-Line Conference in September and October 1998
Hugh Cartwright
Oxford University
England
17. OTHER ON-LINE CONFERENCES
Donald Rosenthal
Clarkson University
Potsdam, NY 13699-5810
18. COME JOIN US AT THE 1998 BCCE
Donald Rosenthal
Clarkson University
Potsdam, NY 13699-5810
18. TO ERR IS HUMAN
Donald Rosenthal
Clarkson University
Potsdam, NY 13699-5810
19. SOME USEFUL VWW SITES
Donald Rosenthal
Clarkson University
Potsdam, NY 13699-5810
Chairman's Comments
Harry E. Pence
SUNY Oneonta
Oneonta, NY 13820
Paying homage to a retiring committee chair naturally produces mixed emotions, especially when the retiree has had such a productive period of service as Don Rosenthal. During Don's Chairmanship, there has been an incredible amount of progress in the application of computers to chemical education, and Don has ensured that the Committee has played a significant role in this development.
When Don became chair in 1992, the personal computer was just beginning to make an impact on chemical education. A few visionaries could see the promise of this new tool, but I'm not sure that anyone really appreciated the changes that were coming. Even the most far-sighted prophets couldn't anticipate applications that we now take for granted, such as the World Wide Web, desktop molecular modeling, symbolic mathematics programs, and many others.
The goal ofthe Committee is to encourage and support the use of computing technologies for chemical education. This sounds like a big order, since the Committee has relatively few resources, aside from some very dedicated members, and the community of chemical educators would seem to be too large and diverse for any small group to affect them. In fact, the various programs that the Committee has undertaken in the past few years have helped make many faculty aware of the potential of the new technologies and also have given many faculty members the skills that they needed to make significant changes in the ways that they teach.
Under Dan's leadership, the Committee has sponsored symposia at many of the regional and national meetings of the American Chemical Society as well as the Biennial Conferences on Chemical Education. It has also developed and sponsored workshops to help college and high school teachers learn new techniques for teaching with computers. I don't have any solid data that show how effective this work has been, but 1 have heard a lot of anecdotal evidence to suggest that many of those who are currently active in the field got their start from these symposia and workshops.
Probably the most important contribution that the Committee made was not just talking about the new technologies, but actually using them in ne~ ways to allow chemical educators to interact. Tom 0 Haver, who IS retiring from the CCCE this year, proposed the development of the first on-line conference in chemical education, which was held in 1993. Based on the success of the first conference, there have been a succession of such on-line events. The most recent conference, held this spring, involves over 800 participants from 49 different countries. These are important,
not only because they bring together an international roster of chemists to discuss common problems, but also because they give faculty a taste of the interconnected world in which our students will live and work.
More recently, the development of the On-Line Chemistry Courses has brought together chemistry students and faculty from all over North America, and enabled them to work with experts from industry to explore special topics in chemistry. The most recent course, which is being held this spring, involves approximately 130 students from 15 different colleges. The continued success of these on-line projects shows that the new technology can, indeed, turn the entire world into our classroom. The archives of the On-Line Courses and the On-Line Conferences represent a significant resource in chemical education, which is available to anyone with Web access.
Don has provided the inspiration, ideas, and hard work necessary to make sure that the Committee on Computers in Chemical Education has not simply encouraged faculty to use the new technologies, but has also demonstrated some of the new capabilities that these technologies make available. In doing so, he has served both the Committee and the community of chemical educators extremely well. We are all more aware of new educational possibilities because of his contributions. I am delighted to have this opportunity to express our appreciation to Don Rosenthal for his service as Chair of the Committee on Computers in Chemical Education. I am equally happy to report that Don will still be serving as a member of the Committee. We look forward to his continued contributions.
Editor:
Brian Pankuch
Department of Chemistry, Union County College
Cranford, NJ 07016
pankuch@ hawk.ucc.edu.
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