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2003 Fall Newsletter

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A System for Delivering Web-based CoursesEmphasizing Automatic AssessmentDavid W. BrooksProfessor of Chemistry Education in the Center forCurriculum and Instruction at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

 

List of Papers in this Newsletter

1. Wireless Laptop
Brian Pankuch
Chemistry Department, Union County College
Cranford, NJ 07016

2. XML for Chemical Education
Daniel C. Tofan

Chemistry Department, State University of New York
Stony Brook, New York

3. 
AN ONLINE INTERCOLLEGIATE CHEMISTRY COURSE (OLCC):CHEMICAL SAFETY: PROTECTING OURSELVES AND OUR ENVIRONMENT
Donald Rosenthal, Chair, CCCE
Department of Chemistry, Clarkson University
Potsdam, NY 13699-5810


Gary Trammell
Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Springfield
Springfield, IL 62703


Scott Van Bramer
Department of Chemistry, Widener University
Chester, PA19013

4. 
Opera: A Web Browser for Teaching?
Scott Van Bramer
epartment of Chemistry, Widener University
Chester, PA 19013

5. 
BIG CHANGES AHEAD FOR SEARCH ENGINES?
Harry E.Pence
SUNY Oneonta
Oneonta, NY

Editor: 

Brian Pankuch
Chemistry Department, Union County College
Cranford, NJ 07016

Newsletter Articles

Abstracts of Papers

David W. Brooks
Professor of Chemistry Education in the Center for Curriculum and Instruction
University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Professor of Chemistry Education in the Center forCurriculum and Instruction at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Helen B. Brooks is sole proprietor of Synaps Chem Tools, a softwaredevelopment company in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Amjad Abuloum is Assistant Professor of Education, Hashemite University,Zarqa, Jordan.

Kent J. Crippen is Assistant Professor of Science Education andTechnology,University of  Nevada-Las Vegas.

John Markwell is Professor of Biochemistry in the Department of Biochemistryat the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

This software system was used to deliver 15 courses to inservice high schoolchemistry teachers. Over 500 graduate credits were earned during the period ofproject support, and delivery of the courses on a tuition-basis continues today.

Most of the course management was administered on-line, including studentregistration, course enrollment, delivery of all materials, and online testing. Theprincipal feature of the course was automatic testing, with assessment items deliveredin eight formats. Of these, seven were delivered for automatic assessment. The shortanswer item format included powerful worked out problem strategies such that, upon responding to a problem question, the student would see a worked solution to theproblem developed using his/her problem-specific information.

Brian Pankuch
Chemistry Department, Union County College
Cranford, NJ 07016

Utilizing three or more different machines makes for a lot of work updating each machine's software, bookmarks, new programs, etc. Additionally keeping and having all the different projects I work on available wherever and whenever I have some spare time is difficult, as is keeping it all backed up.

Daniel C. Tofan
Chemistry Department, State University of New York
Stony Brook, New York

The IMS specifications provide standards for question and test item interoperability. These standards define XML encoding of items and offer support for basic response types, such as numbers, text, multiple choice etc. As part of the LUCID Project, which is developing an innovative web-based learning and assessment system along with materials for introductory college chemistry, we have developed XML formats for encoding a variety of chemical entities. Examples include isotopic symbols, molecular formulas, Lewis structures, chemical reactions, and equations with units. Student responses to assessment questions are converted to these formats for storage, and standard XML parsing utilities are used to convert from XML to Java objects for analysis. Tag sets for formatting styled text and for extending current IMS markup are also under development. The ensemble of these XML formats is intended to provided a framework for course management systems that are chemistry-aware and is called Chemical Education Markup Language, or ChEdML.

Donald Rosenthal, Chair, CCCE
Department of Chemistry, Clarkson University
Potsdam, NY 13699-5810

Gary Trammell
Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Springfield
Springfield, IL 62703

Scott Van Bramer
Department of Chemistry, Widener University
Chester, PA19013

This paper describes a collaborative intercollegiate undergraduate course on chemicalsafety to be offered during the Fall of 2004. The course will be sponsored by the ACSDivision of Chemical Education and the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety. One of the purposes of this paper is to inform chemical educators about thecourse in the hope they will serve as course instructors at their schools. Each school is responsible for recruiting students and assigning grades. The course is expected to bea learning experience for the students and the instructors. No fee is assessed by the sponsors. Local instructors are facilitators for the course and do not have to be experts in chemical health and safety.

Scott Van Bramer
Department of Chemistry
Widener University
Chester, PA 19013

If your current web browser meets all of your needs. If you like reading pop-up advertismenents. If you like having lots of personal information stored in a cookie file that any web server can view. If you think a web browser should consume all the memory in your computer, even after you think you have closed it. If you like using complex menus for routine tasks. Well, then this article will not be of interest.

Harry E.Pence
SUNY Oneonta
Oneonta, NY

"...This discussion has focused mainly on five web search engines: Altavista, Hotbot (partially powered by Inktomi), FAST, Google, and MSNetwork. A number of major acquisitions in the past few months suggest that this roster may be in the process of changing. If so, the results would be important to anyone who uses one of these engines. ." .read on