"Other" Resources Used for Teaching Inorganic Chemistry - Results from the 2013 Survey

Submitted by Barbara Reisner / James Madison University on Wed, 06/10/2015 - 14:27

The 2013 Inorganic Curriculum Survey asked respondents about the resources they used when they teach inorganic chemistry. The choices included inorganic chemistry textbooks, activities from the Journal of Chemical Education, articles from the primary literature (e.g., JACS, Inorg. Chem.), demonstrations, online homework, online resources, podcasts, videos, Wikipedia, and other. About 20% of respondents selected "other" and provided information about these resources.

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Anyone with experience (good or bad) with Smartwork homework system?

Submitted by Hilary Eppley / DePauw University on Thu, 05/28/2015 - 16:29

In our introductory class, we've periodically used Sapling online homework system.  We are looking at a new book for the fall that comes with the Smartwork homework system which seems quite a bit like Sapling.  Anyone have any experience with both and can talk about the differences and pros/cons other than price?   

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Grading Multiple Choice Exams

We are a small school with relatively small classes.  My exams (for any course/level) typically contain at most 10 multiple choice questions.  However, we are now administering the ACS exams as final exams for many of our courses.  Since I started, we have always graded these by hand using self-generated answer sheets where students write in their choice (no bubble filling).  For multiple reasons, we think we need a more efficient (and accurate) system.

Amanda Reig / Ursinus College Sat, 04/25/2015 - 23:30
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Integrating Literature Discussions into the Syllabus

Submitted by Anne Bentley / Lewis & Clark College on Mon, 04/20/2015 - 13:41

I describe the various ways that I've incorporated literature discussion learning objects (LOs) into my inorganic course in a BITeS blog post. I'm curious to hear more about what others have done.  Do you sprinkle discussions throughout the course?  (At the end of each section? How many?) Do you save them all for the end? Do your students work on articles individually or do you prefer to have the whole class read articles together?

Of course there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution.... 

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Last Day of Class

Submitted by Amanda Reig / Ursinus College on Wed, 04/15/2015 - 00:47

So I know we have LOs and discussions about what people do on the first day of class.  Does anyone do anything cool or interesting on the last day of class?  I have actually stayed on (actually even 1 day ahead) of my syllabus this semester and have some wiggle room to think about how to wrap up the semester.  Crazy and fun ideas welcome.  

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5th Ed Miessler, Fischer and Tarr Typos

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Mon, 03/02/2015 - 13:03

Previously in the forums there was a place for 4th Ed typos. The 5th Ed has been out long enough that if there are typos, we have probably discovered them. As with Adam's post of the 4th Ed typos, I like the book. Gary and Paul have certainly been friend's of VIPEr throughout the years. These are just things that we catch that can hopefully make the 6th Ed.

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Simplifying instruction at the expense of "truthiness"

Submitted by BoB LeSuer / The College at Brockport, SUNY on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 13:32

Preamble This is actually a question geared towards analytical chemistry, but us analytical chemists are pretty introverted when it comes to on-line forums.  (Doubt me? Check out the Analytical version of VIPEr here. ) Besides, Inorganic chemists are bright, reflective and welcoming, so I'm confident that some of you have thought about this issue or one closely related.

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