Since the new ACS CPT guidelines have come out, our department has begun having discussions about ideas for changes in the curriculum. As part of this process, we are trying to define the skills that we think a BS-level chemistry graduate should have. We have a good start on skills that aren’t specific to a discipline (literature searching, databases, writing reports in the format of a journal article, presenting research/lab results, scientific ethics, safety, etc.) Now we’re focusing on skills (not content knowledge) that our majors should have.

There's a professor in Biology here at Smith who has been using Lecture Capture technology.  You can see his video speaking about his experience on YouTube (search Michael Baresi and Smith). I tried posting just the link here, but it didn't seem to work right.  Hopefully the video isn't just something you can see from Smith. 

 I am a bit skeptical about using it.  I was wondering if anyone out there is using it and, if so, what their experiences have been with it.

we are redoing our first year laboratory, and want to fix a broken experiment, and add a new one.

1)  Vanadium.  We have the students make a variety of vanadium compounds and watch the color changes during a variety of redox reactions.  I haven't taught this in a while, but I know there is a chemical reduction, bubbling air through it for an oxidation, and then finally reduction with zinc amalgam.  We'd like to remove the Zn and Hg from the lab if possible.  Does this lab sound familiar to anyone?  And do other reducing agents work?

In two weeks, my second semester general chemistry students (majors) will be doing an in house lab on the synthesis and characterization of metal oxalates. We are trying to focus on writing skills and we focus on different parts of a paper. For the synthesis week, I would like to have my students look at papers in the literature (probably Inorg. Chem.) to see how syntheses are written up.

I need to order a new model kit for general chem and my (much smaller) inorganic chemistry course.  Every spring when both courses roll around to optical and geometric isomers of inorganic coordination compounds, I am frustrated and flummoxed about how to best demonstrate them.  Particularly difficult are the chelating ligands.