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?
My students and I are in the process of developing a foundation level book with an emphasis on solid state and materials. You can learn more about it here: https://www.ionicviper.org/web-resources-and-apps/inorganic-chemistry-w…
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.
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....
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.
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.
Our department is working with facilities on our campus to develop plans to remodel the small classroom space we use to teach our inorganic lab course, capacity 12 students.
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.
FYI, a number of the large courses on our campus have started using a new system called Gradescope to help us grade short answer questions on exams and homeworks much more efficiently. In Chem 1a for example (~1300 students), we were able to get rid of MC (Scantron) questions entirely on exams (three midterms and a final).
Their website (https://www.gradescope.com) has details on how the system works - it really is wonderful! I believe it's in public beta right now and is free to use.