My Notes
Categories
In the 2000s, we developed an online tutorial that demonstrates the fundamental principles and applications of the various types of spectroscopy that students will encounter in the inorganic chemistry laboratory, namely infrared spectroscopy (IR), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and UV-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis). With the demise of the original Flash browser plug-in at the end of 2020, a revised version 2.0 has been created to update the source content to HTML5. The tutorial has been designed as a stand-alone interactive resource that can either introduce the fundamental aspects of spectroscopy from first principles or serve as a supplement for students who prefer to learn visually in an individual setting. A key part of the interactive nature of the tutorial is the inclusion of problems (with explained answers) as the student works through the material.
Students should be able to use this resource to supplement their knowledge of basic spectroscopic principles and to test what they have learned. As the application of spectroscopy to analyzing inorganic compounds is an exercise in creative problem solving, the student can test their skills against a selection of interactive problems.
The tutorial should function correctly on any modern browser (including iOS and Android) and is HTML5 compliant.
The primary intent is for students to use the tutorial as a self-paced exercise, but instructors could potentially use some of the animations or examples to augment their lectures.
We have received extremely positive feedback from students who are visual learners and prefer an interactive online experience to traditional reading/problem sets.
Evaluation
The tutorial is not designed as an evaluative object, but rather as a learning tool.