CHM 101 - General Chemistry I

Charles R. Ward
Professor
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

In 2005, a group of UNCW researchers received funding from the National Science Foundation to create a Virtual Learning Community (VLC) in chemistry and mathematics. The technological cornerstone of this work was the tablet PC. From 2005 to 2006, the researchers assembled a suite of software and hardware tools to exploit the capabilities of tablet PCs for teaching chemistry and calculus. In the spring of 2006, a group of students was equipped with tablet PCs and enrolled in special sections of CHM-102 and MAT-161. The students used their tablet PCs for taking class notes, acquiring laboratory data, analyzing data, doing homework, communicating with other students in the VLC, and many other computer-related tasks. The response from the students to this work was overwhelmingly positive and indicated that the project should be expanded to a larger group.

The project proposed for fall 2008 will involve a group of approximately 70 students, all of whom will have their own tablet PCs, enrolled in a special section of CHM-101. The project’s design will allow us to compare the performance of students in the special section of CHM-101 with students in a traditionally taught section of the same course.

In summary, the students will use their tablet PCs to:

• take class notes (specially prepared for tablet PC use),
• acquire, analyze, and report data from the laboratory.
• act as input devices for a Student Response System
• effectively collaborate on classroom and laboratory activities since the information they need to share will already be contained in files saved to their Tablet PCs.
• remotely communicate with the instructor and other students using audio, video, and whiteboard technology.