Web Chemistry Course and Conferencing Tools
As more people are thinking about developing structured courses of teaching and training Web-based materials in chemistry, so the need arises to think how such courses might operate in a multi-author, multi-course, many student and symmetric ( ie students need to submit files as well as read documents) environment. None of this is specific to chemistry, but it turns out there are many interesting tools emerging for this type of application. We have heard very good reports about WebCT http://homebrew1.cs.ubc.ca/webct/ although there are other (perhaps more expensive) products such as FirstClass etc. Does anyone have any experiences of using such tools? One of my concerns is that we will all end up using different tools, and the global reach of the web will start "Balkanising" into lots of little local Intranets, all pretty much incompatible. Dr Henry Rzepa, Dept. Chemistry, Imperial College, LONDON SW7 2AY; mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk; Tel (44) 171 594 5774; Fax: (44) 171 594 5804. URL: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa/ chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa@ic.ac.uk)
As more people are thinking about developing structured courses of teaching and training Web-based materials in chemistry, so the need arises to think how such courses might operate in a multi-author, multi-course, many student and symmetric ( ie students need to submit files as well as read documents) environment.
None of this is specific to chemistry, but it turns out there are many interesting tools emerging for this type of application. We have heard very good reports about WebCT http://homebrew1.cs.ubc.ca/webct/ although there are other (perhaps more expensive) products such as FirstClass etc.
Does anyone have any experiences of using such tools?
One of my concerns is that we will all end up using different tools, and the global reach of the web will start "Balkanising" into lots of little local Intranets, all pretty much incompatible.
I was speaking at the same meeting that Henry was introduced to WebCT. It is very good. Sheffield (several departments) has been beta testing it for some time and many of us are enthusiastic about it. An unlimited license (university wide) for a single server for 12 months is 3000 dollars (US or Canadian?) and I suspect that when it is released in the next couple of months that we shall go for it. Just within chemistry we have been looking at TopClass. A demo is available at http://www.wbtsystems.com/. We've had a few problems with it but the features are good. Dr Mark J Winter (Deputy Head of Department) Department of Chemistry, The University, Sheffield S3 7HF, England tel: +44 (0)114 222 9304 fax: +44 (0)114 222 9303 e-m: mark.winter@sheffield.ac.uk http://www.shef.ac.uk/~chem/staff/mjw/mark-winter.html WebElements is the periodic table on the world-wide web: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~chem/web-elements/ The Sheffield Chemdex is a listing of chemistry sites on the world-wide web: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~chem/chemdex/ chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa@ic.ac.uk)
I was speaking at the same meeting that Henry was introduced to WebCT. It is very good. Sheffield (several departments) has been beta testing it for some time and many of us are enthusiastic about it. An unlimited license (university wide) for a single server for 12 months is 3000 dollars (US or Canadian?) and I suspect that when it is released in the next couple of months that we shall go for it.
I forgot to mention that I hear rumours to the effect that WebCT will develop their system so that at least part of the delivery can be off-line, so as to cut down on phone charges for users of that type. Dr Mark J Winter (Deputy Head of Department) Department of Chemistry, The University, Sheffield S3 7HF, England tel: +44 (0)114 222 9304 fax: +44 (0)114 222 9303 e-m: mark.winter@sheffield.ac.uk http://www.shef.ac.uk/~chem/staff/mjw/mark-winter.html WebElements is the periodic table on the world-wide web: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~chem/web-elements/ The Sheffield Chemdex is a listing of chemistry sites on the world-wide web: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~chem/chemdex/ chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To unsubscribe, send to majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; unsubscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (rzepa@ic.ac.uk)
participants (2)
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Mark Winter
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Rzepa, Henry