| Mission Statement
In classrooms and laboratories throughout the world, rapidly advancing information technologies are changing the face of education in chemistry. This column deals with educational changes that can result from technological developments, including interactive on-line approaches and the integration of multimedia materials. Such education may involve the use of technology in a variety of settings, from the traditional lecture hall or laboratory to virtual or distributed classrooms. Instructional and information technologies have, in some cases, made entirely new educational environments and practices possible. Technology may be used to communicate interactively and in real-time with students who are off-campus, perhaps in other states or countries. Multimedia can be used on-line in homework or exam situations to probe conceptual understanding and aid in the visualization of microscopic chemical phenomena. As these changes occur in chemical education, it is critical to guide them by answering questions such as:
- What are the best ways to utilize instructional technologies to enhance learning and modify teaching practices?
- What new learning environments are possible?
- How does learning actually occur in these environments and what are the outcomes?
- How do we assess the effects of new instructional technologies and new practices that use them?
- Which applications and hardware can be used to develop effective learning environments?
- What modifications are needed in the classroom environment?
- How are distributed learning systems changing as multimedia and communications technology change?
We are soliciting manuscripts that address these and related questions. Manuscripts should describe not only the technology, but also its use in an instructional capacity and the assessment of that use. Manuscripts that describe locally produced software or routine uses of software are not appropriate to this column. Software, along with descriptions of its use, should be submitted to JCE Software; descriptions of uses of commercial software should be submitted to the Computer Bulletin Board.
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