Journal of Chemical Education: Software		Issue: 1B1
J. J. Lagowski University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712
It isn't often that an editor of an established journal is able to launch a new journal, but that auspicious moment for the Journal of Chemical Education has arrived with the publication of JCE: Software. The ready accessibility of interactive computing about two decades ago in those days, on time-shared mainframes provided an early insight for some into the practical usefulness of computing in the educational process. In those early days, a number of investigators demonstrated the advantages to both teachers and students of interactive computing, in spite of the handicap (by modern standards) of poor hardware environments. In general, from the students' point of view, the availability of interactive computing yielded achievement at a higher level than without such computing; students had access to a chemistry-content environment that was richer with interactive computing than without. On the other hand, teachers had more time available to devote to their students. All in all, the educational process was enhanced. Then, the advent of inexpensive microprocessor-based work stations with color displays provided a new milieu filled with potential for creative efforts focused on all kinds of programs designed to enhance the educational process. Chemists quickly seized the moment, and instructional programs began appearing. Initially, the dissemination process for such programs was word of mouth, but it became quickly apparent that a more orderly process was required. Project SERAPHIM was created to address that problem. About that same time the Journal of Chemical Education became involved with the dissemination of computer-related ideas as they apply to chemical education with the publication of the Computer Series feature, which started nearly a decade ago and now numbers more than 90 columns. The process of creating educational software to help teachers teach chemistry has reached the point where the products of that process need to be intellectually peer-tested in the same sense that other ideas are before they appear in print in the Journal of Chemical Education. Some attempts were made in this direction in the more recent columns of the Computer Series, but it quickly became apparent that the usual review process produced publishable items (words on a printed page) that discussed often in very creative ways the software and/or its effects on the educational process. The object of such discussions--the software--often did not get into the hands of our subscribers except through special efforts or by accident. JCE: Software is designed to alleviate that problem. We intend to make JCE: Software a vehicle for the publication of creative work that is expressed as computer programs. We intend it to be intellectually tested by a community of peers; works that appear in JCE: Software will have achieved the same level of acceptability by that community as those that appear in print in the Journal of Chemical Education. Works that appear in JCE: Software will be expressed in mixed media. Anyone who has asked for and received a floppy disk with no additional documentation understands the need for the latter; since programs that will appear in JCE: Software will also have some pedagogical value, we expect to provide much more than just technical documentation. Thus, JCE: Software will publish the code for reviewed programs (in the form of a disk) as well as printed documentation as appropriate in the broadest sense of that idea for those programs that appear on the disk; everything published will be scrutinized by the process of peer review. As is the case with most journals, JCE: Software will be available by subscription; this first MS-DOS issue of the first volume can be obtained as a single issue on a trial basis, but subscriptions will become available next year. Unlike most journals, however, the disk medium must be for a specific kind of hardware. We have decided to approach that problem by creating separate series under the umbrella of the general title JCE: Software. Thus, our initial offering was Series A, which incorporated software that will run on Apple computers. This is the first issue in the B series of JCE: Software focused on MS-DOS machines. This general strategy permits us to anticipate the publication of software for other, as yet undescribed, hardware/operating system configurations. JCE: Software is a bold step in publication. We believe its time has come and private resources have been gathered to initiate this venture. Clearly, JCE: Software needs the support of the chemical education community to become as self-sustaining as has the Journal of Chemical Education over the years. Such support is garnered at many levels within our community, from authors who have something to offer, to reviewers who give of their time and intellect to assure quality of the resultant product, to subscribers who find enough interest and use in the contents, not necessarily all the contents to support the product financially. Computing is here to stay in the process of chemical education, and JCE: Software will make it more viable. I urge all of you to support JCE: Software in every way you can. (Adapted with permission from J. Chem. Educ. 1988, 65, 377.)

Published: October 1988

Citation: Lagowski, J. J. Journal of Chemical Education: Software J. Chem. Educ. Software 1B1

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