An example is a new online column, JCE ChemInfo: Organic, edited by Hans Reich. I encourage you to use it and contribute to it. JCE ChemInfo: Organic is a dream come true for those teaching organic chemistry. It includes tables of pK_a values in water, DMSO, and the gas phase for hundreds of compounds, tables of proton and ¹³C chemical shifts, and definitions of acronymns, reaction names, and other nomenclature. Reich has also included links to other sources of nomenclature rules and data. As a tool for generating homework, quiz, and exam questions this collection is excellent. JCE ChemInfo: Organic also provides in one place an invaluable source of a broad range of data and information for students working on assignments or research projects. Even though I am not an organic chemist and do not teach organic courses, the value of this Web site is obvious to me. The feedback from those who do teach organic has been uniformly enthusiastic.

Many who have visited JCE ChemInfo: Organic have suggested other data that could be included. Almost invariably those data are available somewhere on the Web, but they may or may not be in a format that is accessible to students, and they may or may not have been vetted for accuracy. JCE ChemInfo: Organic provides references to the original papers that reported the data, which are organized so that students and teachers can easily locate what they need. If you have your own collections of data and links to Web sites that complement JCE ChemInfo: Organic, column editor Reich would like to incorporate them into the collection. To contribute, email Reich with a description of the data and explanation of their use.

Organic is not the only chemistry subdiscipline that makes use of a broad range of data. JCE would like to find volunteer editors for columns similar to JCE ChemInfo: Organic that support teaching analytical, inorganic, physical, and biochemistry courses—and many more. If you have collected this kind of information for your students in any area of chemical science, please consider volunteering your site to be included in JCE Online. If you are willing to receive and evaluate contributions from others, how about becoming a column editor? Just contact me and describe what you are interested in contributing.

JCE ChemInfo: Organic is similar to other collections in the National Science Digital Library (1) and in the JCE Digital Library. You are also encouraged to contribute to any of these JCE DLib collections:

• JCE SymMath—teaching materials that make use of symbolic mathematics packages such as Mathcad and Mathematica (2)
• JCE QBank—questions intended for use in lectures (ConcepTests), homework assignments, quizzes, and exams (3)
• JCE DigiDemos—an online forum on chemical demonstrations that includes all Tested Demonstrations (4)
• JCE WebWare—Web-based materials, including simulations, animations, and interactive calculations and graphs (5)
• JCE LrnComOnline—online instructional modules designed to foster learning communities involving students on different campuses via electronic communication (6)

In addition we would like to create new collections and to augment the collection of manipulable molecular structures available in our monthly Featured Molecules column and in JCE WebWare (7). With your help we can continue to improve and expand JCE’s support for community of effort in chemical education. Please contact me with your contributions and suggestions regarding our community.

Literature Cited (all sites accessed Jan 2005)

1. National Science Digital Library.
2. Zielinski, T. J. J. Chem. Educ. 2004, 81, 155–158; Web site.
3. J. Chem. Educ. 2004, 81, 158; Web site.
4. Vitz, E. J. Chem. Educ. 2004, 81, 160; Web site.
5. Coleman, W. F.; Fedosky, E. W. J. Chem. Educ. 2004, 81, 159; Web site.
6. Zielinski, T. J.; Long, G. J. Chem. Educ. 2005, 82, 335; Web site.
7. Coleman, W. F. J. Chem. Educ. 2005, 82, 264; Featured Molecules; Chime Library.