The ChemCAL Project
We have a long commitment to the development of interactive and online teaching and learning resources for our chemistry courses ...
Tutorial Tools and ChemCAL
In the early 1990's Paul Fritze, David Hassett, Peter McTigue, Peter Tregloan and others developed an extensive suite of HyperCard materials that were used with our classes up to 1999. An EdMedia '95 article on this work is available. These Projects were supported through the Committee for the Advancement of University Teaching (CAUT), Australia.
ChemCAL Online
With the advent of web based technologies, in the late 90's Matt Coller and Peter Tregloan built on the Hypercard experience to create the ChemCAL resources. ChemCAL is not an online chemistry course - it complements our on campus lectures and lab work. The modules are presented in a framework that is easy to navigate, yet flexible enough that content can easily be reorganised.
The development was funded by the TaLMET Commitee of the University of Melbourne. You can download an article about ChemCAL that appeared in Chemistry in Australia in 2001. The ChemCAL Online Sampler shows the interactive screens that are described in this article.
Prelabs Online
Continuing the development of the ChemCAL resources, Prelabs Online received Science FacultySciMET and University TaLMET funding. The pilot module shown here was developed in 2000. Bob Charlesworth, Matt Coller, Jo Dalvean, Alison Funston, David McFadyen and Peter Tregloan all contributed to the success of these projects. An evaluation paper, with Marcia Devlin, presented at Uniserve Science in 2002 can be downloaded.
ChemCAL Online
The ChemCAL and related materials have proved remarkably robust. We continue to develop, rework and extend them. They have been used in other institutions. They have been repackaged and developed for use in our Feedback Tests and Learning Lab Homework modules. The Chemistry Fundamentals project, currently being carried out in collaboration with Chemistry Education Association (Inc) and Heinemann Education Australia, draws on these resources for use within highschool chemistry courses.