WELCOME TO CHEMISTRY 110 Week # 1: Jan. 30 - Feb. 8 We are about to embark on an exciting and challenging experience in learning. I say "we" because I will be learning right along with you. We will have a variety of experiences to share, many times students have a unique insight into a variety of topics from the perspective of work or paying attention to news media. I hope that you will be willing to share some of these insights.  From the outset, I want you to be honest and open about any suggestions about how to run the course. The course has been offered online for over 12 years. Many improvements have been made in response to students in the past courses.  The On-Line option of the course transcends the "time and space" limitations of the traditional course, and is designed for the well motivated adult student. An adult student with a varied work schedule, frequent out of town travel, or various family responsibilities may find this type of course attractive.  The traditional science lab class has 6 contact hours, with an additional 2-5 study hours expected outside of class per week. The total time requirements will be about the same for the On-Line option (8-10 hrs). "On-line" computer discussion time is expected to be frequent (2-3 times) per week which will be in place of hours not spent in attending class. In the past there are always a few students that get behind in doing assignments, probably for lack of time or in making a definite time. Because you will not be sitting in class at a specific time, it might be easy for you to procrastinate, and there might be only a few times when you actually work on the course. As you do for any class, you need to set aside some very specific times when you will work on the class assignments. You have flexibility in that these times might be late at night, early in the morning, during your lunch hour, etc. The point is to make a definite time commitment for when you will work on the course and do not let other distractions intrude upon this time.

WELCOME TO CHEMISTRY 110

Week # 1: Jan. 30 - Feb. 8

We are about to embark on an exciting and challenging experience in learning. I say "we" because I will be learning right along with you. We will have a variety of experiences to share, many times students have a unique insight into a variety of topics from the perspective of work or paying attention to news media. I hope that you will be willing to share some of these insights.

From the outset, I want you to be honest and open about any suggestions about how to run the course. The course has been offered online for over 12 years. Many improvements have been made in response to students in the past courses.

The On-Line option of the course transcends the "time and space" limitations of the traditional course, and is designed for the well motivated adult student. An adult student with a varied work schedule, frequent out of town travel, or various family responsibilities may find this type of course attractive.

The traditional science lab class has 6 contact hours, with an additional 2-5 study hours expected outside of class per week. The total time requirements will be about the same for the On-Line option (8-10 hrs). "On-line" computer discussion time is expected to be frequent (2-3 times) per week which will be in place of hours not spent in attending class.

In the past there are always a few students that get behind in doing assignments, probably for lack of time or in making a definite time. Because you will not be sitting in class at a specific time, it might be easy for you to procrastinate, and there might be only a few times when you actually work on the course. As you do for any class, you need to set aside some very specific times when you will work on the class assignments. You have flexibility in that these times might be late at night, early in the morning, during your lunch hour, etc. The point is to make a definite time commitment for when you will work on the course and do not let other distractions intrude upon this time.

Class Orientation :

Dr. Sagarin, the on campus faculty liaison, would like to hold an orientation class to help everyone get acquainted. The orientation class is at 5:00 - 6:30 PM in the Science Building in Room TBA on Monday, Jan. 30. If you are unable to make this class than please contact me by email or phone to get acquainted more fully so that I can answer any questions that you may have.

During the orientation, we will go over the requirements, course schedule, due dates, grading, late assignments, on-line discussion requirements, tips to submit work, saving copies of work, orientation to the Discussion Board. I will pass out a "Lab Equipment baggie" with a few items not readily available at home.

If you miss orientation start by looking at the online Orientation and the Course Requirements

Activities for Week # 1:

During this week you should look carefully at all of the components of the course format. Look at the Course Requirements and look at the Course Schedule. The various due dates are for Wednesdays, midweek, that way you get the weekend and a couple of more days to finish up assignments. The listing in the schedule is the same as a due date for a particular assignment. I will give a little leeway initially on these dates for the first week or two, but will assess penalties later for late work.

If you have not already done so, it will be to your advantage to purchase the text book from the book store. In the past several students have tried to take the course without a textbook - pretty near impossible to pass without a book!

CHM 110-51 : Text: "Chemistry Fundamentals: An Environmental Perspective", 2nd Ed., Phyllis Buell, James Girard, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2003

First Week Assignments - Due on Jan. 8:

1. Email Accounts: Blackboard for Communication:

A primary communication tool that will be used with the course is the Blackboard - CHM 110. After the first week any mass emails will originate from Blackboard. This means that your Elmhurst email will be used.

Elmhurst College provides you with an email account or user ID and password. If you do not already know this, you must appear in person with a valid ID at the computer lab aid office in the first floor lobby of the Computer Science Building. This is the ID, password, and email address that is automatically entered into Blackboard. Once you have accessed Blackboard the first time, you may change your email address to one that you regularly use by clicking on Tools, and then Personal Information.
Blackboard Personal Info Help.

OR If you want to forward your Elmhurst email to another email account here is a procedure to forward email: Forward Email. Then enter your EC ID and password, then click on Edit, and type in your forwarding email address.

2. Email Contact: We need to make email contact to make sure that the email communication channels are open through Blackboard. I will send out several test emails in duplicate to the email address that you first used to ask for permission in the course and the same one through Blackboard and your Elmhurst email. This will ensure that you have completed the following instructions above. Please respond that you received the email from Blackboard.

3. Blackboard Page:
This will bring you to the Elmhurst Blackboard Log-on page. Click on User Login. Log in using your Elmhurst ID and password. Next you should see the page with your name, a mid section with announcements, and on the right side a list of My courses - a list of all of your Blackboard courses. Then Click on Chemistry: CHM 110. This brings you to the CHM 110 course page for Blackboard.

Weekly Content button for a complete list of what is required for the first week.

Before you start working on Topic 1 please check the following link. How to do a Lecture Topic

Start reading the first several chapters of the text book and correlate that with the Topic 1: Introduction to Environmental Issues Outline..

Respond to five questions on Parts I-V as listed in the Topic 1 in the Elmhurst Blackboard as part of the weekly Lecture On-Line Discussion.

You may do one question at a time and then post it into Blackboard.

Blackboard Page: Discussion Board button
This is the reporting place for your work after you have completed your work and research.

4. Download Quicktime for Windows. In the topics, issues, and labs, I have given brief 3-5 minute audio file on the topic or lab as a little orientation to that topic or lab. You can go to topic 1 and test the audio to see if you should download Quicktime.

If you do not have Quicktime on your computer, here is the link to download Quicktime:
QuickTime for Windows

5. Look through the materials list for the home lab so that you will be ready to do that the second week.

List of Chemicals for the Home Labs

Lab Supplies in a Baggie: include the following items: simple thermometer and candle for lab 2 & 3; pH papers for lab 4. Please pick up during first class orientation period. If you did not get a baggie with the above supplies, then stop by Dr. Sagarin’s office (218 in the Science Center) - no appointment necessary as they will be outside her door.

6. Start working on the Lab # 1 . See the notes in News #2 about half way down. Even though this is not technically due until Feb. 15. So if you have questions on what or how do to something it will be to your advantage to start early.

7. You might also browse through some of the other labs as these require a longer term effort to collect some of the materials or data. Lab # 4 Part II. Requires the measurement of pH of rain or snow samples); Pre-lab # 5 (You need to find water bills); finally Pre-lab # 6 (You need to measure amounts of solid waste and recycling materials;

I hope that this list is not to formidable for you!