IUPAC

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry

New site in test period


If you experience a problem,
you may use the old site »

Project: Distance Education in Chemistry

Number: 025/33/89
Start: 01 January 1989
Project of
Chair:
Objective

CTC is concerned that modern, relevant chemistry is made available to individuals seeking it. CTC has access to leaders in both chemical research and chemical education and sees distance education as a means of bringing their knowledge to individual learners internationally. Modern technology can materially assist this process. Of particular importance is serving the needs of individuals in developing countries. At the present time, the strategy is to gather and disseminate information about distance education in chemistry. Workshops, symposia and publications will be the main initial methods for doing so. The 13th International Conference on Chemical Education (Puerto Rico, August 1994) included a special symposium on this theme, and one is also planned for the 14th ICCE in Brisbane in 1996.

Progress
At the 39th IUPAC General Assembly held in Geneva, 1997, CTC reviewed the explosive development of the World Wide Web (WWW) and considered how dramatically it changed the computer network and international communications . Such recent progress of the Internet makes to expect innovations in education. Geographical restriction is no longer a serious problem, and teachers and students far apart from one another can communicate without difficulty. In response to such an innovation, a new project, tentatively called Virtual Chemical Education (VCE), was established. The concept is to use the Internet as a means of combining these two, e-mail and multimedia, to make a new educational tool.

Ref. 'Virtual chemical education–novel teaching materials by means of the Internet', by Y. Takeuchi, H. Hosoya, H. Yoshida and M. M. Ito, Pure Appl. Chem. 71(5), 825-834 (1999) [pdf file - 202KB]

> VCE site