Enable the average undergraduate organic chemistry student to systematically approach and analyze an infrared (IR) or proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrum so as to arrive at a meaningful interpretation and useful information on the organic compound being studied.
1. Revise and complete an interactive tutorial on the interpretation of infrared spectra. The original computer assisted instructional program has been used by a half-dozen classes of undergraduate organic students with considerable success. Their feedback was incorporated into the program. The tutorial was a first effort and the author has notes and ideas on how to improve and expand the presentation. The skills necessary to successfully interpret an IR spectrum take time to develop and are not easily taught in lecture. An interactive tutorial is the ideal means of developing those skills. Students can work at their own pace and on their own schedule.
IR-Spec leads the student in a step-wise, orderly approach to the characterization of an unknown organic compound. It begins with a preview of spectra related to the particular bond type, a series of questions based on sample spectra, and a review of important spectral patterns at the end of each lesson. The first tutorial involves the analysis of carbon-hydrogen bond vibrations for alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, and aromatic compounds. Other lessons follow a similar process for the interpretation of oxygen-hydrogen, oxygen-carbon, nitrogen-hydrogen, nitrogen-carbon, and carbonyl vibrational modes. As an aid to interpretation, individual vibrations modes have listed their associated confirmatory peaks. The approach used to involve students in interpreting infra-red spectra is believed to be unique and student-friendly.
2. To develop a similar interactive tutorial for the systematic interpretation of proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectra. An outline of the interpretative methods has been developed and tested on two classes of organic students with positive results. It also utilized a singular approach to interpretation.
"NMR-Spec" is designed to lead the average organic student in an orderly and step-wise approach to the characterization of an unknown organic compound. The kinds of information available from proton NMR spectra are related to each other and to the structure of the compound.
3. In mind is a follow-up tutorial on the identification of organic unknowns using a combination of infra-red and proton NMR spectra. The synergism of the combined spectral information would make a good cap-stone to the interactive learning of how to approach and interpret the spectra of organic molecules.
The infrared tutorial has been tested on more than a hundred students and with positive results. It has been improved with the assistance of these students through their evaluations. This tutorial was developed under a grant from the Digital Equipment Corporation in the late 1980's. The tutorial was created using the Digital Authoring Language (DAL) and was delivered on a VAX mainframe using the Courseware Authoring System (CAS). Both DAL and CAS have been discontinued at DEC and the tutorial will likely not run under the next system upgrade at Millsaps. A need exists to convert the tutorial to modern multimedia form for delivery on pc's.
The development of a polished and professional teaching aid can be accomplished with additional effort. I attended the first Mellon/Little ACS Chemistry Workshop at University of Richmond in August, 1996 to my great benefit. During the year I have worked at improving IR-Spec and have a considerable portion of the tutorial entered on a multimedia Pentium through the Authorware software. This rough draft is in a rather ordinary format and I need assistance in polishing the presentation and in adding "eye-catching" features which will make it more attractive and user-friendly.
I have been accepted and plan to attend the 1997 University of Richmond Little/ACS Chemistry Multimedia Workshop. New ideas and some of the needed features can be learned there and incorporated into IR-Spec on my return. I also want to discuss my ideas about the proton NMR tutorial with other participants and the staff of the Workshop. At the 1996 Workshop I found several participants who were interested in my efforts with IR-Spec and who would like to test a version with their students.
In the Spring of 1998 I will be on leave and will have the time and the facilities of Millsaps College at my disposal. The college will provide a Pentium machine with a 17" monitor. There is a local network and there will be a server for the multimedia machines in Olin Hall (Chemistry/Biology Building). It is in the Spring of 1998 that I plan to produce a polished IR-Spec and to produce a working and hopefully a polished version of NMR-Spec. In my efforts at Millsaps in the spring I will need technical support which might be provided by Dr. J. M. Purser, Coordinator of Development for Academic Computing, who is a joint appointee in computer and chemistry. Dr. Purser has served as facilitator for several ACS computer workshops.
With such help I believe worthwhile interactive computer programs can be produced for use in the Millsaps Chemistry Department and shared with other ACS institutions and additional interested institutions. The 1996 Mellon Summer Workshop for chemists and computers set up a web site for the chemists attending (with other ACS chemists invited to join). This will be an ideal way to share IR-Spec and NMR-Spec. The multimedia tutorials will be developed using Macromedia's Authorware. The Authorware lessons will be "shocked" and made available to consortium schools through the Worldwide Web. I will also be sharing the ideas with the participants at the 1997 chemistry/computer workshop at University of Richmond in August, 1997.
IR-Spec and NMR-Spec will be used to teach the interpretation of spectra to the two classes of beginning organic students and will also be used in the Organic Spectral Analysis course taught in the Millsaps Fall term. The tutorials will be used within the curriculum in a number of ways: first, as an introduction to IR and NMR prior to lecture; second, as a means to review the topics of IR and NMR after lecture; and third, as a means for students who may miss lectures to "catch-up". A major benefit of the multimedia tutorials will be to allow the students to progress through the material at their own rates of learning. In addition to incorporation into regularly scheduled courses, the tutorials can be used for interpretation by research and Honors students. The delivery system used for the current edition of IR-Spec keeps a tally of users, percent correct, and time spent in the program. A similar system will be used for evaluation of IR-Spec and NMR-Spec. Also, an electronic anonymous survey will be used to evaluate the tutorials. A feed-back mechanism was used with the applications of the draft version of IR-Spec with gratifying results. A similar system will be provided with IR-Spec and NMR-Spec. The multimedia tutorials will be evaluated as part of the normal course evaluation procedure at Millsaps, using a form which has been specifically designed for the evaluation of multimedia resources. Student satisfaction with the draft version was quite high with positive feed-back and useful suggestions.