Abstract

The Department of Chemistry requests funds to purchase 12 computers and associated software to equip a new Sophomore Study Center in Bagley 331. This Sophomore Study Center, started in the Fall Quarter of 2004, is a collaborative learning center focused on serving the approximately 1000 undergraduate students who are enrolled in sophomore-level chemistry lecture course sequences and the associated laboratories. This cohort includes students from a wide variety of majors for which Chemistry is a keystone science. The Sophomore Study Center represents an extension of the Freshman Study Center next door (in Bagley 330) which serves some 2000 undergraduates every quarter in 100-level course work. The Freshman Study Center has evolved into much more than a resource for Chemistry students. Instead, students use this facility as a central gathering place to work collaboratively on a variety of coursework. Funds from the Student Technology Fee have provided the necessary computer infrastructure to support this environment, providing critical access to the web, email, and other resources used by students on a daily basis. The new Sophomore Study Center was created to provide a similar learning environment for 200-level students. The fundamental goal of this center is to provide a learning environment for students, and an essential element of such an environment is student access to modern computer resources. Access to computers is an indispensable part of the learning environment, not just because much of the homework in Chemistry and other sciences is computer based, but because access to the web and to email are now an essential component of the scholastic experience.

Background

The Department of Chemistry is the destination of thousands of undergraduate students every quarter. The largest fraction of these students is enrolled in 100-level courses that are the science gateway to majors all over campus. The latter cohort is well served by a Freshman Study Center established in 1997 with the help of Student Technology Fee funding. That center, with a seating capacity of approximately 120 students, is frequently packed with an overflow crowd; a clear indication that undergraduate students value it highly. In many ways the success of the Freshman Study Center has exceeded our original vision and expectations. When originally conceived, the administrative focus was on creating a traditional “homework center” where students could receive help from teaching assistants while completing class assignments. Instead, the Center became something much more valuable: a gathering place where a cohort of students with common academic interests can join in a collaborative learning community. A key part of this evolution was the availability of computer resources in the study center. Students rely on near continuous access to computers for a wide variety of academically related tasks ranging from email communications with instructors, advisors and fellow students, to working on course assignments that require access to discipline specific software. While some of these resources are available in a variety of places on campus, we have learned that providing them in the context of a departmental study center environment proves a powerful enticement for students to gather together in a mutually supportive learning environment.
Based on our successful experience with the Freshman Study Center, we are eager to expand the resource to serve students in upper division students. We have now established, in recently renovated space approximately adjacent to the existing Freshman Study Center, a new center intended as a gathering place for 200-level level students. It is our aim to assure that the cohort of students who have so enthusiastically availed themselves of the learning opportunities offered by the Freshman Study Center will continue to have available the resources needed to nourish and sustain a cooperative learning community. To this end we are requesting Student Technology Fee funds to equip the new Sophomore Study Center with computer resources.

Benefits

Learning in the sciences is greatly enhanced if students gather together to a study in a collaborative manner. The act of explaining a complex idea to a fellow student is often the clearest path to mastery of an academic concept. Bringing students together in a supportive environment, where both computer resources and academic assistance from teaching assistants are freely available throughout the day, is the sure path to promoting such collaborative learning experiences.
Computer resources are now an essential element of the learning experience in the sciences. Students need access to computers for such tasks as writing laboratory reports, accessing web-based resources, identifying and securing holdings from the library, and so forth. But beyond this, the computers in the Sophomore Study Center will be equipped with software and study resources not commonly available other places computers. These resources include programs such as ChemDraw for the preparation of complex molecular drawings, Spartan for quantum mechanical calculations that can reveal fundamental truths concerning molecules, Matlab for performing matrix oriented calculations, and a variety of simulations and on-line tutorial software that will provide students with a unique set of tools to apply in their studies. The combination of readily-available TAs, colleagues, and unique computational resources will make the Sophomore Study Center a collaborative learning space for the cohort of students studying Chemistry at the sophomore level.

Student Access

All students have access, but students working on 200-level coursework will be given priority. The Sophomore Study Center is presently open 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. during weekdays. If demand is sufficient, we will expand these hours. Any of our 225 graduate students who request a key to the space will also have access before and after hours thereby extending the impact of the Student Technology Fee funds.

Available Resources

The Department of Chemistry spends approximately $200,000 per year on salaries for computer support personnel. Our student labs are maintained by an experienced professional support staff that ensures that the computers are kept in good condition. In addition, the Department supports the salaries of the director (Dr. Tracy Harvey) and the teaching assistants who serve in the Sophomore Study Center. The Department has also invested funds to create an attractive space (demolition, paint, carpet, dropped ceiling) and purchase furniture (work tables, chairs) to house the center.

Installation Timeline

Upon receipt of the Tech Fee funds, computers and software will be ordered. To minimize disruption, it is our preference to delay installation until a break period.

Departmental Endorsement

The Department provides its highest support to this proposal. The Freshman Study Center has been a huge success. After one year of operation, we expect no less from the Sophomore Study Center. We are hopeful that that the addition of computer facilities to this center will in fact provide synergy to faculty efforts to update the teaching and thus improve student learning of chemistry.

Student Endorsement

Prior to the first examination in this first quarter of operation, the students voted with their feet: the Sophomore Study Center was filled to capacity. However, the lack of sufficient computational infrastructure has limited the development of the Center. For example, Kurt Truong, a sophomore at the UW, has noted that “the absence of computers really limits the usefulness of the center. When my friends and I are working on assignments, many times we will have to run over to Odegaard or the Chemistry Library to use their computers. It wasn’t like that in the Freshman Center. It would be nice to have similar facilities in the new center.”

Items

Below are the items making up the current proposal. The asterisk (*) beside items signify that they were approved by the committee. This however was not implemented correctly for our database before 2005, so earlier years may not show this.

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