If you think a mole is just a spot on someone’s skin you don’t know the basic unit of chemistry. To learn the skills needed for understanding chemistry, McHenry County College is offering a free, online class that is open to anyone living anywhere in the world. “Exploring Chemistry” begins Aug. 19 and is geared for college students or for anyone who is interested in preparing to take a college-level chemistry class.
The four-week non-credit class is delivered as a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), which is becoming a popular way of providing free courses across a variety of subject matter. McHenry County College was the first community college in Illinois and one of the few throughout the country to offer a MOOC when it offered the “Online Reputation for Career Success” class last spring. That class ended with a completion rate of 11.4 percent, nearly double the 6.8 average completion rate of MOOC classes, according to an article in the May issue of Times Higher Education.
“People are taking MOOCs because of course topics that are of interest to them,” said Ray Lawson, director of Online Learning and Educational Technology. “Our chemistry prep course is offered to better prepare students for a general college chemistry class,” he said. “Offering unique classes such as ours are part of a growing movement to be more inventive and to offer free education for people around the world.”
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So far, the demand for MCC’s massive open online course has reached around the world with more than 100 people enrolled the week before the course starts. “Within the first hour of posting the course online, 10 people signed up,” Lawson said. MCC adjunct chemistry instructor and creator of this MOOC, Li Li Zyzak said Exploring Chemistry is ideal for returning adult students, especially those who are pursuing a career in healthcare and haven’t taken a math or chemistry class in several years.
“Hopefully, this will give them the skills, the tools to learn how to approach and how to study chemistry,” Zyzak said. “For some students, chemistry is the last class they need to take for their nursing prerequisites. This is a four-week class, which allows students to get their feet wet before jumping into the ocean.”
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Zyzak teaches chemistry and biochemistry at McHenry County College and at other colleges and universities in the Chicago area.
Students log into the course at their convenience, work at their own pace to view lectures and online lessons, participate in discussion forums and take auto-graded quizzes. Optional lab activities can be done at home and the students may post their results online for the class to discuss.
Students will learn concepts, terminologies, and basic mathematics skills, required for conversions in chemistry, including conversions between the Metric system and the U.S. measurement system.
The course is being offered in collaboration with the Canvas Network, a platform provided by Instructure, Inc., the parent company of Canvas learning management system. connects students, teachers and institutions, through an open, online course network.
Those interested in the Exploring Chemistry class may register online at https://www.canvas.net/courses/exploring-chemistry. For more information, call (815) 479-7796.
