Things you might wonder about regarding this site
  • Why use Moodle?

Moodle is an open-source learning management system.  It has many features, such as forums and many question types (such as algorithmic).  The Moodle app can be installed on your cell phone to see this site (teachers can't edit on the mobile app, though).  Some sites have over 50,000 users, so it will handle many students.

  • Will it integrate with my LMS (learning management system, such as Blackboard, Brightspace, or Canvas)?

Yes.  The technology for communicating with the LMS is called LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) and is built into Moodle.  When the site has enough content to use with a course, LTI will be turned on, directions for using it will be given, and students will be able to connect to Moodle directly through their LMS without having to log on.

  • Where is the site hosted?

Currently, on knownhost.com, for $450 a year,  This is a VPS (virtual personal server) system, which allows direct access to the Linux operating system.  If the site took off, it might become desirable to move to Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud servers.  The first year is free.  The cost depends on usage.

  • Does one size fit all?

Not hardly.  For example, we may end up with several versions of a lab, each version designed for students with different backgrounds.  On the other hand, it would be nice if we can agree on style.  Both PowerPoint and Word documents can use themes and styles to provide a consistent appearance. 

  • Who started this site?

I'm Dr. Christopher King, retired from Troy University in Troy, Alabama.  My degree is in inorganic chemistry.  I've enjoyed teaching for twenty-some years.  Next, I'd like to help move chemistry teaching to a new level, using this site (and also by creating YouTube videos).

  • Why was a creative commons license chosen that allows commercial use?

The material on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License Creative Commons License, which allows commercial use, as do the licenses used by OpenStax (CC-BY) and Wikipedia (CC-BY-SA).  These licenses require that derivative works include attribution and a link to the original work.  If people pay for what we create, they will know when they see the license that our work was freely available.  Allowing commercial use allows, for example, a teacher to print out a chapter of our text book and charge students for the printing, plus a little extra that the department can keep.  It also allows us to conveniently use Wikipedia's huge library of images, which are mostly also under the CC-BY-SA license.

  • Can the OpenStax material, which has a CC-BY license, be used on this site, which has a CC-BY-SA license?

This is permitted, according to the Creative Commons web site, which states that "Works licensed under CC BY may be incorporated into works that are licensed under CC BY SA."  The difference between the two licenses is the "SA" part, which stands for "same as", meaning the license for modified work must be the same as the original license.  To illustrate, suppose a paragraph from OpenStax Chemistry is modified and used in a new chemistry book.  The modified paragraph in the new work could be copyrighted.  On the other hand, if a paragraph from College Chemistry Collaboration was modified and used in another book, the modified paragraph would have to be licensed under the same license, CC-BY-SA, as the original paragraph from our web site. 

  • What's with the weird icon/picture?

The pictureSite logo was created (by Chris King) to represent collaboration:  each input from the bottom adds to the output at the top.

Last modified: Sunday, 16 January 2022, 4:05 PM