1. Fall 2015 Course
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Discussion

Alex Williams (not verified) | Tue, 09/15/2015 - 00:36
For those coding on Macs, I thought I would share my knowledge on text editors that could be of some use. Sublime Text, while not free, does have an evaluation trial in which one can use all features freely. XCode- Not necessarily made for many coding languages, but can definitely be used to speed up the process in multiple coding languages. Visual Studio Code- Just released by Microsoft, while not an IDE in totality, it can be very useful in editing code.

Alex Williams (not verified) | Tue, 09/15/2015 - 00:30
Is there any alternative to Microsoft Access for the mac? I am not sure how I would do all of this database work without it since its such an industry standard.

Kendia Thomas (not verified) | Mon, 09/14/2015 - 22:00
How are sources and documents to be shared in a group on the zotero website?

Jennifer Muzyka | Mon, 09/14/2015 - 20:13
As Daniel's instructor, I'm happy to hear the thoughts of faculty members at other institutions. I use Excel and sometimes Numbers. Recently I read that Google Docs could be frustrating due to some of its limitations. But today I read that Google Docs makes it easy to use Web Services like Dr. Belford demonstrated recently with Office 2013. Since I'm a Mac user and still using Office 2011, I may need to investigate the Google Docs approach to implement the automated spreadsheet web lookup functions. Some of the folks who present web-based apps at chemical education conferences use Excel to keep track of their data. I look forward to learning more about how I might adopt some of those approaches. Thanks for the article explaining the differences between OpenOffice and LibreOffice. Jennifer Muzyka

Robert Belford's picture
Robert Belford | Mon, 09/14/2015 - 20:00
Hi Daniel, At risk of not being your instructor I will chirp in here. I have some students using LibreOffice, I use Open Office and Excel, and later this semester we will be using Google Docs and Sheets. Our objective is not to teach you how to use Excel, but how you can use Cheminformatic technologies in your scientific workflow. But you need to start somewhere, and unless told otherwise, should probably start with the program you are most comfortable with, and go from there. Personally, I am about to start playing with LibreOffice. Here is an interesting article about it and Open Office. <a href="http://www.howtogeek.com/187663/openoffice-vs.-libreoffice-whats-the-difference-and-which-should-you-use/">http://www.howtogeek.com/187663/openoffice-vs.-libreoffice-whats-the-difference-and-which-should-you-use/</a> What I think is important is realizing that web pages and web browsers are not the only way we can access and use online data. Cheers, Bob Belford

Daniel Graham (not verified) | Mon, 09/14/2015 - 19:37
How important is it to complete this assignment in Excel vs. OpenOffice? Is Excel an industry/academic standard that I should definitely learn over OpenOffice, or can I use OpenOffice to accomplish the same goal?

Robert Belford's picture
Robert Belford | Mon, 09/14/2015 - 19:34
Hi Everyone, Some of the questions concerning module 2 assignment dealt with getting CAS numbers and molar masses in bulk. I just discovered that Excel 2013 has built in Webservice functions, and so I made a video on these. Later this semester we will learn how to do this without using Excel's built in functions, and be able to access a lot more types of data using older versions of Excel. But the fact that Excel added this capacity shows that this type of action will become part of the workflow for tomorrow's scientist. Also, to give you an idea of how this website can grow. If you go to Module 2 <a href="http://olcc.ccce.divched.org/2015OLCCModule2P1">http://olcc.ccce.divched.org/2015OLCCModule2P1</a> and click section 2.6, it takes you down the page. Now if you click on the link of 2.6 (near the bottom of the module), it opens up the section where you can discuss section 2.6 (and should be able to upload files). But in the "Additional Material section, you now see a new link, which has the video I just created embedded in it, and if you click the video's title, you can get additional information and can discuss the video (which is what I am doing now). If any of you can figure how to do this with Excel 2010 you should chat with your instructor. As we progress through this course we are looking for interesting projects for students, and something like this might work, although you clearly need to discuss any projects you undertake with your instructor. Cheers, Bob Belford

Robert Belford's picture
Robert Belford | Mon, 09/14/2015 - 19:03
Hi Jennifer and everyone else, Good question (again). The quick answer is here: <a href="http://olcc.ccce.divched.org/2015OLCCModule1P2TLO5">http://olcc.ccce.divched.org/2015OLCCModule1P2TLO5</a> Now I would like to take a minute to explain something about the site. If you go to the top of this page, you will see a table of contents. If you click any of the links it moves you down the page. So clicking on link 5 (which I just inserted) takes you to the assignment section. This is really another web page embedded in this page (we call it a TLO, or Teaching and Learning Object), and if you now click it, it opens where you can discuss this section of the paper. This is the above link <a href="http://olcc.ccce.divched.org/2015OLCCModule1P2TLO5">http://olcc.ccce.divched.org/2015OLCCModule1P2TLO5</a> This allows us to discuss sections of papers, instead of the whole paper, but also allows us to post additional material on those sections, and upload files. Now to upload files you will need to be logged in. Also, before your email I was not realizing we were uploading these, and so I had not made this a TLO, but it was part of the paper. It is now a TLO, and you can upload files. (I am saying that before your email you could not upload, but now you should be able to.) Cheers, Bob Belford

Jennifer Roshong (not verified) | Mon, 09/14/2015 - 18:23
Our group has completed the assignment, but we can't seem to find an upload link to upload it to the OLCC website for module 1b. Please advise.

Stuart Chalk's picture
Stuart Chalk | Sat, 09/12/2015 - 16:59
It probably depends on things like the default font you have setup, the styles that are in use, and whether or not the .docx is compatible with the older versions of Word. It probably also depends on the OS, the size of the hard drive (large drives are chunked into larger pieces, and version of Word you are using.