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To all EChemTest surfers:

Please update your link to the EChemTest, and use now the following access: http://echemtest.unipg.it - Free registration required. Thank you.

ECTN Information and Project

Anthony Smith, ESCPE Lyon, France (E.U.)

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 ECTN Association

The next meeting of the Administrative Council will take place on 4-5 February, 2005, in Lyon FR. Any Association members who have items they wish to be discussed at this meeting should contact Tony Smith or any member of the Administrative Council.

ECTN Network

The next meeting of the Management Committee will take place on 4-5 February 2005 in Lyon FR. Any member of the network who has any item he/she wishes to be discussed at this meeting should contact Tony Smith or any member of the Management Committee.

ECTN Plenary Meeting, Thessaloniki GR, 4 - 8th May 2005

The next ECTN plenary meeting will be held in Thessaloniki GR on 4-8 May, 2005. The meeting will start on the morning of 4 May and finish on the evening of 7 May. Reserve these dates in your diary now.

Eurobachelor

Terry Mitchell, Dortmund, Germany (E.U.)

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Report on Eurobachelor Activities

Received: December 2, 2004

After the Association Management Committee had given the Label Committee the "green light" to invite applications for the Label in October, the next important task was to get the website www.eurobachelor.net ready for surfers. With the help of some feedback and some discussions between Pascal and myself we have got to the stage where we think the website is reasonably foolproof. Check it for yourself and see!

Publicising the Label effectively is not so easy, since there is no European chemistry journal. We did have an announcement in an EUA newsletter recently, which could make some institutions aware of what is going on.

So we decided to do things the hard way. A letter was prepared for distribution and sent to a number of ECTN representatives with the request to act as "national representative" for ECTN and pass on the letter to heads of chemistry departments, either in the original English or in a translated version. This letter is also on the website.

Since I did not have any refusals to do this job, I feel that the process is underway. Now we have to wait for enquiries or applications!

EChemTest

Pascal Mimero, ESCPE Lyon, France (E.U.)

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General information

The EChemTest has improved the online service since October (for the status of the art, see below the updated table). The Demo polishing is still in progress, implementing coloured resources and correcting the remaining bugs.

End of October we were kindly invited to provide a CD-Rom introducing EChemTest and giving access to the demos. The CD will be published with the book of the Dresden Conference proceedings supported by the German Chemical Society - for that occasion, a standalone website was prepared, and a special Demo edition issued. Thanks to Prof. Reiner Salzer for inviting us.

We recently opened 2 online sessions for specific events, accessible until December 31st:

• 9. Business Meeting "Forum Neue Medien", Vienna AT, December 1-3, 2004 upon request of Prof. Johannes Fröhlich

• IVa Conferenza Nazionale sull'Insegnamento della Chimica, Perugia IT, December 9-11, 2004 upon request of Prof. Antonio Lagana

Since 2 months we registered about 12 online requests to evaluate our plateform against the new European scheme - Each of them got 1 month access to test the available demos.

Some of them attended the EuroAnalysis 2004 EuroCurriculum symposium held in Salamanca ES. We also had a proposal from Rzeszow PL, to contribute in Analytical Chemistry - Thanks to Barbara Debska.

To all EChemTest surfers: please update your link and use now the following access: http://echemtest.unipg.it . Thank you.

EChemTest Developement

EChemTest translations and released version online - December 1, 2004:
Synthetic update on current EChemTest translations and services online since Köln:

Tests	Demo / Training		Certification Databases
	online (free access)	currently in progress	online (Beta testing)	currently in progress
General Ch. 1
General Ch. 2
Analytical Ch. 3
Inorganic Ch. 3
Organic Ch. 3
Physical Ch. 3

EChemTest General Chemistry Working Group

Received from: Kristiina Wähälä, Helsinki FI (E.U.) - December 13, 2004

Demo tests

Demo Tests Ready: English, German, French, Italian, Finnish

Coming soon: Swedish and Dutch (?)

Demo tests to be done: The following have been converted to Perception but need changes, polishing and proofreading (Danish (1), Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish).

Since some of the questions have been changed after the first version (QuestionMark Windows version 2000) were made public, translators are needed for the above languages and any additional language.

There exists a partial feedback for the General chemistry 2 demo test in English but this has not yet been included in the beta-testing version.

Complete data base

Ready: English

Group thinks the data base needs to be checked once more for content. This has already been started. Moreover, the English version needs the polishing, checking for the correct terminology, positioning of figures, improving of figures, removing of and polishing of the code etc.

Some of the corrections have been already done.

ECTN Working Group Reports

Contributions

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 Biological Chemistry

Received from: Arne vander Gen, Leiden NL (E.U.) - November 23, 2004

The working group on Biological Chemistry held a meeting in Toulouse on April 24, 2004, preceding the annual meeting of the General Assembly of the ECTN on April 25, 26 and 27. The meeting of the working group was well attended. Discussions focussed on the following subjects: ...

Download the full report (Acrobat PDF / 128 Kb)

 Links with School

Received from: Ingo Eilks, Dortmund DE (E.U.) - December 8, 2004

Establishing links between higher education institutions and schools is not a new idea. A wide variety of activities takes place all over Europe for a range of purposes e. g., to improve students’ interest in science or in careers in science and technology. Not every initiative realises its full potential. Top down approaches sometimes fail to meet the needs and interests of school education. The base for structuring the link is weak because there are few controlled experiments and evaluations available. Also, a well founded discourse on objectives, potentials, and strategies has not often been made explicit. People who engage in links with schools are often lone missionaries and do not get adequate acknowledgement for their work.

 

The “Links with Schools” working group within the European Chemistry Thematic Network wants to offer some help. The group has produced a guide on ...

 

Download the full report (Acrobat PDF / 60 Kb)

Papers & News

Contributions

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 Rare Knowledge in Chemistry

Received from: Juan Renuncio, Madrid ES (E.U.) - December 2, 2004

As you probably remember from Toulouse general ECTN meeting (April 2004), a new working group on Rare Knowledge was set up for the current year’s programme.  Now that the financing is approved, we need the cooperation of all members to suggest what is best recognized by European chemists as rare knowledge.

 

Although there is not a clear definition yet, the initial concept may be that scientific knowledge (more or less related to chemistry) which may be exclusive to a few experts, and/or may be in danger of extinction as Europe “harmonises”.

 

One example was used by Richard to illustrate what Rare Knowledge might be in ...

Download the full letter (Acrobat PDF / 21 Kb)

Fock School, Fock Meeting and Hellmann symposium

Received from: Andreï L. Tchougreeff, Moscow RU - December 3, 2004

Announcement for the next Fock School, Fock Meeting and Hellmann symposium to be held in May'05 in Novgorod.

We plan an extended activity for the next year. From May 1 to 9 - the Fock School (contingent to the support coming from the INTAS www.intas.be) with some lectures at the MSc/PhD student level; and from May 10 to 14 the Fock Meeting - incorporating the Hellmann Symposium on Theoretical Chemistry - largely the research meeting. The topic of the Symposium of this year is "DFT: Complex Objects and Complex Problems".

I would suggest that potential participants register in the School Information System at
http://qcc.ru/~fock .

This registration is free and there is no obligation. However, when registered they get on the mailing list and receive all the School/Meeting/Symposium news in time.

ELCHEM meeting

Received from: Kristiina Wähälä, Helsinki FI (E.U.) - December 7, 2004

The COST ELCHEM meeting called "Metalaboratory to Develop e-Learning Technologies for Chemistry" and The Joint ECTN Multimedia meeting were held in the premises of ICT-Learning Centre Aleksandria and Department of Chemistry, University of Helsinki, Finland on November 12th to 13th 2004. The participants were professors around Europe working with new technological aspects to teach chemistry.

Visit the website: http://www.helsinki.fi/~karkola/elchem/

Face Project

Received from: Leo Gros, Idstein DE (E.U.) - December 8, 2004

ECTN contributes to a “European House of Chemical Education”:

Suggestions made by the LEONARDO project FACE

Forum for Advancing Chemical Education – FACE – is the only Leonardo da Vinci Network Project in Chemistry. ECTN (Tony Smith) is a member of this network from the beginning.

FACE focused on such education programmes in all European countries that include practical work experience (placement, stage, industrial or sandwich placement, internship) – on all levels of education, from vocational training to University studies. (...)

Download the full letter (Acrobat PDF / 185 Kb)

A European House of Chemical Education – A Vision and a Model

Received from: Leo Gros, Idstein DE (E.U.) - December 8, 2004

Abstract- With the Bologna Process, European Higher Education is planned to converge in to one large common European Higher Education System. This process was obviously initiated in theory. It clearly started from a university point of view. Neither did it take into account practically oriented higher education forms such as the Fachhochschule (D, A), Hogeschool (NL), sandwich courses (UK) etc., nor did it initially include vocational training. This observation is in sharp contrast to the fact that educational forms including practical work experience have a very positive record as far as employability and acceptance in the  European chemical industry are concerned. This paper describes facts and draws conclusions for the chemical community and for European educational policies.

Keywords- Chemical Education, Bologna Process, Alternating Study and Training, Practical Experience, Employability

Published in "33. International Symposium IGIP / IEEE / ASEE 2004, September 27-30, Fribourg, Switzerland "

Article made available for download in ECTN Association Newsletter December 2004, 5(5) - with the kind authorization of the author : , Department of Chemistry and Biology, Europa Fachhochschule Fresenius Idstein, Germany

Download the full article (Acrobat PDF / 84 Kb)

Conferences Announcements

Contributions and NewsLetter Editor

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ESOC 14  - European Symposium on Organic Chemistry

Received from: Kristiina Wähälä, Helsinki FI (E.U.) - November 2, 2004

Download the Announcement (Acrobat PDF / 217 Kb) and the Poster (JPG / 64 Kb)

Invited Seminar on Research-Based Teaching in Higher Education - LERU 2005

Received from: Kristiina Wähälä, Helsinki FI (E.U.) - November 2, 2004

INVITED SEMINAR ON RESEARCH-BASED TEACHING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

March 22-23, 2005 - University of Helsinki, Finland

After four years the University of Helsinki welcomes you again to a multidisciplinary seminar in Higher Education!

SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS: Deadline for proposals December 31, 2004

The University of Helsinki celebrates its 365th anniversary by organizing a LERU -seminar (LERU=League of European Research Universities). The multidisciplinary seminar on research-based teaching in higher education concentrates on exploring the relationship between research and teaching in research-intensive universities.

We invite speakers to the seminar by December 31, 2004. Keynotes and other presenters are invited from the League of European Research Universities.

For more information on the seminar, please see the following address:
http://www.helsinki.fi/ktl/yty/leru-registration/

Contact information:
Coordinator Bettina Lindfors, leru-seminar@helsinki.fi
or
Professor Sari Lindblom-Ylänne, leru-seminar@helsinki.fi

----

The seminar is organized in order to enhance the importance of research-based educational development at universities. Research-based teaching is of key importance for ...

Download the Announcement (Acrobat PDF / 63 Kb)

41st National Conference of the Bulgarian Teachers in Chemistry

Received from: Borislav Toshev, Sofia BG (E.U.) - December 8, 2004

To Whom It May Concern:

41st National Conference of the Bulgarian Teachers in Chemistry, Lovech (Bulgaria) March 31st - April 2nd , 2005

"MODERN TECHNOLOGIES IN CHEMISTRY LEARNING"

Pupils today live, learn and play in a media-saturated society. For many of them the curriculum is not relevant, and they become disengaged from learning. Rapid developments in technology have brought many exciting changes to life, presenting new challenges for schools. Multiple new literacies are required to navigate the forest of signs and symbols of our globalized media culture. Globalization, immigration, poverty, terrorism, violence have created a society of increased diversity. All these change the school. Technologies, Internet and Multimedia - utilize these 21st century tools in your teacher practice. Discover how your class can enter the 21st century.

Conference Topics: Modern Educational Technologies; Modern Information Technologies.

Download the announcement (Acrobat PDF / 32 Kb)

In brief ...

Contributions

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SkyTeam Frequent Travellers ...

"SkyTeam (www.skyteam.com) the global airline alliance partnering Aeromexico, Air France-KLM, Alitalia, Continental Airlines, CSA Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Korean Air and NorthWest Airlines, has released an electronic timetables for all partner's flights". Downloadable as

• Windows PC (executable)

• Palm OS Win / Mac

• Pocket PC

For your Palm devices there is an automatic update during the Sync procedure.

What's coming next ?

NewsLetter Editor

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February 2005

Reports of the Working Groups:

• "Chemistry and Cultural Heritage", Evangelia Varella (Thessaloniki, GR)
• "Links with School - 1", Ingo Eilks (Dortmund, DE)
• "Multimedia", Antonio Lagana (Perugia, FR)
• "Newly Appointed Teaching Staff 1/2", Paul Yates (Keele, UK)
• "Tuning II / III", Terry Mitchell (Dortmund, DE)

April 2005

Reports of the Working Groups:

• "Newly Appointed Teaching Staff 2/2", Paul Yates (Keele, UK)
• "Links with School - 2", Ingo Eilks (Dortmund, DE)
• "Biological Chemistry Report", Arne van der Gen, (Leiden, NL)
• "Teacher / Teaching Evaluation", Leila Birolo (Napoli, IT)

... and you permanent bimonthly reports on "Eurobachelor" and "EChemTest"