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Tech Report

Videodisc Player utility Programs: Lesson Manager for Demonstrations in Organic Chemistry Videodisc

Gary L. Trammell and Scott Grissom

Sangamon State University, Springfield, IL 62794-9243

J. Chem. Educ., 1995, 72 (9), p 814

DOI: 10.1021/ed072p814.3

Publication Date: September 1995

Abstract

Lesson Manager for Demonstrations in Organic Chemistry Videodisc is a HyperCard () stack designed to enable high school and college chemistry teachers to have easy access to selections from the Demonstrations in Organic Chemistry Videodisc (). It enables selection of video segments by chapter title or topic. A unique feature of this stack is a lesson manager that allows a related group of demonstrations to be stored for easy access during a lecture. A study of teachers and students using software to control videodisc players revealed that some users were confused by the large number of small buttons and said they had problems using the software in the classroom. To solve this problem, controls have been designed to be easy to use in low lighting situations. Advanced features that are seldom used and might create confusion for occasional users are intentionally not provided.

Description cards give a summary of each demonstration with appropriate equations. Frame numbers, remote controls and barcode readers are no longer necessary in the classroom because demonstrations are selected by clicking on titles. Boldfaced phrases within each demonstration description are clicked to play specific subsections. This is especially useful when the entire demonstration is not desired.