1. e-LEARNING IN CHEMISTRY Learning Management Systems Pearson’s ‘Mastering Chemistry’ LMS. MOODLE LMS Blackboard LMS e-Texts Creative Commons Direct from Author

2. Pearson’s ‘Mastering Chemistry’ LMS. Advantages Sophisticated system to cater for chemistry nomenclature. Permits online drawing of chemical structures. Good problem sets linked to textbook. Disadvantages Limited licence : 18 months, students could not re-sell textbooks linked to online system the access to which expired after this period. Cost implications. Problems with resetting usernames and passwords if students forgot them. Server not housed at DUT or even in RSA.

3. MOODLE LMS Advantages Unlimited licence. No cost implications – free software. Server under control of Chemistry Department at DUT. Easy to monitor student performance Easy to register students and change passwords, etc. Disadvantages Difficulty in drawing chemical structures.

4. Blackboard LMS Advantages Versatile system allowing interaction with images. Disadvantages Significant cost to University Difficult to monitor student online activity Difficult to draw chemical structures.

5. Requirements for a Chemistry LMS Must provide or allow the entry of chemistry-specific problems Must allow the online live monitoring of student activity and performance. Must be secure Must allow retakes of tests/quizzes for tutorial purposes.

6. e-TEXTS FOR CHEMISTRY Requirements for Chemistry Preferably free of copyright restrictions Low cost to students or free. Must be up-to-date Must be able to copy and paste text if necessary – copyright provision. Must be able to reproduce selected paragraphs for distribution – copyright implications

7. Present Strategy Use online e-learning for : Tutorials (repetitive) Formal online tests Learning modules (Read and learn with interspersed test questions) Links to e-texts e-texts supplied on flash drives Moodle used for testing while Blackboard used for the inverted classroom concept.

8. CONCLUSION Very keen student participation Cannot be done without active staff involvement in the computer laboratory Effective method of getting students to read.