Sheila R. Smith wants to improve teaching methods and student learning in inorganic chemistry.
That’s why Smith, associate professor of chemistry at University of Michigan-Dearborn, joined the Interactive Online Network of Inorganic Chemists (IONiC) and became part of its Leadership Council in 2010.
Smith not only uses, but helps administer the group’s website and social networking hub, VIPEr, which makes teaching resources freely available online.
The utility of the site will improve after the National Science Foundation recently awarded a four-year grant of $437,962 to IONiC. The multi-institutional, collaborative project, titled “IONiC: Transforming Education Through Collaborative Development of Materials at the Frontiers of Inorganic Chemistry,” is under the direction of Smith and 11 other science faculty nationwide.
A majority of the grant funding will go to support summer workshops over the next four years. Each workshop will focus on one of the subdisciplines of inorganic chemistry.
Smith recently ran a pilot workshop at University of North Carolina under the Chemistry Collaborations, Workshops and Communities of Scholars (CCWCS) umbrella. There, 20 faculty participants from around the country, in collaboration with five expert speakers, produced 39 outstanding learning objects in the area of Organometallic Catalysis.
“We had hoped that our group would produce about 20 new learning objects,” she said. “This went so much better than we expected. The enthusiasm at the workshop was just incredible.”
Smith hopes to build off that enthusiasm so she and other faculty members nationwide can create stronger networks.
“We hope to form personal relationships where people feel free to ask advice,” she said.
