HELP Topics for Instructors

ACE Organic Background: What It Is and What It Does

ACE Organic Overview

What ACE Organic Allows Instructors to Do

What ACE Organic Allows Students to Do

Components of ACE Organic

How to Use ACE Organic

How to Use ACE Organic – Instructions for Students

How to Use ACE Organic – Instructions for Instructors

How to Use MarvinSketch

Introduction to MarvinSketch

Working through ACE Organic's MarvinSketch Tutorial

Some Hidden MarvinSketch Operations

Questions, Answers, Feedback and Grading

Questions Currently Available

Format of Questions and Answers

Information Captured on Student Responses

Elements of a Question

A Typical Question and Its Evaluators

The Instructor Tool

To import assignments

To change the order of assignments

To delete an assignment

To export assignments

To assemble a new assignment

To modify an existing assignment

To add questions

To delete questions

To change the order of questions

To see how the assignment will look to students

To view how students have performed on each assignment

To view how students have performed on a specific question in an assignment

To regrade a question in an assignment

To edit a student's grade for an individual question

FAQ

The Authoring Tool

To launch ACE Organic Authoring Tool

To import a group of previously authored questions

To export a group of questions

To delete a question from an existing question set

To add a new question to an existing question set

To duplicate a question and then edit the duplicate

To edit an existing question

Editing Procedures

Adding or editing a figure

Adding or editing an evaluator

To create a new question set

To edit the title or common question statement of an existing question set

Formatting Text in ACE Organic

Functional Groups

Equipment & Software Needed to Run ACE Organic

Technical Requirements for Using ACE Organic

Detailed Setup Instructions for Various Browsers

Additional Help

Instructor Tool FAQ

Authoring Tool FAQ

Known Issues

Contact Help

ACE Organic Overview

ACE Organic is an exciting tool for students of introductory organic chemistry to learn, and to test their knowledge, and for their instructors to facilitate learning and monitor students' progress.

ACE Organic is a Web-based program developed specifically for instructors and students of introductory organic chemistry. In the typical organic chemistry course, students work questions out of a textbook for which a solutions manual is available. Students struggle with a question for a few minutes, look up the answer, and then feel as if they understand how to answer the question. It isn't until exam time that they realize that learning an answer to a question and knowing how to answer a question are two entirely different propositions.

Computer programs that can tell students that their responses are incorrect without giving away the correct answer are an ideal solution to this problem. Many Web-based chemistry homework programs exist, but all require text-based, numeric, or multiple-choice responses; none are well-suited to organic chemistry, where responses are usually structural drawings. ACE Organic permits students to construct structural responses to posed questions with a graphical structure-drawing interface. They submit their structure to a server, and, if their response is incorrect, they are given feedback and asked to try again.

What ACE Organic Allows Instructors to Do

Ace is a Web-based program that allows instructors to:

• Set up an organic chemistry course or courses in ACE Organic.
• Define and revise assignments.
• Select questions that require building chemical structures from a database of questions.
• Revise and create their own questions
• Construct appropriate feedback to students.
• Specify how many attempted responses are allowed on each question.
• Communicate assignments and their due dates to students.
• Decide whether and how to assign credit for a question.
• Have grades assigned interactively, online.
• View an individual's response to a question to better address any difficulty the student may be having.
• View all students' responses to a question to understand how effectively material is being taught on that particular topic, or so the question can be clarified.
• Track students' progress and grades on assignments.

What ACE Organic Allows the Student to Do

• Work assignments of organic chemistry questions interactively
• Answer questions by building chemical structures with a graphical structure-drawing interface
• Get immediate feedback on answers, including suggestions for how to correct and complete them
• Revise each solution a fixed number of times (or an unlimited number at the instructor's option) until it is right.
• Discuss questions with solutions with the instructor remotely, while the instructor views what the student has submitted.
• Self-assess mastery of the material throughout the course, not just at exam time.
• Review his/her grades on all the assignments in a course.

Components of ACE Organic

Students use two primary components of ACE Organic. The first is the student interface, which includes all the screens used to view courses, assignments, and grades, as well as the screens through used to initiate working an assignment. The second is MarvinSketch (Java applet licensed from ChemAxon, Ltd.), which is used to draw chemical structures.

These additional components are available only to the instructor:

• The instructor tool, allows the instructor to assemble assignments from the question database and to review students' performance.
• The authoring tool, allows an instructor or another qualified individual to create new questions, to modify existing questions, and to view the answers that students have given to a question.
• A course-management program.

ACE Organic is already being used in classrooms across the USA. If you are an instructor and you would like to use ACE Organic, please contact us at http://247pearsoned.custhelp.com.

How to Use ACE Organic – Instructions for Students

See the Student Help document.

How to Use ACE Organic – Instructions for Instructors

Your first step is to register with ACE Organic.

• Go to the ACE Organic Login page (http://prenhall.com/aceorganic) and press Register.
• Read the License Agreement and Privacy Policy and click I Accept. The Access Information page will appear.
• Click No under 'Do you have a Pearson Education account?'
• Enter a login name in the Create a Login Name text field.
  • It is recommended that you use your email address as your login name. The name you choose must be at least 4 characters long, and not already in use by another user.
• Enter a password in the Create a Password text field, and again in the Re-type your Password field.
  • Your password must be at least 8 characters long, with at least one letter and one number.
• Use the Access Code text fields to enter the access code provided to you by your Pearson rep.
• Click Next. The Course ID screen will appear.
• In the Course ID field, enter the course ID, if applicable.
• Click Next. The Account Information page will appear.
• Enter the required personal information in the text fields.
• Choose your institution from the pop-up menu. (If your institution does not appear, contact your instructor, and postpone your registration until later.)
• Click Next. The Confirmation & Summary page will appear.
• Click the Log In Now button to be taken back to ACE. You may now log in using your username and password.

After full instructor privileges have been granted, create an ACE Organic course.

• Log into ACE Organic.
• After you log in, the My Courses page will appear.

• Press the Add Course button in the lower right. The Add New Course page will appear.

• Enter the requested information.
• If you have registered both textbooks (Bruce and Wade), they will be available on this screen as radio button options, and you can select one or the other.
• Check the Enable Course? box if you want students to enter the course.
• You can set up your course to request that each student enters his or her student ID when enrolling in the course. To do this:
  • Check the Use Unique Id? box.
  • You may enter the preferred term for this ID (ID Number, Student ID, etc) in the Unique Id Label textbox.
• Press Add Course.

ACE Organic will then create the course, and a course number for it.

You may now do any of the following tasks.

• Post messages to your students.
  • On the Course Info page, click the Add Notes icon next to the Notes: section.

   

  

   

  • The message may contain HTML formatting tags such as <u>, <i>, <b>, and <p>. It may also include hyperlinks (i.e. <a href=http://www.google.com>Google</a>).
• Create an assignment using questions from the database.
• Author questions.
  • Any changes you make to the question database will be visible only in your course.
• Provide the course number to your students so that they may enroll.

The links at the top of My Courses, Course Info, and many other pages may be clicked at any time.

• My Courses returns you to the list of courses you are teaching.
• Help opens the user manual (in a new window).
• Logout logs you out of ACE Organic.

Introduction to MarvinSketch

MarvinSketch is a commercial Java applet for drawing organic chemical structures. It has an interface similar to ChemDraw, ISIS/Draw, etc. It is licensed from ChemAxon, Ltd. Most ACE questions require students to use MarvinSketch to draw their responses.

We strongly suggest that you take the tutorial on how to use MarvinSketch.

Working through ACE Organic's MarvinSketch tutorial

• From the My Courses page, choose Tutorials and then click on the Assignments tab. The Assignments page will open.
• Click on the link to the MarvinSketch Tutorial assignment.
  • The Question List page will appear.

• Click Solve below the first question.

• Read the instructions on the left, and draw the correct structure in the MarvinSketch window on the right.
  • NOTE: MarvinSketch may take some time to load when it is called for the first time in a session. Please be patient.
  • If you are asked to accept a certificate from ChemAxon or for MarvinSketch, press Always.
• Press Submit Answer and wait for the response.
  • If your answer is correct, press the forward (>) arrow on the bottom left of the screen, to the right of the Assignment List button, to proceed to the next question. You may return to a previous question by pressing the back (<) arrow.
  • If the answer is incorrect, try again.
• When you are finished, press any of the buttons or tabs at the top of the page to move to another ACE Organic screen, or Logout.

NOTE: MarvinSketch may take some time to load when it is called for the first time in a session. Please be patient.

• If you are asked to accept a certificate from ChemAxon or for MarvinSketch, press Always.
• Press Submit answer and wait for the response.
  • If your answer is correct, press the forward (>) arrow on the bottom left of the screen to proceed to the next question.
  • If the answer is incorrect, try again.
• When you are finished, press any of the buttons or tabs at the top of the page to move to another ACE Organic screen, or Logout.

Some Hidden MarvinSketch Operations

MarvinSketch has some features that are not obvious at first sight, and some of these features are deployed differently in different browsers. Above is an image of the MarvinSketch toolbar for your reference.

To draw double and triple bonds

• Type the number "2" (for a double bond) or "3" (for a triple bond).
• If the bond hasn't already been drawn:
  • Draw the bond. If it has already been drawn as another kind of bond, click on it to convert it.
  • Type 1 to return to the single-bond tool.
• If the bond is already drawn:
  • Click on the bond button (, to the left of More) or any atom button, and:
• Click once on a single bond to convert it to a double bond.
• Click once on a double bond to convert it to a triple bond.
• Click twice or double-click on a single bond to convert it to a triple bond.
• Click once on a triple bond to convert it to a single bond.
• To draw a multiple bond to a heteroatom:
  • Click on the heteroatom's button, or type the element's symbol.
  • Click and hold on an existing atom, then drag to add the heteroatom.
  • Click on the new single bond to change it to a multiple bond.

To select individual atoms or groups

• Click the Select button on the MarvinSketch toolbar.
• Click and drag to draw a box around the atom(s) you want to select. You can select an entire molecule, or just sections of it. Selected items appear green.
  • To select an entire molecule, double-click on it. To select a second molecule, shift-double-click.

• To move the selection:
  • Move the mouse over the selection until a blue square appears.
  • Click, hold, and drag to move the selection.
• To rotate the selection:
  • Move the mouse over the selection until a blue, jagged, star-like shape appears.
  • Click, hold, and drag to rotate the selection.

To copy and paste in MarvinSketch

• Click Select, then make a selection.
• Click the Copy button on the toolbar, to copy the selection.
  • The Copy button changes to a Paste button.
  • The selection is unselected. The Paste button is available only when nothing is selected.
• Click the Paste button on the toolbar.
• If the canvas is empty, the structure will appear on the canvas. Otherwise, click on the canvas in order to paste the selection.

To delete a structure or atom

• If the Erase button is not visible, click on the stage to deselect any selection.
• Click the Erase button in the toolbar.
• To delete a single atom, click on the atom.
• To delete a group of atoms, draw a box around the atoms. You can use this feature to remove part of a molecule.

To indicate tetrahedral stereochemistry

The stereochemistry at a tetrahedral C atom is indicated by drawing one of the C–X bonds as a bold wedge, a hashed wedge, or a wavy line.

• Click and hold on the bond button () to bring up a menu.

• Choose Single Up (for a bold wedge), Single Down (for a hashed wedge), or Single Up or Down (for a wavy bond).
• If the bond hasn't already been drawn:
  • Draw the bond as you would a regular bond. If it has already been drawn as another kind of bond, click on it to convert it.
  • Click on a wedged bond to reverse its direction.
• If the bond has already been drawn:
  • Right-click (Internet Explorer) or CONTROL-click (Safari) on the bond in question.
  • Choose More > Single Up (for a bold wedge), Single Down (for a hashed wedge), or Single Up or Down (for a wavy bond).

To return to the regular single-bond tool, just type 1.

NOTE: When you draw a Single Up bond, the wide end of the bond should be pointing to the group that is closer to you, and when you draw a Single Down bond, the wide end of the bond should be pointing to the group that is further away from you. If your bond is pointing in the wrong direction, clicking on it again with the Single Up or Single Down bond tool will invert it.

To indicate double-bond stereochemistry

To indicate a specific double-bond stereochemistry, just draw the substituents with the appropriate E or Z geometry. Do not use hashed or bold wedges or wavy bonds to indicate double bond stereochemistry. If you do, you will confuse the application.

To indicate a mixture of cis and trans isomers:

• Click and hold on the bond button (, to the left of More) to bring up a menu.
• Choose Single Up or Down (the wavy bond) and draw the bond from one of the double-bonded carbon atoms to a group attached to it.

If the bond hasn't already been drawn:

• Draw the bond as you would a regular bond.

If the bond has already been drawn as another kind of bond, follow one of the following paths:

• Path one:
  • Click-hold on the bond button in the MarvinSketch menu.
  • From the dropdown, choose Single Up or Down.
  • Click on the bond.
• Path two:
  • Right-click (Internet Explorer) or CONTROL-click (Safari) on the bond in question.
  • Choose Bond Types > Single Up or Down.
• The bond will change to a wavy bond.

To draw an element for which there is no button

• Type the element's symbol. You may need to click Select first. Do not move the cursor while you are typing.
• Add the atom to your drawing as you would add any atom. If the cursor is over an atom while you are typing, the atom will automatically change to the atom that you typed.

or:

• Press More.
• Press the appropriate element's button.
• Close the periodic table window.
• Add the atom to your drawing as you would add any atom.

To draw groups such as Ph or COOMe

MarvinSketch understands hundreds of abbreviations for common organic groups such as Ph, CO2Me, SNa, TBSO, etc.

• Using your keyboard, enter the abbreviation for the group you want to enter. (Don't worry about subscripting.)
• With each character you type, a list of known abbreviations that match what you type appears in the upper left of the drawing window.
  • If your abbreviation is understood by MarvinSketch, when you have finished typing, the abbreviation will appear at the cursor. You must type the entire abbreviation even if only one abbreviation is listed in the upper left before you have finished typing.
  • If the abbreviation that you type does not appear in the upper left, it is not understood by MarvinSketch, and you must draw out the group.
• Add the group to your drawing as you would add any atom.

or:

• Open the Insert drop-down at the top of the MarvinSketch window.
• Select Group from the drop-down list.
• Select the letter(s) that corresponds to the first letter of the group you wish to add.
• Select the next letter(s) until you have the group that you wish to add.
• When you have chosen a group, click on the stage to add the group to your drawing.

The shortcut group's name may change depending on whether the bond to which it is attached is directed to the left or right. So CO₂Me may appear as MeO₂C, and CN may appear as NC.

To see an expanded version of any shortcut group:

• Add the group to your structure.
• From the MarvinSketch Edit menu, choose Groups > Expand or Groups > Ungroup. Expand is reversible by Groups > Contract; Ungroup is irreversible.

To increase or decrease the charge on an atom

Perform one of the following actions:

• Click + or - in the MarvinSketch toolbar, then click on the atom.
• Press + or - on your keyboard, then click on the atom.
• Hover over the atom, then press + or -.

To indicate a radical

• Right-click (Internet Explorer) or CONTROL-click (Safari) on the atom to bring up a menu.
• Choose Radical > Monovalent.

To indicate a specific isotope

To indicate the hydrogen isotopes deuterium (²H) or tritium (³H):

• Simply type D or T, and then use the cursor to add this isotope to your structure as you would any other atom. The isotope will appear in the structure as ²H or ³H.

To indicate other isotopes:

• Right-click (Internet Explorer) or CONTROL-click (Safari) and hold on the atom to bring up a menu.
• Choose Isotope > the appropriate isotope.

To view all H atoms

To view all H atoms without showing the X—H bonds:

• From the MarvinSketch View menu, choose Hydrogens > All.

To draw out all the X—H bonds:

• From the MarvinSketch Edit menu, choose Add > Explicit H atoms.

If you do not see the MarvinSketch menus, press the up-arrow in the upper right of the MarvinSketch menu bar. Press the up-arrow in the upper right of the new MarvinSketch window's menu bar when you no longer need the MarvinSketch menus.

To acquire the source code of a molecule drawn in MarvinSketch

If a response elicits an unexpected reaction from ACE Organic, it would be very helpful to ACE Organic's Technical Support if you would include the source code of the response.

• From the MarvinSketch Edit menu, choose Edit > Source.
• Highlight the text in the new window that appears.
• Choose Edit > Copy from the menu of the new window.
• Close the new window.
• Go to http://247pearsoned.custhelp.com and click the Ask a Question button.
• Enter the required information, and paste the source code into the "Details:" text field.

Questions Currently Available

The current database contains over 1000 questions that all instructors may use. An instructor uses a Web browser to assemble an assignment from questions in the database. The questions are generally organized to follow the structure of the textbook, but instructors are free to reorganize the questions into assignments in whatever way they want, so they are not required to use Bruice as their textbook. Instructors may also modify the existing questions or add their own new ones. Changes that one instructor makes to the question database are invisible to other instructors.

The future plan is to create a tool for incorporating instructors' additions and modifications into the master database (with their permission, of course). Prentice-Hall, the owner of ACE Organic, will decide questions of permission and remuneration.

Format of Questions and Answers

An ACE Organic question has a response whose format is a single chemical structure or a small group of structures. Questions may also cover nomenclature, resonance structures, isomers, reactions, spectroscopy, conformation, mechanisms, and multistep synthesis.

Information Captured on Student Responses

ACE Organic records how many times a student has responded to a question, the student's last response to that question, and whether the response was correct, partly correct, or incorrect (as determined by the question's author). Both student and instructor can see this information.

Elements of a Question

An ACE Organic question consists of:

• Question type – May be any of the following:
  • Skeletal structure (uses MarvinSketch)
  • Lewis structure (uses LewisSketch)
  • Mechanism (uses MarvinSketch)
  • Multiple choice
  • Rank
  • Fill in the blank
• Question source – The textbook to which the question is added. Includes book title, author/chapter, and number.
• Statement – The actual question text.
• Figure – An illustration to accompany the question, if needed.
• Question data – The available user choices for multiple choice, rank, and fill in the blank questions.
• Evaluators – The rules for determining whether an answer is correct or incorrect, and the feedback that the user will receive.

Question types

Skeletal structure questions require the student to draw the structure of a molecule using the MarvinSketch drawing tool. This question type uses the MarvinSketch drawing tool. Possible topics include nomenclature, stereochemistry, reactions, spectroscopy, simple retrosynthesis, and conformation. You can also create mapping questions, in which a student marks a particular atom or atoms in a structure with a number between 1 and 99.

Lewis structure questions require the student to draw the structure of a molecule using the LewisSketch drawing tool, a simplified equivalent of MarvinSketch.

Mechanism questions require the student to draw the mechanism of a reaction, or the resonance structure of a molecule, using the MarvinSketch drawing tool. The student's answer is correct if it does not match any of the incorrect evaluators. The last evaluator in a mechanism question will always be "correct if the number of C atoms does not equal 0".

Multiple choice questions require the student to select the correct choice from a series of options. The author enters these options by clicking Add New next to Question Data on the question authoring page.

Rank questions require the student to put choices in the correct order. The author enters these options by clicking Add New next to Question Data on the question authoring page.

Fill in the blank questions are similar to multiple choice questions, except that there can be more than one multiple-choice selection to be made within the question. The student must choose one or more options to complete a sentence correctly.

• The author enters the individual options by clicking Add New next to Question Data on the question authoring page.
• Create the "blanks" as dropdowns within the sentence. This is done within the Statement text box, using a special syntax to indicate a dropdown. List the question numbers, separated by commas, within a set of double-brackets.
  For example, [[1, 2, 3]] will create a dropdown that lists options 1, 2 and 3 in your Question Data list.

Question source

Each question needs to be associated with a textbook. This is done using the controls located under the Question source heading on the question authoring page.

• Choose the textbook from the Book dropdown.
• Enter the chapter number in the Chapter text field, or the author name in the Author text field.
• Enter the question number in the Number text field.

Statement

In the Statement text box, enter the text containing the question as it will appear to the user.

Note: Some system-provided question sets have a common question statement applied to all questions in the set. This statement is not displayed in the Statement text box for individual questions, but appears when the question is viewed by a student or previewed by an instructor. Any new questions created for this question set will also share its question statement.

Figures

To add an illustration to the question, click Add New under the Figures heading on the question authoring page. You can create a figure using MarvinSketch or LewisSketch, or you can import an image file.

Question Data

If you are creating a multiple choice question, a rank question, or a fill in the blank question, you will need to create each of the options for the student to choose from. To create each option, click Add New under the Question Data heading on the question authoring page.

Evaluators

Evaluators can be fully correct, partially correct, or wrong. The order is important: Evaluators are checked in a top-down order, and checking is stopped when an evaluator finds a match.

Each evaluator is associated with a grade: a wrong answer is worth 0, a fully correct answer is worth 1, and a partially correct answer can be set by the author to any value between 0 and 1.

Evaluators can be created to test or ignore responses that have a particular stereochemical configuration. Evaluators can also be created to match specific correct or incorrect substructures or skeletons.

A Typical Question and Its Evaluators

Question: "Predict the major product of the following reaction. Remember that bromination is highly selective, and that the most stable radical will be formed."

On the question editing screen under Evaluators, the evaluators and their associated feedback will be displayed as shown in the image below.

Note that each evaluator has a parameter: [C] for a correct answer, [W] for a wrong answer, or a percentage for a partially correct answer.

A text list of all of the evaluators, parameters and feedback for this question would look like the following:

You may use the Instructor Tool to import assignments that someone else has assembled, to assemble your own assignments from questions in the database, or to modify assignments. You may also use it to view how students have performed on an assignment. The authors of ACE ORGANIC encourage instructors to make their first assignment the MarvinSketch tutorial.

To import assignments

For you to use this function, you must have a file on your hard drive that was created when you or another instructor exported assignments from another course.

• If you haven't logged in to the ACE ORGANIC site already, do so. You will be brought to the course selection page.
• If you haven't entered your course yet, click the appropriate Course Home link. You will be brought to the course home page.
• Click the Assignments tab. The assignment selection page will appear.

• Press Import. A new window will appear.
• Press Browse..., then browse to the file containing the previously exported assignment(s) and select it.
• Press Upload. When the file has been uploaded, the number of new assignments will be displayed.
• Click Back.

To change the order of assignments

• If you haven't logged in to the ACE ORGANIC site already, do so. You will be brought to the course selection page.
• If you haven't entered your course yet, click the appropriate Course Home link. You will be brought to the course home page.
• Click the Assignments tab. The assignment selection page will appear.
• Click the drop-down menu in the Move To column of the assignment you want to move. Choose the new placement of the assignment from the list. The assignments will automatically sort according to your selection.

To delete an existing assignment

WARNING: If you delete an assignment, the grades in the gradebook corresponding to that assignment are also deleted. Do not delete an assignment until after a course is over or unless you have exported the gradebook.

• If you haven't logged in to the ACE ORGANIC site already, do so. You will be brought to the course selection page.
• If you haven't entered your course yet, click the appropriate Course Home link. You will be brought to the course home page.
• Click the Assignments tab. The assignment selection page will appear.
• Click the Delete icon for the assignment you want to delete.
• Press OK.

To export assignments

This function allows you to create a copy of the assignments you have assembled for your course. You or another instructor can then import the assignments into a different course. This function is especially useful if you have assembled assignments that closely track a particular textbook that you and your colleagues use. You can also read and edit the saved file in any text editor.

• If you haven't logged in to the ACE ORGANIC site already, do so. You will be brought to the course selection page.
• If you haven't entered your course yet, click the appropriate Course Home link. You will be brought to the course home page.
• Click the Assignments tab. The assignment selection page will appear.
• Check the boxes next to the assignments to be exported.
• Press Export. A new window will appear.
• Follow the onscreen instructions to save the file to your computer. This file can be sent to other instructors for import into their own courses.
• Click Close.

To assemble a new assignment

• If you haven't logged in to the ACE ORGANIC site already, do so. You will be brought to the course selection page.
• If you haven't entered your course yet, click the appropriate Course Home link. You will be brought to the course home page.
• Click the Assignments tab. The assignment selection page will appear.

• Press Add New. The Instructor Tool assignment assembly page will open.

• Click Switch to Topic Organization to access the drop-down menus for database topic and question set.
• In the upper-left corner of the screen, use the two drop-down menus to choose the database topic and question set from which you will select some or all of your assignment's questions. The lower-left frame will now show all the questions in that database question set.

• Click the checkboxes next to the questions you wish to select, and click the Add Selected button in the upper left.
• Repeat the previous steps to add more questions from a different database question set.
• Enter the name of the assignment and some remarks (if desired) in the right frame.
• Enter the maximum number of times that a student will be allowed to submit an answer to each question in this assignment.
• Press Save & Continue. A final page of settings will appear.

• Enter a due date and time.
• Indicate whether the assignment should be visible to students yet and whether students should be permitted to work on the assignment (for no credit) after the due date.
• To enforce the due date, or to allow exceptions for specific students, uncheck the box next to 'Record all students' work after the due date?' Otherwise, check the box so that the due date will not be enforced.
• To set attempt-dependent grading:
  • Click Add grading parameter to open the grading parameter options.

   

  

   

  • In the first text field, enter the number of attempts you want to allow.
  • In the second text field, enter the number by which higher attempts should be multiplied. For example, enter 0.5 if you want higher attempts to be worth half as much as the first attempt.
  • If you want to set additional grading parameters, click Add grading parameter additional times.

   

  

   

• To make due date exceptions for individual students:
  • Click Extensions to open the extension options.
  • To give a student an extension, enter the number of days in the text field next to that student's name.

   

  

   

• Click Submit.

To modify an existing assignment

• If you haven't logged in to the ACE ORGANIC site already, do so. You will be brought to the course selection page.
• If you haven't entered your course yet, click the appropriate Course Home link. You will be brought to the course home page.
• Click the Assignments tab. The assignment selection page will appear.

• Click the Edit icon next to the assignment to be modified. The Instructor Tool assignment assembly page will open.

• Click Switch to Topic Organization to access the drop-down menus for database topic and question set.
• In the upper-left frame, use the two drop-down menus to choose the database topic and question set from which you will select some new questions for the assignment. The lower-left frame will now show all the questions in that database question set.

• You may:
  • add questions;
  • delete questions;
  • change the order of questions.
• You may change the assignment title, remarks, and number of tries allowed per question.
• Press Save & Continue. A final page of settings will appear.

• Enter a due date and time.
• Indicate whether the assignment should be visible to students yet and whether students should be permitted to work on the assignment (for no credit) after the due date.
• To enforce the due date, or to allow exceptions for specific students, uncheck the box next to 'Record all students' work after the due date?' Otherwise, check the box so that the due date will not be enforced.
• To set attempt-dependent grading:
  • Click Add grading parameter to open the grading parameter options.

   

  

   

  • In the first text field, enter the number of attempts you want to allow.
  • In the second text field, enter the number by which higher attempts should be multiplied. For example, enter 0.5 if you want higher attempts to be worth half as much as the first attempt.
  • If you want to set additional grading parameters, click Add grading parameter additional times.

   

  

   

• To make due date exceptions for individual students:
  • Click Extensions to open the extension options.
  • To give a student an extension, enter the number of days in the text field next to that student's name.

   

  

   

• Click Submit.

To add questions

• If you haven't logged in to the ACE ORGANIC site already, do so. You will be brought to the course selection page.
• If you haven't entered your course yet, click the appropriate Course Home link. You will be brought to the course home page.
• Click the Assignments tab. The assignment selection page will appear.
• Press Add New. The Instructor Tool assignment assembly page will open.

• Click Switch to Topic Organization to access the drop-down menus for database topic and question set.
• In the upper-left corner of the screen, use the two drop-down menus to choose the database topic and question set from which you will select some or all of your assignment's questions. The lower-left frame will now show all the questions in that database question set.

• Select which questions to add to the assignment by clicking the check boxes adjacent to each question in the lower-left frame.
  • You may select all the questions by checking Select All in the upper-left frame.
  • You may deselect questions by clicking an already-checked box.
  • You may deselect all the questions by un-checking Select All in the upper-left frame.
  • Questions that you have created or modified in the Authoring Tool will be labeled as such here.

• Add the checked questions by pressing Add Selected in the upper-left frame.
• The assignment in the right frame will be updated.
• Press Save & Continue.
• Press Submit.

To delete questions

• If you haven't logged in to the ACE ORGANIC site already, do so. You will be brought to the course selection page.
• If you haven't entered your course yet, click the appropriate Course Home link. You will be brought to the course home page.
• Click the Assignments tab. The assignment selection page will appear.
• Press the Edit icon . The Instructor Tool assignment assembly page will open.
• In the right frame, click the Remove icon next to each question you would like to delete.

• Press Save & Continue.
• Press Submit.

To change the order of questions

• If you haven't logged in to the ACE ORGANIC site already, do so. You will be brought to the course selection page.
• If you haven't entered your course yet, click the appropriate Course Home link. You will be brought to the course home page.
• Click the Assignments tab. The assignment selection page will appear.
• Click the Edit icon next to the assignment to be modified.
• Click the drop-down menu in the Move To column of the question you want to move. Choose the new placement of the question from the list. The questions will automatically sort according to your selection.

• Press Save & Continue.
• Press Submit.

To see how the assignment will look to students

• If you haven't logged in to the ACE ORGANIC site already, do so. You will be brought to the course selection page.
• If you haven't entered your course yet, click the appropriate Course Home link. You will be brought to the course home page.
• Click the Assignments tab. The assignment selection page will appear.

• Click the assignment name link in the Do Assignment column to view and answer the questions as a student would.

ACE ORGANIC will not remember your answers to an assignment's questions after you leave the Assignment. (Answers are remembered only when submitted by actual students.)

To view how students have performed on each assignment

• If you haven't logged in to the ACE ORGANIC site already, do so. You will be brought to the course selection page.
• If you haven't entered your course yet, click the appropriate Course Home link. You will be brought to the course home page.
• Click the Grades tab in the upper right.

A table of assignment vs. student name will appear. Each entry gives the student's score on that assignment, as points and as a percentage. The maximum score and the average score on each assignment are displayed at the bottom of the table. The average score does not include students who did not attempt the assignment at all.

• Click the Export Grades To Spreadsheet button at the bottom of the page to download the table of grades as a spreadsheet in Excel format (.xls).

To view how students have performed on a specific question in an assignment

• If you haven't logged in to the ACE ORGANIC site already, do so. You will be brought to the course selection page.
• If you haven't entered your course yet, click the appropriate Course Home link. You will be brought to the course home page.
• Click the Grades tab in the upper right. A table of assignment vs. student name will appear.

• Click the name of the assignment set you want to view in detail.

A table of question number vs. student name will appear. Each entry shows:

• how many responses the student gave to the question;
• whether the last response was correct; and,
• a hyperlink to the last response.

The bottom of the table indicates:

• the average score on the question (nonattempts are not included);
• the number of students who attempted the question;
• the number of students who answered the question correctly; and
• the median number of attempts each student made to answer each question (nonattempts not included).

You may:

• Click the Export Grades To Spreadsheet button at the bottom of the page to download the table of grades as a spreadsheet in Excel format (.xls).

To regrade an assignment

Occasionally you may find that there is an error in a particular question so that it marks correct responses as wrong or vice versa. After correcting the error, you may want to regrade the assignment.

• If you haven't logged in to the ACE ORGANIC site already, do so. You will be brought to the course selection page.
• If you haven't entered your course yet, click the appropriate Course Home link. You will be brought to the course home page.
• Click the Grades tab in the upper right. A table of assignment vs. student name will appear.

• Click the name of the assignment set that contains the question that needs to be regraded. A table of question number vs. student name will appear.

• Click Regrade under the number of the question that needs to be regraded.

• In the Forced Regrade window that opens, press Regrade this problem now. When the regrade is complete, the window will display the usernames of students whose grades have changed.
• If you want to notify the students whose grades have changed, you will need to do so with a broadcast email to the entire class.
• Press Close to return to the table of question number vs. student name.

To edit a student's grade for an individual question

Occasionally you may need to correct or adjust a student's grade for an individual question.

• If you haven't logged in to the ACE ORGANIC site already, do so. You will be brought to the course selection page.
• If you haven't entered your course yet, click the appropriate Course Home link. You will be brought to the course home page.
• Click the Grades tab in the upper right. A table of assignment vs. student name will appear.

• Click the name of the assignment set containing the question you want to regrade. A table of question number vs. student name will appear.

• If the user names are not displayed, click the Show/Hide Names button to make them visible.
• Click on the name of the user whose grade you want to change.

• Click the reset link under the question you want to regrade. A pop-up window will open.

• Enter the revised grade in the top text field next to "Grade (between 0 and 1 inclusive):"
• Enter the revised number of attempts in the lower text field next to "Number of attempts (0 or more):".
• If you want to reset the grading to a state where the student has not attempted the question, check the box next to "Or set to null:".
• Click Reset this record now. The student's grade for that question will change as a result.

The authoring tool, the most complex of the three components of ACE Organic, allows you to add new questions to the database and to modify questions already in the database. Changes you make to the database will be limited to your course.

To launch ACE Organic Authoring Tool:

• Login to the ACE Organic site. You will be brought to the My Courses page.

• Click the appropriate Course Name link. You will be brought to the Course Info page.

• Click the Question Bank tab in the upper right.
• The Authoring Tool page will appear. This page is used to:
  • import a group of previously authored questions;
  • export a group of questions for backup or for importation elsewhere;
  • delete a question from a question set;
  • add a new question to a question set;
  • choose a question to edit;
  • duplicate a question and then edit the duplicate;
  • revert to the original question after a question has been locally edited;
  • view student responses to a question.

To import a group of previously authored questions:

This function allows you to import a set of previously authored and exported questions into a question set.

• On the Authoring Tool page, choose a Topic and Question Set from the drop-down menus in the upper left frame. The lower frame will show the questions in the set.
• Press Import Questions. A new window will appear.
• Browse to the zip file containing the previously exported question set, and press Upload.

To export a group of questions:

You may want to export a question set for purposes of backup or because you want to import the questions into another question set.

• On the Authoring Tool page, choose a Topic and Question Set from the drop-down menus in the upper left frame. The lower frame will show the questions in the set.
• Press Export Selected. A new window will open.
• Follow the onscreen instructions to save the file to your disk.
• Press Close.

You can open and edit the saved file in any text editor. Find the file on your disk and unzip it. If you edit the file, make sure you re-zip it before trying to import it.

To delete a question from an existing question set:

(Note that this function does NOT use the Authoring Tool page).

• After Login, the My Courses page appears. Click on the name of the course.
• The Course Info page appears; click on the Assignments tab.

• On the Assignments page, click on the Edit icon for the question set you wish to change.
• The list of questions appears on the lower right of the screen. Click on the red X next to the question to be deleted.
• Press Save & Continue.

To add a new question to an existing question set:

• On the Authoring Tool page, choose a topic from the Select the topic drop-down menu, and a question set from the Select the question set drop-down menu. The questions will appear below.
• Press Add Question.

• Enter the question statement in the "Question Text" area. Do not repeat the question set's common question statement.
• In the Figures area, press Add New and repeat the Adding or editing a figure instructions as many times as the question has figures.
• In the Evaluators area, press Add New and repeat the Adding or editing an evaluator instructions as many times as the question has correct or partially correct answers.
• When you are finished adding the question:
  • press Save and Add New to add another question from scratch
  • press Save and Duplicate if you want to create another new question using the present one as a template (follow the To duplicate a question and then edit the duplicate instructions for editing)
  • press Save and Exit to return to the question selection page
  • press Cancel if you don't wish to save your work
• Note: Before authoring another question or editing an existing question in the Question Bank, you must first click on one of the other activity tabs and then click back to the Question Bank tab. This prevents a bug that can cause your work to be lost.

Hint: To make sure that you don't lose your work by a browser crash, after you duplicate a question, press Save and Exit, and then edit the question that you have just created.

To duplicate a question and then edit the duplicate:

(Use this function to create a series of related questions without creating new evaluators and feedback from scratch.)

• On the Authoring Tool page, choose a Topic and Question Set from the drop-down menus in the upper left frame. The lower frame will show the questions in the set.
• Click the Duplicate icon next to the number of the question you want to duplicate. The Question Assembly page will appear.

• When you are finished modifying the question:
  • Press Save and Duplicate if you want to create another new question using the present one as a template.
  • Press Save and Add New to add another question from scratch.
  • Press Save and Exit to return to the question selection page.
  • Press Cancel if you don't wish to save your work.

Hint: To make sure that you don't lose your work by a browser crash, after you duplicate a question, press Save and Exit, and then edit the question that you have just created.

To edit an existing question:

• On the Authoring Tool page, choose a Topic and Question Set from the drop-down menus in the upper left frame. The lower frame will show the questions in the set.
• Click the Edit icon next to the number of the question you want to edit. Questions that you have created or previously modified in the Authoring Tool will be labeled as such. If you have already edited a question from the original database and you want it to revert to the original database question, click Revert to original.
• Follow the Editing Procedures instructions. Use your browser's Back button to return to the present instructions.

At any time, you may:

• press Reset to erase the changes you have made since your last save
• press Save Changes to save your changes.
  • Upon saving your changes, if any of the new structures are already present in the database under a different name, a log of a name change appears below Statement.
  • If you have made a lot of changes in a question or reordered many evaluators, you may have to wait a minute or longer before the save is executed. Do NOT press Save repeatedly.

When you have finished with this question (making sure to Save Changes if needed), you may:

• move to an adjacent question in this set by pressing the Previous or Next arrows in the lower left.
• jump to another question in this set by choosing a question number from the drop-down menu in the lower left.
• press Save and Exit to save your changes and return to the question selection page.
• press Exit w/o Saving to return to the question selection page without saving any changes made since the last time Save Changes was pressed.

Remember to press Save changes before moving on, or your changes will be lost!

Note: Any changes to a question that is already part of an assignment will be reflected in the assignment. However, if a student has already worked a question, his or her assigned grade for that question will not change unless he or she submits a new answer.

Editing Procedures:

To edit the question statement, simply enter the new text under "Statement".

• The student will see both the problem set's common question statement and the question statement for each question, so don't enter text here that already appears in the common question statement

You may add, edit, or delete a question Figure.

To add a new Figure:

• Press Add New in the "Figures" area. A new window will appear.
• Follow the instructions under Adding or editing a figure.

To edit an existing question Figure:

• Choose which figure you want to edit from the Figure drop-down menu.
• Press the Edit icon. A new window will appear.
• Follow the instructions under Adding or editing a figure.

To delete a Figure:

• Choose which figure you want to delete from the Figure drop-down menu.
• Press the Delete icon.

You may add, edit, duplicate, or delete question evaluators (tests for student responses).

To add a new evaluator:

• In the Evaluators section of the page, press the Add New button. The evaluator-editing page will appear.
• Follow the instructions for Adding or editing an evaluator.

To edit an existing evaluator:

• Press the Edit icon to the right of the evaluator you want to edit. The evaluator-editing page will appear.
• Follow the instructions for Adding or editing an evaluator.

To duplicate an existing evaluator and edit the new copy:

• Press the Duplicate icon to the right of the evaluator you want to duplicate.
• Press the Edit icon to the right of the new copy of the evaluator. The evaluator-editing page will appear.
• Follow the instructions for Adding or editing an evaluator.

To delete an evaluator:

• Press the Delete icon to the right of the evaluator you want to delete.

To combine evaluators with AND or OR operators:

• Enter both evaluators as usual, without feedback.
• Click the checkboxes of the two evaluators you want to combine.
• From the drop-down menu to the right of Combine, choose whether you want to combine the two evaluators with AND or OR.
• Press Combine. A new window will appear.
• Enter feedback for the combined evaluator.
• Press OK when you are satisfied.

To split up evaluators that have been combined with AND and OR:

• Click the checkbox of the combined evaluators.
• Press Split.

To change the order in which a student's answer is tested against the evaluators:

• Click the drop-down menu to the right of the evaluator you want to reorder, then choose the desired postion from the list.

You can see how well your evaluators catch various correct and incorrect answers.

• Press Preview.
  • NOTE: If you have not called MarvinSketch previously in the current session, you may need to wait some time for it to load. Please be patient.
• Draw a structure in the right-hand frame, and press Submit Response. The feedback tells you which evaluator your response satisfied. You may repeat this step as many times as you like.
• When you are finished, press Close Preview.

Adding or editing a figure:

• If you have not called MarvinSketch previously in the current session, you may need to wait some time for it to load. Please be patient.
• If you are asked to accept a certificate from ChemAxon or for MarvinSketch, press Always.
• From the drop-down menu, choose your Type of figure: a reaction, a molecule, or an image. (A reaction consists of starting material, reaction arrow, and text above and/or below the arrow.)
  • If your figure is a reaction or molecule, use MarvinSketch to draw the compound.
  • If your figure is a reaction, enter text above and/or below the arrow.
  • If your figure is an image, upload the image from a file. The image can have any browser-compatible format (JPEG, GIF, etc.; some browsers cannot display TIFF files), but PNG files of sufficiently high resolution are recommended.
• Press Apply Changes to add the figure, or Cancel to exit without keeping the figure.

Adding or editing an evaluator:

NOTES:

• If you have not called MarvinSketch previously in the current session, you may need to wait some time for it to load. Please be patient.
• If you are asked to accept a certificate from ChemAxon or for MarvinSketch, press Always.

Use the first drop-down menu (next to New:) to indicate whether the evaluator is for fully correct or partially correct answers.

• If the evaluator is for a partially correct answer, a textfield labeled Grade (0–1) will appear. Enter a number between 0 and 1 to indicate the "quality" of an answer that satisfies the evaluator.

From the next drop-down menu, choose an evaluator type which the answer must satisfy.

• If you choose an evaluator type involving a molecule, substructure, or skeleton:
  • Enter the name of the molecule, substructure, or skeleton in the textbox above the MarvinSketch window. (If the structure is already present in the database, and the new and old names don't match, then the new name will be written over the old one when you save the question.)
  • Draw the appropriate molecule, substructure, or skeleton.
• If you choose an evaluator type that does not require you to draw a structure, enter the appropriate information.

In the Feedback textbox at the bottom, enter feedback to the student if the student's answer fulfills the evaluator. (Feedback is unnecessary if the evaluator is going to be combined using AND or OR.)

Press OK to save your changes, or Cancel to return without saving.

To create a new question set:

• If you have not already done so, launch the Authoring Tool.
• On the question selection page, click Question sets overview to enter the question sets overview page.

• Press Add New Question Set to the right of the topic to which you want to add the question set.
• Enter the name of the question set, the author, any remarks (not seen by students), and the common question statement (seen by students). The common question statement is a statement that appears at the beginning of every question in that question set, such as "Draw the product of this reaction."
• Press Save.
• Click Exit at the top of the question sets overview page to return to the question selection page, where you will want to add questions to your question set.

(Note: Adding a question set to a topic is an irreversible act. There is no delete function for question sets.)

To edit the title or common question statement of an existing question set:

• If you have not already done so, launch the Authoring Tool.
• On the question selection page, click Question sets overview to enter the question sets overview page.
• Click the Edit icon to the right of the question set title.
• Enter your changes.
• Press Save.
• Click Exit to return to the question selection page.

(Note: You may not edit the title or common question statement of a question set from the original database.)

Formatting Text in ACE Organic

ACE provides a set of easy-to-use notations for specifying common chemical formatting and symbols, and we recommend that you use them whenever possible. No knowledge of HTML is needed.

ACE applies its formatting rules to question statements, feedback, rank and multiple-choice options, fill-in-the-blank pulldown menus, structure names, and the titles of assignments. Authors who wish to learn more about ACE's formatting rules should consult this public-access page. It has an interactive feature that allows authors to type various expressions and see how ACE will format them.

Subscripting

Numbers following elemental symbols and end parentheses are subscripted automatically. For example, if you enter H2SO4 in a text box, it will be displayed as H₂SO₄, and Ca(SO4)2 will be rendered as Ca(SO₄)₂ . If you want to override this rule, use the ^ (shift-6) symbol just before the number. For example, C^4 will be rendered as C4.

Both SN1 and SN2 are automatically rendered as S_N1 and S_N2.

Superscripting

Enter ^ before a character to superscript that character and no subsequent ones, and enter ^^ to superscript all subsequent characters until a space character. For example, OH^- will be rendered as OH^-, and cm^^-1 will be rendered as cm^-1 . Only numbers and the + and - signs can be superscripted.

Both sp2 and sp3 are automatically rendered as sp² and sp³.

Symbols

ACE provides short notations for frequently used symbols in chemistry.

Standard HTML tags may also be entered manually. However, we advise you to limit their use to italicizing (<i>), bolding (<b>), subscripting (<sub>) or superscripting (<sup>). Do not use other HTML tags or entity references in your text.

Functional Groups

Visit our functional-group finder to see which functional groups ACE ORGANIC finds and does not find in any structure you draw.

Technical Requirements for Using ACE Organic

You will need one of these equipment / operating system / browser combinations to use ACE Organic efficiently:

On PCs: Internet Explorer or Firefox. On Macs: Safari.

Whatever browser you use, ACE requires you to enable Java and JavaScript and to turn off pop-up blockers.

Leaving the application unattended for an extended period of time may result in a session error. To resolve this, QUIT your browser, restart, EMPTY YOUR CACHE (in Explorer, Tools > Internet options > Delete temporary files), and then log in again.

ACE Organic may or may not work on other operating system/ browser combinations; those listed above are the ones for which it was designed, and on which it has been tested. It is strongly recommended that you use one of the platform/ browser combinations shown above.

You also need:

• Cable or DSL Internet connection
• PC (minimum: Pentium with 800 GHz, 128 RAM) or Mac (G4 or higher)

Detailed Setup Instructions for Various Browsers

For All Browsers: Java, JavaScript, and cookies must be enabled in your browser, and pop-up window blockers must be disabled.

Here are setup instructions for specific browsers:

A. If you are using Windows, use Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox.

ACE Organic works on Internet Explorer with default settings. However, if the MarvinSketch applet in your assignments doesn't load, try the following:

• Install the latest Sun Java plugin.
• After installation, select Internet options from the Tools menu.
• Go to the Advanced pane.
• Scroll down to Java (Sun).
• Check Use Java 6.
• Restart the browser.

Important note: If you are using a firewall, disable it before using ACE Organic.

B. If you are using a MacOS platform, use Safari with the following settings:

• From the Safari menu, select Preferences.
• Click Security.
• Check Enable plug-ins, Enable Java, and Enable JavaScript.
• Uncheck Block all pop-up windows.
• Check Accept cookies only from sites you navigate to.
• Close the window.
• Restart the browser.

C. If you are using a Linux platform, use Opera 7.23. (Higher versions are likely to work, too, but have not been tested).

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about ACE Organic (for Students)

See the Student Help document.

Instructor Tool FAQ

Q: ACE Organic doesn't seem to work. When I press a button, nothing happens.

A: Read the browser and platform requirements under Technical Requirements for Using ACE Organic.

Q: Can I mix questions from different chapters or topics into a single assignment?

A: Yes.

Q: Suppose I make a lot of changes to a set and then decide to discard them?

A: If you press Cancel, the set will not be altered.

Q: What is the purpose of hiding an assignment from the students?

A: You may still be working on it, you may not want students to work on it until later in the course, or you may not want students to work on it after a deadline for completion has passed.

Q: If I choose to hide an assignment from the students, how do I show it to them later (or vice versa)?

A: Follow the instructions for modifying an assignment under To modify an existing assignment.

Q: If I make changes to a question that is already in an assignment with The Authoring Tool, will the students' work on that question be preserved?

A: If you modify a question that you have written or already modified, yes. (If you don't want the students' work to be preserved, use The Authoring Tool to duplicate the original question, delete the original question from the assignment, and add the duplicate to the assignment.) If you modify a question from the master database, no.

Q: If the answer to the above question is "yes", and a student has already worked the question, will his or her grade change automatically to reflect the changes?

A: No, but you can regrade the assignment question.

Q: Can I see how a student has done on every question at once?

A: No. You need to look at each individual assignment to see how a student has done on each question within that assignment.

Q: Can I export the gradebook into a spreadsheet program?

A: Yes, you can export the ACE Organic gradebook.

Q: Can I see what answers students have submitted in response to a question?

A: Yes. You can use this information to improve a question and its feedback. See the instructions for the Authoring Tool.

Authoring Tool FAQ

Q: The Authoring Tool hangs or crashes my browser a lot.

A: Refer to Technical Requirements for Using ACE Organic.

Q: ACE Organic doesn't seem to work. When I press a button, nothing happens.

A: Read the browser and platform requirements under Technical Requirements for Using ACE Organic.

Q: How do I subscript or superscript characters or enter special characters such as π in the question statement or feedback?

A: Follow the instructions under Formatting Text in ACE Organic.

Q: How do I draw a question figure that has a molecule with orbitals or other graphics that are not available in MarvinSketch?

A: Draw your molecule in ChemDraw or another structure-drawing program, save it as a JPEG or PNG file, and upload it into ACE Organic as an Image.

Q: What if I give the new structure a different name from the previous one?

A: The new name will replace the old name, but the old structure will be preserved.

Q: What if I rename or change a structure in one question that is also used in a different question?

A: Any change you make to a structure will be reproduced in every question in which the structure appears.

Q: What if I rename a structure and another structure has that same name?

A: Nothing will happen. Different structures may have the same name.

Q: Can I edit questions in the question bank?

A: You can edit the original questions in a question set by adding, editing, and deleting figures and answers, but you can't delete the questions. You can add new questions to a question set, and you can add new question sets to a topic.

Q: Can I copy an entire question and paste it elsewhere?

A: Yes. Export the question set containing that question, import the questions into a new question set, and then delete the questions you don't want.

Q: Can I change the order of questions in a question set?

A: No.

Q: If I make changes to a question, will everyone see those changes?

A: No. When you make changes to a question, a copy of that question containing the changes is made, and only you and the students in your course can view it.

Q: If I make changes to a question, will those changes be reflected in an assignment that already contains that question?

A: It depends on your account status and the type of change you are making.

• If you modify a question that you have written or previously modified, yes.
• If you modify a question from the master database, no.
  • However, you can make your modified question appear in the assignment by first deleting the original question from the assignment, then adding the modified question back in. If you do this, any work that your students have already done on that question in the assignment will be lost.

Q: If the answer to the above question is "yes", and a student has already worked the question, will his or her grade change automatically to reflect the changes?

A: No, but you can regrade the assignment question.

Q: I made a lot of changes to a question, but after I edited another question, the changes to the first question were lost.

A: You probably failed to save your changes before you left the first question.

Q: When I view student responses, do I view the responses of my students only, or do I view the responses of all students everywhere who have worked on this question?

A: If you have not modified the question, you view the responses of all students everywhere who have worked on the unmodified question. If you have modified the question, you view the responses of your students only.

Q: Can I provide feedback to answers that don't meet any of the criteria for correct or wrong answers that I specify?

A: Yes. For example, if the correct answer is 3-pentanone, then make the final evaluator in your list of wrong answers, "If the answer is not exactly 3-pentanone...." A response is tested against evaluators in the order they are listed, so by default, any answer that is incorrect but doesn't meet any of the evaluators for incorrect answers that you specify will have to meet the final one.

Q: Can you provide any advice on designing evaluators and feedback for wrong answers?

A: Read about this under A Typical Question and Its Evaluators.

Known Issues

There are several known issues relating to use of ACE Organic. We are working to resolve these issues. Your patience is appreciated.

• In label-the-atom questions, ACE may choke on responses that feature more than one compound, a large compound, or a compound with shortcut groups (Ph, iPr, etc). Avoid asking label-the-atom questions with these kinds of compounds, and test them before assigning them to students.
• Problems may occur if a question author deletes any figure other than the last one from a question that has multiple figures. Either edit figures instead of deleting them, or repeatedly delete the last figure in the list until you have deleted the figure you want to delete.
  
  
• ACE may not be able to interpret mechanism responses properly if a student draws a resonance arrow in the direction opposite to its logical direction. For example, consider the mechanism A -> B <-> C -> D. There is no difference in the appearance of the mechanism when the student draws the B <-> C resonance arrow starting at B or at C. However, ACE may throw a parsing error upon analyzing the response if the student draws the arrow starting at C. Draw arrows in the logical direction. (Users generally do, so this rarely manifests.)
  
  
• When authoring multiple questions in ACE, it is necessary to click on the Question Bank tab after you finish writing or editing each question.
  
  
• Do not use the Revert button to return a modified system question to its original state. Both the original and system versions of the question will be deleted from all assignments, and all responses to the question will be lost.
  
  
• Do not use the View Responses button on the question-editing page. This button is meant to allow instructors to view the number of correct and incorrect responses to a question, but the data it produces may not be reliable.
  
  
• When you export an assignment, only system questions are included.
  
  
• The gradebook can become inaccessible in rare cases when a course has a large number of students. Exporting your gradebook regularly is recommended.
  
  
• If you grant a student an extension, and then unenroll that student from the course, you will be unable to edit the assignment or grant any more extensions for that assignment.
  
  
• Do not change the number of options in a rank, multiple-choice, or fill-in-the-blank question after you have put the question in an assignment and made it visible to students.
  
  
• Do not use structures with 3D coordinates in mechanism questions; ACE fails to locate them within their boxes.
  
  
• When drawing a mechanism response, you may draw a pixel-size box inadvertently. If you do, ACE will tell you that every box should contain molecules or that every box should be connected to another. If you cannot see an empty or unconnected box, it is best to copy all the molecules in your response, delete the entire drawing, paste the molecules back, and redraw the boxes and reaction arrows.
  
  
• It is best to draw only the anionic parts of salts in mechanism responses. For example, use EtO(-) instead of EtO-Na, or at least omit Na(+) if it is one of the coproducts of a reaction with an electrophile. Otherwise, under rare circumstances, ACE may appear to hang when a response is submitted.
  
  
• It is best to avoid using bold, hashed, or wavy bonds (to indicate stereochemistry) in mechanism responses, as ACE may mark correct responses as wrong in rare circumstances. However, it is important to preserve the stereochemistry of an unchanging double bond throughout a mechanism response.
  
  

Contact Help

For help, or to get set up as an Instructor, contact the ACE Organic Administrator via the Product Support page at http://247pearsoned.custhelp.com/