ACE Organic is an exciting new 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.

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 You, the Student, to Do

· Work assignments of organic chemistry problems interactively

· Answer questions by building chemical structures with a graphical structure-drawing interface

· Get immediate feedback on your answers, including suggestions for how to correct and complete them

· Revise your solution a fixed number of times (or an unlimited number at the instructor’s option) until you get it right.

· Discuss problems with your solutions with your instructor remotely, while the instructor views what you have submitted.

· Self-assess your mastery of the material throughout the course, not just at exam time.

· Review your grades on all the assignments in a course.

Components of ACE Organic

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

The behind-the-scenes components are JChem, also licensed from ChemAxon, Ltd., the program that has the "chemical intelligence" necessary to analyze structures, and Oracle, a database program.

There are additional course management components available only to the instructor.

Equipment and Software Needed to Run ACE Organic

Technical Requirements for Using ACE Organic

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

	PC / Windows Platform			Mac
	Win NT	Win 2000	Win XP	Mac 10.2	Mac 10.3
Internet Explorer 6.0				N/A	N/A
IE Mac	N/A	N/A	N/A	Not recommended	Not recommended
Netscape 7.X
Safari 1.2	N/A	N/A	N/A

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 these platform/ browser combinations.

You also need:

· A reasonably fast Internet connection: cable or DSL

· A reasonably fast computer. Recommended:

PC: Pentium "N" with 800ghz, 128 ram

Mac: G3, G4 preferred

Using a dial-up Internet connection or an outmoded computer will make running ACE Organic-Astronomy frustrating, if not impossible.

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 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 (In "Download J2SE v 1.4.2_07" section, download JRE).
After installation, select Internet options from the Tools menu.
Go to the Advanced pane.
Scroll down to Java (Sun).
Check Use Java 2 vX
Restart the browser.

Important note: If you are using Norton Internet Firewall, disable it before using ACE Organic.

B. If you are using a Mac platform, use Safari. (Firefox for Mac has not been validated for use with ACE.) Use these 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.

Questions, Answers, Feedback and Grading

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, and spectroscopy.

Options for Assigning Questions

Instructors have these options in setting up assignments:

1. All students may see the same set of questions.

2. Each student’s questions may be randomly chosen from a larger group of questions.

Information Captured on Student Responses

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

How Student Responses Are Judged

Each question is associated with a list of conditions which are met by correct, partly correct (the question author assigns a number between 0 and 1), and anticipated incorrect answers. Your response is tested against each condition in turn. If the response meets a condition, you will receive feedback to that effect. If your response meets no conditions, you are simply told that the response is incorrect. Some examples of these conditions are:

If the answer is exactly …
If the answer is not exactly ...
If the answer contains the substructure ...
If the answer does not contain the substructure ...
If the molecular weight is ...
If the molecular weight is not ...
If the number of rings is ...

How to Use ACE Organic

How to Register, Login, and Access Your Account

Register with ACE Organic by going to the ACE Organic Login page, and press Register.
From the dropdown menu, choose Student. The Student Registration page will appear.
Enter the requested information.
- Define a username that you will use to log into the ACE Organic system.
- Enter your Student ID; this will be used by your instructor to enroll you in the appropriate course.
- Specify your institution by choosing the appropriate institution from the pop-up menu. (If your institution does not appear, contact your instructor, and postpone your registration until later.)
Complete your registration by pressing Register. (Note also that pressing Reset will delete clear all the fields of any information you may have entered.)
Click Return to ACE Organic login page. You may now log into the ACE Organic system. However, your instructor must Enroll you before you will be able to see your course, assignments, etc.
After you log in, the My Courses page will appear. From here, you can do assignments, modify your profile, access Help, and logout.
(Once your instructor has enrolled you), click the appropriate Course Name link to see the Course Info page that displays your course information, assignments, and grades.
If you do not see your course when you log in, either your instructor has not uploaded the enrollment list yet, or the student ID that you entered doesn't match the one on the enrollment list. Click My profile, and make sure that you typed your ID correctly, exactly as you did when you registered.
You may now work an assignment.
The links at the top of the My Courses page, Course Info page, and many other pages may be clicked at any time.

o My Courses returns you to the list of courses in which you are enrolled.

o My Profile allows you to edit your personal information, including your password.

o Help opens the user manual (in a new window).

o Logout logs you out of ACE Organic.

How to Work an Assignment

Login to ACE Organic. You will be brought to the My Courses page. (If you forget your user ID or password, use the Forgot Password page. If that does not work for you please send an email to ACE-Info@Truth-n-Beauty.com. Do not reregister with the system.)
If you haven't entered your course yet, click the appropriate Course Name link to go to the Course Info page.
Press Assignments. The Assignments / Do Assignment page will open.
Click on the link for the appropriate assignment.

The Problem List page will appear. The assignment name, the maximum number of times you are allowed to try each question, and your instructor's remarks (if any) are given at the top of the page. The assignment questions occupy the remainder of the page. A symbol (or the lack of one) next the each question’s number shows its status:

Correctly answered questions have a green checkmark.
Questions that have been attempted but not answered correctly have a red “X” next to the problem .
If no symbol appears, the question has not yet been attempted.

How to Answer a Question

Choose a question to answer.

o Click Solve next to the number of a question that you have not answered correctly.

o If you have already answered a question correctly but want to try it again, click Practice.

The Question Answering page will appear.

Read the question on the left, and draw your answer in the MarvinSketch window on the right.

NOTES:

· 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.

· Your instructor sets a limit to the number of times you are allowed to submit an answer for each question, so think carefully before you submit an answer.

· If there is a molecule on the left, you can copy it, paste it into the window on the right, and modify it so you don't have to redraw most of it.

a. Click on the structure on the left to generate a new MarvinView window.

b. Internet Explorer, Safari, or Netscape 7 users:

I. Right-click or CONTROL-click or OPTION-click on the structure to generate a pop-up menu.

II. Choose Edit → Copy.

d. Close the MarvinView window.

e. Press Paste in the MarvinSketch window on the right.

o If there is an image on the left (such as a spectrum), click on it to see an expanded view.

Press Submit Answer and wait for the response.

o If your answer is correct, you may move to the next question by pressing the forward > arrow on the lower left portion of the screen.

o If the answer is incorrect or only partially correct, you may try another answer.

§ If no feedback is provided, the author of the question did not anticipate your answer. If this is the case, you may want to reconsider whether you are prepared to attack this assignment.

In either case, you may:

§ move to the previous or next question by pressing the forward > or back < arrows on the lower left of the screen or

§ press Problem List to return to the Problem List page.

o You can return to an unanswered question later.

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.

ACE Organic will remember how many times you have tried each question and your last response to each question, so when you restart ACE Organic later, you will begin where you left off.

How to View your Grades:

Login to ACE Organic. You will be brought to the My Courses page.
Click the appropriate Course Name link. You will be brought to the Course Info page.
Press Grades on the upper right to view the grades overview page.
Click on the name of any assignment to see how you have done on each question in that assignment on the Grade Book page.

How to Use MarvinSketch

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.

We strongly suggest that you take the tutorial on how to use MarvinSketch. Doing so requires that your Instructor has created an assignment containing the tutorial.

Working through ACE Organic's MarvinSketch tutorial

If you haven't logged in to the ACE Organic site already, do so. You will be brought to the My Courses page. (If you forget your user ID or password, contact the ACE Organic administrator. Do not reregister with the system.)
If you haven't entered your course yet, click the appropriate Course Name link to go to the Course Info page.
Press Assignments. The Assignments / Do Assignment page will open.
Click on the link to the MarvinSketch Tutorial assignment.

The Problem 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.

Some Non - Obvious MarvinSketch Operations

MarvinSketch has some features that are not obvious at first sight, and some of these features are deployed differently in different browsers. A MarvinSketch window is provided for you to try out these features.

To draw double and triple bonds
To indicate tetrahedral stereochemistry
To indicate double-bond stereochemistry
To draw an element for which there is no button
To draw groups such as Ph or COOMe
To increase or decrease the charge on an atom
To indicate a radical
To indicate a specific isotope
To view all H atoms
To acquire the source code of a molecule drawn in MarvinSketch

To draw double and triple bonds

Type 2 (for a double bond) or 3 (for a triple bond).
If the bond hasn't already been drawn, draw it. 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.

or, 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:

1. Click on the heteroatom's button, or type the element's symbol.

2. Click and hold on an existing atom, then drag to add the heteroatom.

3. Click on the new single bond to change it to a multiple bond.

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 squiggly line.

Click and hold on the bond button (—, to the left of More) 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 squiggly bond).
If the bond hasn't already been drawn, draw it 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.

or, if the bond has already been drawn:

1. Right-click (Internet Explorer) or CONTROL-click (Safari) or OPTION-click (Netscape 7.02) and hold on the bond in question.

2. Choose More → Single Up (for a bold wedge), Single Down (for a hashed wedge), or Single Up or Down (for a squiggly bond).

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 squiggly bonds to indicate double bond stereochemistry. If you do, you will confuse ACE Organic.

To indicate a mixture of cis and trans isomers (students) or to refer to either isomer (question authors):

With all browsers except Netscape 4.7x:

Click and hold on the bond button (―, to the left of More) to bring up a menu.
Choose Double Cis or Trans (not Double Cis/Trans or Unspecified). The button label will change to a criss-cross.
If the bond hasn't already been drawn, draw it as you would a regular bond. If it has already been drawn as another kind of bond, click on it to convert it.

or, if the bond has already been drawn:

Right-click (Internet Explorer) or CONTROL-click (Safari) or OPTION-click (Netscape 7.02) and hold on the bond in question.
Choose More → Double Cis or Trans (not Double Cis/Trans or Unspecified). The bond will change to a criss-cross.

To Draw an Element for Which There is No Button

Type the element's symbol.
Add the atom to your drawing as you would add any atom.

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 about 400 abbreviations for common organic groups such as Ph, CO₂Me, SNa, TBSO, etc.

1. Type 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.

2. Add the group to your drawing as you would add any atom.

or:

1. Press More.

2. From the Groups menu, choose a group.

3. Close the periodic table window.

4. Add the group to your drawing as you would add any atom.

Note: The point at which the group is attached to the rest of the molecule is inherent in the group definition. If a group such as CN is added to the left side of a benzene molecule, it appears as if the CN group is bound to the ring through the N atom, but it is not, because the CN group is defined as always being bound through C. To see an expanded version of any shortcut group:

1. Add the group to your structure.

2. From the MarvinSketch Edit menu, choose Groups → Expand or Groups → Ungroup. Expand is reversible by Groups → Contract; Ungroup is irreversible. (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 increase or decrease the charge on an atom

Press + or - as appropriate, then click on the atom. You may also type + or - and then click on the atom.

To indicate a radical

With most browsers:

1. Right-click (Internet Explorer) or CONTROL-click (Safari) or OPTION-click (Netscape 7.02) and hold on the atom to bring up a menu.

2. 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:

With most browsers:

Right-click (Internet Explorer) or CONTROL-click (Safari) or OPTION-click (Netscape 7.02) 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. (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 draw out all the X−H bonds:

From the MarvinSketch Edit menu, choose H atoms → Add. (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 administrator if you would include the source code of the response.

From the MarvinSketch Edit menu, choose Edit → Source. (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.)
Highlight the text in the new window that appears.
Choose Edit → Copy from the menu of the new window.
Close the new window.

Paste the source code into an email message to the ACE Organic administrator.

Additional Help

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about ACE Organic

Q: ACE Organic doesn't seem to work. When I press a button, nothing happens.
A: Read the Technical Requirements under Equipment & Software Needed to Run ACE Organic.

Q: When I log in, no courses are listed.
A: Either your instructor has not uploaded the enrollment list yet, or the student ID that you entered doesn't match the one on the enrollment list. Click My profile, and make sure that you typed your ID correctly and that you correctly entered (or omitted) spaces and hyphens.

Q: How many times can I try to answer a question?
A: The number is set by your instructor when the assignment is constructed. It is visible at the upper right of the question-answering window.

Q: I never get any feedback for my wrong answers.
A: Feedback is generated when you submit a wrong answer that the author of the question anticipated. If you are generating many unanticipated answers, it may be that your answers are very far off the mark. A review of the material might help. Also be sure that you aren't drawing structures with atoms underlined in red. The red underline indicates an atom that has an incorrect valence.

Q: I can't seem to get MarvinSketch to do what I want.
A: Try the MarvinSketch Tutorial. If it's not available, ask your instructor to make it available.

Q: Are there more questions I can try?
A: Your instructor can write more questions and construct more assignments from existing questions.

Q: Are there any mechanism or multistep-synthesis questions for me to try?
A: Not at this time, although they may be added in the future. Meanwhile, resonance, nomenclature, stereochemistry, spectroscopy, and draw-the-product questions can be handled by ACE Organic. All of them require a single organic structure as an answer.

Troubleshooting in ACE Organic

Problem: I registered in ACE Organic, but it says I'm not enrolled in any courses.

Solution: Your instructor may not yet have enrolled your class in the ACE Organic course. If you're sure that he or she has done so, log into ACE Organic, click My profile, and check that you have entered the student ID number that your instructor has on record and that you have chosen the correct institution. If your ID number begins with 0, ask your instructor to check that the leading zeroes were not truncated before your class enrollment list was uploaded into ACE Organic.

Problem: I'm using Internet Explorer on a PC. I log into ACE Organic, and when I click on an assignment, an error message says:

“Your session was idle for too long.  Please log out and log back in again.  If you continue to receive this message, see these troubleshooting tips.”

Solution: This error arises when you remain logged in to ACE Organic for a long time without activity. Try the following:

Empty the cache and all cookies.
Change your browser settings to allow all cookies.
Quit your browser, restart it, and log back into ACE Organic.
If the error appears again, right-click [Control-click in Safari on a Mac] on the error page and choose refresh/reload frame.

You can avoid the problem completely by logging out of ACE Organic if you are not going to use it for more than 15 minutes or so.

Problem: I'm using a PC in my library at my University, and when I click on Solve to do an ACE Organic problem, all I get is an empty box, with no way of drawing structures and molecules. Do I simply need to try another computer or is there a problem with the campus computers?

Solution: Students are not able to use ACE Organic with the PCs at some campus libraries, such as in the University of Kentucky WT Young Library. Security settings block the code that checks for the correct Java environment to run, so a user will see a broken link where the MarvinSketch applet would appear.For UK, you should be able to use your own laptop at WT Young library. Also, PCs on campus in the Business & Economics and other micro labs on campus will run ACE Organic correctly. These PCs require a UK U-Connect ID and password to login whereas the PCs in the WTY Library are open to anonymous users. Anyone needing a U-Connect ID can get one at the help desk located in the micro lab. It takes about 5 minutes to set up the account, and it is active immediately.

At other Universities, check with your local IT resources for a resolution.

Problem: I'm using Internet Explorer on a PC. A friend of mine used my computer to do his assignment first, and now when I log in with my account the problems have already been completed in my account as well.

Solution: It takes a minute for ACE Organic to reset, and you can't just log out and log back in with another name. You have to close Explorer altogether and start over.

Key Contacts:

Purpose	Contact	How to Reach Contact
Forgot your password.	Webmaster	Please use the Forgot Password page. If that does not work for you please send an email to ACE-Info@Truth-n-Beauty.com.
Report software bugs (errors, crashing problems, inability to access content, etc.)	Webmaster	ace-info@truth-n-beauty.com
Resolve issues concerning absence of our institution on the drop down menu, your enrollment status, inability to locate your course in ACE Organic, queries about assignments, questions, responses, etc.	Your Instructor	Use contact information provided by instructor.