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August 2020: Welcome to new schools, three new quizzes, some bug fixes, and a small favor

Hello fellow Chemistry teachers!  I hope you’re all doing well, staying safe, and making time for your own mental health as we all prepare for the most uncertain school year in modern times.  Like many of you, I’ve been tasked with figuring out how to teach my science classes to some kids on Tuesday/Thursdays and other kids on Wednesday/Fridays while also teaching kids who are connecting from home, including my own child.  It’s a huge mess, so I hope that the practice quizzes on ChemQuiz.net will play a role in helping you meet the needs of your students.

First, I’d like to welcome the new schools that have signed up to use ChemQuiz.net this upcoming school year!  We’re up to 31 schools and a private tutor, which span across 16 states and 2 provinces of Canada, which is so cool!  I’ve reached out to just about every school district in Ohio that I know is starting with remote learning (I’m keeping a list out of curiosity), but it’s impossible for me to track what’s going on in every state, so please feel free to spread the word.  Any school district with a student population that’s greater than 50% “economically disadvantaged” will receive a free site license to the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard, regardless of their pandemic plans, because I want to try to help as many underprivileged kids as possible during this huge mess in our country.

Now, on to the big news: there are three new quizzes available on ChemQuiz.net!

I also added some simple organic compounds to the Mass Ratios & Percent Composition Quiz just for fun. 🙂  I’ve thought about writing a quiz for naming organic compounds, but that gets so complicated so quickly that it makes my head hurt just considering it!  I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to teach any organic remotely this year.

A few of you have made great suggestions to me for new quizzes to write, and I’ve added them to the list.  I’m an amateur programmer during my best moments, so I have to think about things for a while before they click in my head.  I’m going to try my best to get to your requests soon!

Also, I’ve also fixed a few bugs thanks to several of you reaching out to me about issues you were having, including a real stinker involving student quiz results.  I can’t thank you enough for pointing out when things don’t work properly!  Please keep the bug reports coming.

Finally, I’d like to start listing schools who are using ChemQuiz.net publicly on the website, but I won’t list your school without your permission.  If you’re okay with having your school listed, please take a moment to check the opt-in box in your User Info in the Dashboard and click “Update your info”.  Totally optional!  Once a few schools have opted in, I’ll list them on the About ChemQuiz.net page.  Your school name won’t ever be used for anything else besides that list on that one page.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have any problems using the site or suggestions for new quizzes or improvements.  You can always contact me at chris@chemquiz.net or by filling out the Contact form.  Thanks again for being a part of this grand experiment, and good luck this school year!

-Chris