Mod:intro

See also: [Chem Lab], Breaking news, Laptop use, Intro lecture, Programs, Inorganic, Physical, Writing up

Specific times

• Week 1 (Monday): Laptop sign-out (12.00-13.00) from Room 237A
  • Before you go to collect the laptop, you should sign the Y3C Laptop issue agreement from this link, which leads to the 3rd Year Chemistry Laboratories (2013-2014) -> Y3C - Third Year Computational Laboratory folder in Blackboard.
  • Laptops are limited, and will be issued on a first come basis. If for a very good reason you are unable to collect a laptop at this assigned time please contact Dr Patel with your explanation to see if there is one available.

• Week 2 (Friday): Laptop return (12.00-13.00) to Room 237A or B
• Week 2 (Friday): submit the wiki address for your report on Blackboard by 12:00
  • You can submit your wiki address early (before 12:00) and continue to edit your wiki up to 12:00.
  • Any material added after 12:00 will not be marked (unless you have been granted an extension)

Locations

You can work in either of the computer labs Level 1 or Level 2. In addition to the laptops the desktop computers in these locations can be used to undertake the lab (they have more processing power and will be faster than the laptops for some experiments).

There are docking stations available if you want to work using a larger screen (22").

Expected hours in the Lab

The official lab times are 13:00-16:00 on Mon, Tue, Thur and Fri. However, the advantage of having a dedicated laptop at your disposal is that you not restricted to these times. An important part of this course is learning how to manage your time and resources in a flexible and sensible way. It is up to you to manage your time: do not do too much or too little. Ask a demonstrator or staff member if you are at all unsure.

You have the advantage of having a laptop computer enabling you to work on the lab at anytime, however you should manage your time so that you put in the equivalent of 3 hrs per lab day.

No student is expected to spend more time on an individual computational experiment than they would on an experiment in any lab based course.

Even though you have a laptop this does not mean that the lab demonstrators are available all day, manage your time so that if you need help you have an opportunity to get the help you need in time for it to be useful. Address your questions to the demonstrators during the lab hours they are available. If you are struggling with the suggested times allocated for each part of the experiment seek help from a demonstrator.

Demonstrator and Staff help and feedback times

Demonstrators are available Mon,Tues,Thur,Fri in the upstairs / Level 2 computer room.

If you have a question, talk with a demonstrator first. Demonstrators are not just there to help, they can also offer feedback on completed work before it is marked.

In the inorganic module, staff demonstrators will be available in the upstairs computer room (level 2) from 2-4pm on each Mon,Tue and Wed of the lab On the first friday there will be a rapid feedback session from 1-3 which you are expected to attend, the purpose is to give you feedback on the first weeks work so that you can move onto the project confident in knowing what you need to do and achieve Dr Hunt (or a senior Post-Doc) will be available 2-3 on lab days to assist with any questions demonstrators have been unable to resolve.

Report submission

Submit the URL for your Wiki report from this address by the appropriate deadline. These deadlines are on the Friday of the end of the second week of each course.

If we do not receive the URL of your report (submitted via the Blackboard system, and NOT emailed to the individual members of the course team), Raj will attempt to contact you by email within one working day (Mon-Fri) of the deadline to check it has not gone missing. You should expect to get a grade on blackboard within 10 working days. If you have heard nothing and have not received a grade in blackboard, please contact Raj Sandhu immediately.

Please note an new College policy: work submitted late will receive zero marks. Any sections completed by the hand-in date will be assessed for full marks, additional material added after this will not be marked. If you are having problems, are ill or have extenuating circumstances please see Dr Patel as early as possible, extensions may be granted and will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Lab overview:

The core modules on offer:

Each of the lab modules introduces new types of computational chemistry techniques and their applications. Some of these computational methods involve only a few seconds of actual computing, and are easily accomplished on a laptop computer interactively. Others may run for many hours, and are best done inbatch mode on a computing cluster. You will learn how to handle your laptop computer as "a laboratory instrument", delivering a variety of information about molecular systems.

Module 2: Reaction mechanisms and transition states.

The nature of the topic requires a different mode of presentation to the usual word-processed document. You will instead present your results in the form of a Wiki page unique to yourself. The course documentation also takes the form of a Wiki, and YOU as well as the course organisers can contribute to the instructions. If you feel you can improve on aspects of the documentation, or e.g. add further key literature references etc (very much in the spirit of the Wikipedia itself), do please go ahead and take the plunge!

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See also:[Chem Lab] Breaking news, Laptop use, Intro lecture,Programs, Module 1, Inorganic, Physical, Writing up