On 1/22/2017 at 0:49 PM, MelissaH said:So I just worked through the first week's homework problems. I found them to basically be child's play—but remember, I'm a chemist and I went to graduate school to learn how to be a synthetic organic chemist (someone who makes molecules).
Gotta admit, I'm actually a bit disappointed. I'd hoped for more things like the lab assignments and less of the boring dry stuff that turns people off like the homework questions. I don't doubt that the homework assignments cover important concepts, but I want to see how they make them relevant to our kitchen lives, especially the super-quantitative stuff that even I don't recall actually using in lab. (Number of molecules? Really??)
With respect to the problems being child's play - well, I suppose. It was more like uncomfortable flashbacks to adolescence for me 
. I remember doing those same sorts of problems in junior high but it's been a while. I missed my trusty HP-15 calculator with RPN which made working with exponents absolutely brainless. I got up more than once to look for it even though I'm sure the batteries are long dead even if I find it. Instead, I had to use my iPhone calculator and my brain!
I agree with you on the ratio of interesting, kitchen-relevant material to the dry boring stuff but I hope that either the reality or my perception of it will improve as we go on and my brain gets more comfortable with retrieving information last used in the '70s and '80s.
On 1/20/2017 at 3:55 AM, rustwood said:This is the first edX course I have taken and the one thing that bothers me is that I haven't been able to find a detailed listing of the length of each video for the week/module. I believe all of the Coursera courses I have taken have had those details readily available. That info helps me gauge my progress and re-adjust the amount I need to complete the material for the week/module. Has anyone else seen anything like that for this course? Perhaps I am just missing it.
After going through the first week, I don't think a listing of the video length would help me gauge progress. I found the length of time I spend on the text pages, practice questions and homework questions to be highly variable. Some I skimmed quickly and others took me a while. Then there were the aforementioned and fruitless calculator searches, setting my iPad up next to me to use my cool Elements interactive periodic table and becoming mesmerized by the pretty rotating objects and interesting information and my own inability to properly read the questions - sheesh!
Over in the other thread, @Alex asked:
On 1/18/2017 at 3:09 PM, Alex said:I would very much welcome thoughts and opinions about whether it'd be worthwhile to purchase the companion textbook; I already own McGee, which is the other recommended reading.
My take after 1 lesson:
The textbook contains the same information presented in the videos and course text. The advantages, to me, are that it's a bit more coherent to go through without being broken up with practice problems, etc. and it's much easier to go back and review an equation or piece of information in the ebook than to rewind or fast forward a video looking for something.
Cons are that it's 10 bucks and doesn't really add anything that you can't get from the online materials. If the online stuff is doing the job for you, adding the ebook could feel redundant. I think that if I read the ebook chapter before watching the videos, I would find the videos boringly repetitive but I haven't tried it that way yet.
