pubs.acs.

org/jchemeduc Editorial

Virtual Special Issue Call for Papers: Teaching Changes and Insights
Gained in the Time after COVID-19
Cite This: J. Chem. Educ. 2021, 98, 2141−2142 Read Online

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ABSTRACT: The Journal of Chemical Education announces a call for

papers for an upcoming virtual special issue on what has been learned
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about teaching and learning chemistry because of changes made in

response to the COVID-19 pandemic. What aspects of change have
continued with a return to educational environments similar to those
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prevalent before the emergence of SARS-CoV-2? What practices

adopted during the pandemic have been jettisoned? The virtual special
issue will collect scholarly distillations of the ways schools and courses
move forward effectively as the emergency conditions ease. The timing
for the collection’s release will allow articles published as part of issues
over the next 18 months of the Journal to be considered for inclusion
so that authors can collect and analyze evidence related to student
learning.
KEYWORDS: Continuing Education, Curriculum, Internet/Web-Based Learning, Distance Learning/Self Instruction,
Professional Development

T his Journal has considered the changes associated with

teaching and learning because of the SARS-CoV-2
pandemic in several ways over the past 15 months. The breadth
of changes made have been chronicled in a special issue
collection1 in September 2020 as well as numerous articles in
subsequent issues of the Journal. The creativity and resilience of
teachers and students of chemistry alike have been readily
Teaching Changes and Insights Gained in the Time after
COVID-19 VSI will be associated with the appearance of the
article in the regular issue. It is anticipated that the VSI will
collect articles that appear in the Journal between now and
December 2022; given customary review and revision cycles,
inclusion in this VSI entails submitting a manuscript for
consideration by August 2022.

■
apparent in the time of COVID-19.
In the coming months, for many educators, there will be yet VIRTUAL SPECIAL ISSUE SCOPE AND CONTENT
another change in the teaching environment as many schools
and universities return to a model that looks more like the pre- The Journal of Chemical Education (JCE) virtual special issue will
pandemic time frame than the past 15 months. At the same time, gather manuscripts of any type that are customarily part of the
Journal. Articles intended for the VSI will be curated by the
while the surroundings may be similar, the experiences of the
Editor-in-Chief and will be considered the same as any
recent past mean that everybody involvedstudents, teaching
submission in every respect. Unlike the rapid turnaround for
assistants, and instructorshas changed. For many, there will be
the September 2020 COVID-19 special issue, the VSI allows
opportunities both to make changes compared to their prior in-
time so that authors can collect and analyze evidence during the
person teaching experiences and to measure the efficacy of those
2021−2022 academic year to explain and justify findings. This
changes. We also recognize that recovery from the pandemic is
announcement is being published well in advance to allow
uneven and hope that insights presented in these articles will
sufficient time for the writing and review process.
help inform efforts worldwide, as different regions emerge from The expectation for this collection is that pedagogical changes
the constraints of the pandemic at different times. based on the experiences of teaching during the emergency pivot
This type of work, with pedagogical change and assessment, will be intentionally assessed, so that evidence of changes in
represents an approach this Journal is interested in capturing and
disseminating. To do so, a Virtual Special Issue (VSI) will be
created as an online collection of designated articles published Received: June 21, 2021
over roughly the next year. Unlike special issues that involve a Published: July 13, 2021
printed issue of the collection, a VSI gathers articles already
published within the regular sequence of issue publication.
Articles that are intended to be part of the VSI will be labeled as
such when they appear in the regular issues. The deadline of the
Published 2021 by American Chemical
Society and Division of Chemical https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00689
Education, Inc. 2141 J. Chem. Educ. 2021, 98, 2141−2142
Journal of Chemical Education
efficacy can be considered as part of the manuscript. For
example, a department that offers an online, remote section for a
course where such access was not previously offered should
design some level of assessment to measure the relative
effectiveness of the new remote setting compared with in-
person sections of the same courseto the extent they exist.
While many approaches to creating a manuscript for this
collection are possible, papers that reflect on teaching
experiences related to the following topics are welcome:
• What discoveries related to technology used during the
pandemic led to new teaching practices, for teachers and
for students?
• How were instructional strategies able to account for the
potential that student learning in prior chemistry (or
prerequisite) courses were affected by the pivot to remote
teaching?
• If hybrid approaches were taken, what types of
comparisons of teaching and learning were possible and
what differences, if any, did these comparisons show?
• Were there any lasting changes related to assessment of
student learning as a result of the emergency pivot?
• Were differences encountered in student engagement
with the material covered or with their classmates?
• Have lasting changes in instructor efforts arisen based on
insights gained during the emergency pivot?
• Has the academic environment changed for instructors in
ways that influence teaching decisions?
■ SUBMISSION, REVIEW, AND PUBLICATION
PROCESS
Manuscripts should align with the principles outlined in the
Author Guidelines for the Journal of Chemical Education2 and
can be submitted using the appropriate manuscript type for the
pedagogical implementation being described. Note that the
author guidelines do differ among manuscript types.
Authors are strongly encouraged to use the JCE-specific
manuscript template,3 which contains prompts for required
manuscript components; using the manuscript template aids in
creating documents that are easier to review and publish.
Manuscripts that are submitted to the Journal of Chemical
Education through the online manuscript submission portal ACS
Paragon Plus4 will receive full consideration for publication in
the same process as any other submitted manuscript. Authors
interested in being considered as part of this VSI should note this
interest at the appropriate point in the ACS Paragon Plus
submission process. Manuscripts that designate an interest to be
included in the VSI and that are published in the December
2022 issue or sooner may be considered for inclusion in this
collection.
When submitting your manuscript in the Paragon system,
select “Teaching Changes and Insights Gained in the Time after
COVID-19” under the Special Issue Selection during “Step 1:
Type, Title, & Abstract”. Authors should also indicate in the
cover letter during “Step 6: Details & Comments” that the
manuscript is submitted for publication in the Virtual Special
Issue: Teaching Changes and Insights Gained in the Time after
COVID-19.
As with all ACS journals, manuscripts intended for the special
issue will be available ASAP (as soon as publishable) online as
soon as they are accepted and proofs have been checked, ahead
of publication in the VSI itself. Because this is a virtual special
issue, manuscripts published in ASAP will be included in the
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pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc Editorial
next appropriate published issue, in addition to being collected
as part of the VSI.
The themed issue will be curated by Thomas A. Home,
Morrill Professor of Chemistry at Iowa State University, Ames,
Iowa, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Chemical Education.
■ INQUIRIES
Inquiries regarding the suitability of a manuscript topic can be
directed to Thomas A. Holme at tholme@jce.acs.org. Questions
regarding the submission process can be directed to eic@jce.acs.
org.
Thomas A. Holme orcid.org/0000-0003-0590-5848
■
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Complete contact information is available at:
https://pubs.acs.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00689
Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not
necessarily the views of the ACS.
Thomas A. Holme is a Morrill Professor in the Department of
Chemistry, Iowa State University. His research has two distinct
strands: chemical education research, and human−computer
interaction. He served as Director of the Examinations Institute
of the American Chemical Society from 2002 to 2015 and
conducts education research to improve the quality of
information that can be obtained from exams and other forms
of assessment. In addition, he has developed and implemented
curricular materials to introduce systems thinking concepts in
General Chemistry. His current work in human−computer
interaction is focused on the development and testing of
augmented reality interfaces for use in chemistry education. His
term as the editor-in-chief of this Journal began January 1, 2020.
■
REFERENCES
(1) Holme, T. A. Introduction to the Journal of Chemical Education
Special Issue on Insights Gained While Teaching Chemistry in the
Time of COVID-19. J. Chem. Educ. 2020, 97 (9), 2375−2377.
(2) JCE Author Guidelines; https://publish.acs.org/publish/author_
guidelines?coden=jceda8 (accessed 2021-06-22). The JCE Information
for Authors site has additional helpful resources: https://pubs.acs.org/
page/jceda8/submission/authors.html (accessed 2021-06-22).
(3) Journal of Chemical Education Document Templates; https://pubs.
acs.org/page/jceda8/submission/jceda8_templates.html (accessed
2021-06-22).
(4) ACS Paragon Plus; https://acs.manuscriptcentral.com/acs
(accessed 2021-06-22).
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00689
J. Chem. Educ. 2021, 98, 2141−2142