Just got back from the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE 2012), where I participated in a symposium titled “Web-Based Resources for Chemical Education.” About 60 people attended to learn about Molecular Workbench and other online tools and resources. One of the audience questions was about future availability of Molecular Workbench on the iPad and other tablets. Our latest work on the HTML5/JavaScript next-generation MW project, generously funded by Google.org, will address exactly this. We’ll be bringing much of the Java-based Classic MW to the browser, so that any device running a modern Web browser will be able to run our newest interactives and activities.

I didn’t get to attend many of the other sessions at BCCE because much of my time was spent staffing Concord Consortium’s exhibit booth to disseminate our free software. Jeanne Hurtz and I spoke with hundreds of people who stopped by our booth to hear about the current MW capabilities and see a next-generation MW model running on a tablet. We gave away about 350 MW buttons, but have a few left. If you’d like one of your own, please stop by our office at 25 Love Lane in Concord, MA, to pick one up!

It was great to share the excitement of MW’s potential and versatility with so many new people. We heard from many (surprised) guests at our booth: “This is free?”  Yes! And so is the button.