How would Google teach chemistry?

This is a question I’ve been pondering for a few weeks ever since my department chair asked me to think about how we can tap into students’ Web 2.0 skills to enhance their performance in general chemistry. I’m flattered that my chair came to me with this question; he said that since I’m the most tech-savvy member of the department, I was the ideal candidate. However, I had no idea how much this would cause me to rethink my teaching strategy, especially as we are only a week or so away from starting the semester. I’ve started reading a great book by Jeff Jarvis called “What Would Google Do?” and I’m finding that it has a lot of good stuff. I plan on developing a few exercises over the coming days and blogging a bit more about the subject. Not that anyone else really cares about what I’m writing, but remember I said at the outset that the purpose of this blog is to force me to write more and get ideas down, not really to entertain folks. Hopefully, my students won’t mind serving as guinea pigs. I’m sure a number of the ideas will not go so well, but perhaps I’ll find a few gems along the way.