Cheminformatics for the masses: a chance to increase educational opportunities for the next generation of cheminformaticians

As was observed in the opening editorial for this journal [1], cheminformatics is a discipline that has an unusually wide scope of application, from library science to molecular biology, yet has a small and scattered academic presence. There are many people keen to learn about the techniques of cheminformatics, but only a small subset of them are able to obtain a formal qualification in it, due to time and commitment constraints, financial limitations, and proximity to one of the sites offering degrees in the field. The programs available and some of these challenges have been reviewed previously [2,3]. Online learning is thus an enticing opportunity for cheminformatics. If done well, it could widely broaden participation in cheminformatics learning, removing most if not all of these constraints on learning, and enabling the wisdom gained over the long history of the field to impact a wide range of practitioners and disciplines. It could help draw together expertise from rapidly growing cheminformatics communities in India, China, Europe, North America, and elsewhere. Indiana University has been developing and experimenting with a variety of online techniques since the inception of the cheminformatics program there a decade ago, including offering IU classes for credit synchronously to remote students through video and web conferencing [4], free online learning resources for cheminformatics [5], and a low cost online introductory cheminformatics textbook in PDF format [6]. A variety of other resources have been made available online, of particular note the Henry Stewart Talks Introduction to Cheminformatics series [7]. We are currently in the midst of a revolution, or at least a potential revolution, in how learning is done in higher education. MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), such as those offered by Coursera, edX, and Udacity, amongst others, offer the enticement of opening high quality education by world experts to anyone with an internet