Research and Education
http://www.asm.org/Education/index.asp?bid=1241
Professional and academic scientific organizations have long had a strong web-based presence, and many of them have contributed mightily to online educational initiatives. The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) has done their part by creating this set of resources for undergraduate educators working in the fields of bioterrorism, microbiology, and related topics. One of the strongest sections here includes the curriculum guidelines, which include basic recommendations for what an introductory course in microbiology should cover in terms of skills, safety, and laboratory content. Additionally, visitors can also learn what bioterrorism related topics should be covered in similar courses. The site is rounded out by a set of links to external resources, such as the Bioscience Education Network, the National Academy Press, and a collection of science videos from the Annenberg/CPB Learner website. [KMG]
Gold is a precious commodity, and the quest to obtain even modest amounts of this substance has consumed the lives of many men and women throughout recorded history. To find a website titled “ESL Gold” may raise the skeptical eyebrows of some, but truly many of the resources on this site will be just that valuable to English as a Second Language educators, students, and other concerned parties. The homepage is a bit busy in its visual design, but users navigate it fairly easily. The site’s primary materials are thematically organized into categories such as “Speaking”, “Listening”, “Reading”, and “Writing”. Within each of these sections, visitors can take a look through topical resources that compartmentalize different more digestible themes, such as “Topics for Writing” or “Organizing and Composing”. As might be expected, visitors can also find materials for beginning, intermediate, or advanced level students. [KMG]
http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/programs/index.asp?key=38
How do students learn in the classroom? How can teachers best utilize new and emerging technologies in the classroom? What can teachers do to seamlessly incorporate technology into the learning experience? These are all questions that are asked by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s Knowledge Media Laboratory. On their website, users can learn about their work with communities of teachers, faculty, programs, and institutions over the past several years, and also look over some of their informative case studies. The Gallery of Teaching and Learning is a good place to start one’s exploration of the site, as it contains a number of exhibitions that look at how web-based tools can be used in teaching and how scholarship may change as a result of an increasingly networked milieu. One seminal resource on the site is the KEEP Toolkit. With the Toolkit, teachers and others can create engaging knowledge representations on the web for their own use. For visitors who might feel a bit overwhelmed by this, there is also a nice tutorial that explains how the Toolkit can be used. [KMG]
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/index.html
Created in 1997 with an international mandate, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has around 500 staff members working in 21 field offices across the world. Their basic mission is to “assist Member States in their struggle against illicit drugs, crime and terrorism.” It’s a broad mission, and in order to inform the public and policy experts about their work, they have created this site. In the center of the homepage, visitors will find recent reports of note, including their annual Word Drug Report. To the left-hand side, visitors will find all types of technical reports, data tables, and other related materials organized by theme, such as drug supply reduction and terrorism. Finally, users can also find employment opportunities with the UNODC or look at materials provided in languages such as Russian, Spanish, and French. [KMG]
http://www.learner.org/resources/series66.html
The Annenberg Foundation has been an active part of creating educational and professional development tools and instructional aids for teachers for many years. To reach the broadest audience possible, their Annenberg Media website also contains many of their programs in their entirety. Math educators and aspiring students of algebra will be delighted to learn that their popular series “Algebra: In Simplest Terms” is one of those programs found on their site. All told, there are a total of 26 episodes in the series, and they deal with such topics as linear relations, the ellipse, rational functions, and geometric sequences. Narrated by Sol Garfunkel, the series uses practical examples as illustrations of various principles and axioms. It should be noted that to watch the videos, visitors will need to fill out a free online registration form. [KMG]
Founded in 1919, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) was meant to assist in collaborative research and publications in the fields of philology, archaeology, history, and the “moral, political, and social sciences.” Scholars in these fields will be happy to know that their website provides ample material on ACLS’s fellowship and grant programs, along with a selection of links related to related opportunities at other organizations that deal in such matters. Visitors will want to make sure and peruse their publications area, as it contains the ACLS Annual Reports, their occasional paper series, and the full text of the Charles Homer Haskins Lectures. Started in 1983, these lectures contain insights from such noted intellectuals as Robert K. Merton, Yi-Fu Tuan, and Donald W. Meinig. [KMG]
Started in 1971, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has been an advocate for sound science, nutrition, and food safety for over thirty-five years. With close to 900,000 members, the Center continues its outreach work through such activities as creating policy briefs, sending out their Nutrition Action Healthletter, and providing news updates on items of relevance to the general public. Their homepage contains much of this material, all contained in thematic areas, including biotechnology, food safety, integrity in science, and nutrition policy. Each one of these self-contained sections includes fact sheets, legislative updates, publications, and press releases. Visitors looking for some of their most comprehensive reports will want to look through such titles as “Dispensing Junk: How School Vending Undermines Efforts to Feed Children Well” and “Food Safety Around the World”. All told, the site will be of great help for persons in the fields of public health and policy, and the concerned public at large. [KMG]
http://www.asil.org/resource/home.htm
The study and practice of international law can be a tough area to get a handle on, and with numerous online resources available for both areas, it can be difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. Since 1997, The American Society of International Law (ASIL) has been continuously updating and revising their Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law, under the able direction of Marci Hoffman and Jill Watson. Within each of its eight primary sections, users can read about various high-quality online resources for each topical area (such as international organizations and human rights), and then read brief summaries of what each online resource features in terms of its content and scope. As might be expected, the site also contains information on relevant and helpful weblogs that deal with international law. [KMG]
