Locate and publish digital teaching materials using ESA's EcoEd Digital Library

Background/Question/Methods EcoEd Digital Library is ESA's searchable online catalog of resources for teaching undergraduate ecology. EcoEd is a partner library in the Biology Education Network (BEN), sponsored by AAAS. Using EcoEd, faculty can find free teaching resources that are peer-reviewed for quality, scientific accuracy, and pedagogical use. Teaching resources include photographs, figures, tables, Ecology 101 articles, Issues in Ecology, laboratory exercises, and simulation programs. Resources can be browsed by ecological concept or searched by keyword. The long-term goal for the library is to build and maintain a comprehensive catalog of user-developed teaching resources. Through peer review and citation, we seek to raise the scholarship of teaching in ecology in undergraduate education. Faculty who have developed their own visual resources (photographs, figures, tables) or student activities like lab, field and classroom exercises, are encouraged to submit them to the library for peer review and publication. Faculty can also contribute to the library by providing feedback on the website and reviewing submissions.

Results/Conclusions The EcoEd Digital Library catalog and user community are steadily growing. Between February 2008 and February 2009, the holdings grew from 250 to 329 teaching resources, and the number of registered users grew from 2300 to almost 3000. Included among the resources are 123 images, 43 lab activities, 61 meeting presentations, 81 articles, 14 pamphlets, and 7 simulations. Since August 2008, twenty-one images were submitted during two rounds of review. EcoEd reaches a wide audience with approximately 40% of its users being from universities, 13% from 4-year colleges, 3% from 2-year colleges, 3% from community colleges, 14% from high schools, and 2% from middle schools.