EcoEd Digital Library is ESA’s online catalog of resources for teaching undergraduate ecology. EcoEd DL provides a peer-reviewed venue for ecologists to publish their own teaching materials online, meet their broader impact requirements for grants, and engage in scholarship of teaching. All resources are free to use and are peer reviewed for quality, scientific accuracy, and pedagogical use. Resource types include classroom exercises (laboratory, lecture, field), photographs, figures and tables, datasets, and simulations. A long term goal for the library is to incorporate and broadly disseminate research products adapted for teaching in order to help faculty integrate the best and most engaging ecological findings into undergraduate courses.
Results/Conclusions
As of February 2010, the library contained 270 separate resources, including a collection of 11 resources published in connection with ESA’s Millennium Conference in late 2009. EcoEd Digital Library debuted a new website in the spring of 2010. As part of a current beta test, users can make comments, rate resources for usefulness, receive recommendations, save searches for later reference, and receive automatic email updates about new resources matching search criteria of interest. A new online forum provides a space for faculty to discuss issues in ecology education and specific materials and practices.
