Inventions and Impact 2: Building Excellence in Undergraduate ...

Poster Abstracts
The National Science
Digital Library
Poster NSDL–1
Pi: Laura Bartolo
institution: Kent State University
title: NSDL Materials Digital Library Pathway
ProjeCt #: 0532831
Co-Pi: Cathy Lowe
tyPe: Other
target DisCiPline: Interdisciplinary
FoCus: Computer Sciences
ProjeCt goals: The National Science Digital Library (NSDL) Materials Digital
Library Pathway (MatDL) provides stewardship of content and services
for its targeted audience of undergraduate and graduate students, educators,
and researchers in the materials community. Given the interdisciplinary
nature of materials science, the interests and needs of the community
resonate across cognate domains.
methoDs: MatDL offers the MatDL Repository (http://matdl.org) of materials
resources; collaborative tools, such as the Soft Matter wiki (http://
matdl.org/matdlwiki), MatForge (http://matforge.org), and the MS Teaching
Archive (http://teaching.matdl.org); as well as remote Virtual Labs
(http://matdl.org/virtuallabs) for introductory science courses.
evaluation: A third-party evaluation of the effectiveness, impact, and efficiency
of MatDL is being completed for this project. The outside evaluation,
including both formative and summative components, is based on
the evaluator’s project meeting attendance; formative evaluation and
impact-related questions administered to students, faculty, and researchers;
and analysis of pertinent web metrics.
Dissemination: Metadata from MatDL is regularly harvested by the NSDL
using open-access protocols and included in the NSDL repository to support
broad dissemination across all audiences and disciplines. MatDL also
delivers presentations at major materials conferences and as well as digital
library/repository conferences.
imPaCt: MatDL has established an information infrastructure to support
education and research, as well as interactions between the two, such as
adaptation of research data and code for educational purposes. MatDL is
working collaboratively to offer services and resources that address the
needs of the materials community and contribute toward a high-quality
educational experience.
ProjeCt toPiCs: As part of the NSDL, MatDL would be pleased to participate
along with the NSDL and other Pathways in providing information
about our work and potential collaborations with interdisciplinary CCLI
projects.
a212
Poster NSDL–2
Pi: Rachael Bower
institution: University of Wisconsin–¬Madison
title: AMSER: Applied Math and Science Education
Repository
ProjeCt #: 0435310
tyPe: Other
target DisCiPline: Interdisciplinary
FoCus: Computer Sciences
ProjeCt goals: AMSER (Applied Math and Science Education Repository)
(http://amser.org) is a portal of educational resources and services built
for use by individuals in community and technical colleges but free for
anyone to use. AMSER is part of the National Science Digital Library and is
being created by a team of collaborators led by Internet Scout.
methoDs: The key to development of this portal project has been engaging
the target audience—faculty, staff, and librarians at community and
technical colleges. The conception and ongoing evolution of the AMSER
project has involved feedback and participation at a variety of levels from
users and the extended digital library and education communities.
evaluation: Scout has worked with two different organizations to provide
ongoing evaluation throughout the lifespan of the project. From carefully
monitored one-on-one user testing to informal feedback at presentations
and workshops, much has been gleaned from user input. CUDA, an evaluation
center at Cal State, has provided detailed user testing results that
have helped steer development and expansion of the AMSER portal and
its services. Morrill Solutions in Madison, Wisconsin, has provided the
project with their formal evaluation plan and has carried out web surveys
and helped develop other robust measures to ensure the project’s goals
are met.
Dissemination: AMSER has created and engaged a variety of outreach
mechanisms, including a newsletter, mailing lists, and yearly presentations
at meetings and conferences that target our key audiences. As part
of AMSER’s holistic approach to outreach, we have also targeted librarians
at community and technical colleges.
imPaCt: Usage of the AMSER site has tripled every year since the beginning
of the project. The feedback from faculty has been very positive—the
AMSER tool suite has been especially important in helping portal users
organize and share resources found with students and colleagues. Feedback
provided by users led to development of additional features, including
the ability to add comments and descriptions to items in folders as
well as the folders themselves.
Challenges: One of the primary challenges has been reaching some members
of our intended audience—many community and technical colleges
have a high percentage of adjunct faculty. This means that these faculty
members may not have funding to attend national meetings and conferences
and may not be included in institutional meetings to the same degree
as tenured faculty are.
Program Book 2008 Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI)