A new resource for campus biology educators

The UW–Madison campus has always been an active setting for innovation in biology education. Now, a new resource is available to campus biology educators through the Institute for Biology Education.

The University Educators Resource Center in Room 104 of the old Genetics Building, 445 Henry Mall, is intended to be a destination where faculty, staff, graduate students, and postdocs can draw on a trove of print and recorded resources as well as knowledgable institute staff.

“We’re trying to think of ourselves in a different way,” explains Lillian Tong, a faculty associate with the institute. “We have a place for people to go, not just programs to attend or printed materials. We come with the books.”

According to Tong, the new University Educators Resource Center revolves around a non-circulating collection of materials on teaching and learning, including books, videos, handouts from workshops, and national reports on science education that can be useful for grant writing. University educators are welcome to drop by and explore the materials during regular business hours.

“Having a physical space and people mixing it up in that space we see as important,” says Tong, “especially since the biosciences on campus are so diverse and spread out geographically. We’d like it to be a place where educators can sit and read, have a cup of tea, perhaps connect with a colleague, and leave with new ideas.”

The University Educators Resource Center is the first phase of a larger initiative by the Institute for Biology Education to create community and learning spaces that bring together resources and programming for students, faculty, staff, and community members across the biosciences. A space devoted to bioscience undergraduates is currently in development and slated to open in Fall 2012.