New Resources for Teaching Sociology, Economics
Two new websites feature resources for teaching in particular disciplines.
The American Sociological Association (ASA) has launched Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology (TRAILS), a peer-reviewed site for sharing teaching syllabi, class activities, student assignments, bibliographies, and other teaching innovations. Submissions go through two rounds of peer review before being shared on the site. The peer review element is intended to elevate the quality of items shared on TRAILS and to provide those who submit items a way to include contributions to the teaching community in their tenure and promotion portfolios. Access to the site costs $25 per year for ASA members and $100 per year for non-members. More details are available on the TRAILS site, as well as in stories on the site by the Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed.
The National Science Foundation and the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) at Carleton College have launched Starting Point: Teaching and Learning Economics, a website providing information on a variety of teaching methods useful in economics and other disciplines. Each topic-focused module includes a description of the teaching method, reasons why to use it, advice on implementing it, and examples from instructors who practice it. The eight currently available modules include ones on context-rich problems, cooperative learning, classroom response systems, and interactive lecture demonstrations. Another eight modules are under development.
Do you know of online collections of discipline-specific teaching resources? Please share in the comments!
Image: “College (classroom)” by Flickr user tanakawho / Creative Commons licensed
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