Collaborative Project: Digital Educational Resources in Microbial Ecology, Evolution and Diversity (DERMEED-1)

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DERMEED-1 is a definitive and expanding educational resource providing expert information about microorganisms for a diverse community of educators and students. Its scope covers microbial evolution, diversity and ecology and life in extreme environments. This collaborative project (Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory and Montana State University) draws together researchers with strong and previously independent track records in developing web-mediated educational resources, and it fills an important niche in the NSDL, bridging the fields of molecular biology, genomics, microbial ecology, and Earth system science. In addition, it addresses curricular needs for instructional resources in these areas as well as the public's interest in the diversity and occurrences of life in all its forms. The portal is served by the Bay Paul Center of the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, and builds on earlier contributions as part of the NASA Astrobiology Institute. DERMEED-1 is aggregating and disseminating collections of images, data, scientific contributions from related projects (e.g. micro*scope, Tree of Life), and making available the Taxonomic Name Server - a mechanism to handle taxonomic metadata - through the NSDL network. In addition, thematic collections of instructional materials are being developed, using DLESE cataloging practices, as an educational overlay to these databases. These resources augment curriculum requirements from K-16 and serve the needs of public outreach organizations (museums, national parks), or those committed to life-long learning. Selection of instructional resources is being driven by pedagogic best practices that provide resources to meet the needs of the community of users. The co-development of collections of scientific resources (images, data) and instructional resources (thematic collections) is significantly addressing NSF's goal of integration of research and education. DERMEED-1 provides educational resources along many dimensions of microbiology for learning by many audiences; adds value to scientific resources by repurposing them for educational use; links materials and resources across the life and physical sciences; and contributes to the development of information systems (e.g outlinking) that are broadly applicable in the NSDL.