Extending and enhancing Understanding Evolution for the undergraduate community

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Biological Sciences (61). This project, a collaboration between the University of California Museum of Paleontology, American Institute of Biological Sciences and the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), is expanding the highly successful Understanding Evolution K-12 website (UE) with the aim of improving evolution education at the college level. UE's Undergraduate Library is a freely accessible online resource that targets college instructors of introductory biology to help them clarify evolutionary concepts in pedagogically sound ways, integrate evolution throughout their teaching, spend more class time on evolution-related concepts, and relate evolution to current research and issues that matter in students' everyday lives. Functionalities built into the site also encourage community building among these instructors. To support these goals, the Library is offering a wide variety of resources, including webinars, discussions, teaching materials, professional development tools, and much more. This comprehensive set of materials reflects the recognition that some instructors are prepared to make only small modifications to their pedagogy, and others will embrace sweeping ones. By facilitating small improvements and providing a community-based support system, the site aims to move instructors towards more fundamental transformations of their evolution instruction. An evaluation component is addressing the extent to which the project is meeting its goals, informing the design of online community-building tools for teacher professional development, and informing other efforts to encourage the integration of evolution throughout biology instruction (e.g., NESCent's Evolution Across the Curriculum working group). The project's freely-accessible, online environment provides a vehicle for reaching a diverse group of students and instructors - from rural and inner city community colleges, research universities, and private institutions - by removing geographic and economic barriers to participation.