NUTSHELL NOTES "Teaching tips in a nutshell" - The University of Colorado at Denver's One-page Newsletter for Teaching Excellence

Julie Henry (education) recommends the Association for Childhood Education International at http://www.udel.edu/bateman/acei/. Julie says: "This site has many resources, but the one that I find of particular help is the Education Resource Catalog. This catalog contains position papers that ... make terrific resources for classroom education. This page also provides information on speakers bureaus, media contacts, awards and grants and publishing opportunities. This is an excellent resource for anyone in education."

Clyde Zaidins of Physics likes "Eric's Treasure Trove of Physics" found at the long address of http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~eww6n/physics/physics.html . He notes this site as "a very good encyclopedia resource for physics students." It also has links to other disciplines.

Peggy Lore nominated Chinese American History Timeline found at http://www.itp.berkeley.edu/~asam121/timeline.html . From Peggy: "This site provides significant dates, text of judicial cases and legislative documents that have impacted Chinese Americans in their striving to become members of U.S. society. Where else can you find out information about Asian immigration on Angel Island, see pictures of the San Francisco earthquake and get a copy of the 1868 Burlingame-Seward Treaty on the same WEB site? "

Fred Chambers, Geography, says: "I would like to promote the site http://www.usgs.gov, which I suggest to students in 'Natural Hazards.' This site leads to a VAST amount of information and graphics on earthquakes, volcanoes, and floods. Links provide both historical and current data (e.g. Mt. St. Helens and imagery of the current Mt. Pavlov eruption). Student response has been incredible, with many bringing in reprints of material gleaned from the site."

Blandine M. Sevier of Modern Languages states: "In my opinion the following web site is the best there is for teachers and students of French, because it provides all kinds of useful links to explore French culture on the net (American as well as French links). Really amazing!" See this at http://www.utsa.edu/aatf.

Marty Humphrey (Computing Science & Engineering) recommends that his students use the resources of The Center for the New Engineer found at http://www.cne.gmu.edu/modules/ modules.html. In addition to other useful things, the site includes actual tutoring modules "complete with text, animated demonstrations, quizzes, and links to other related pages. These modules allow easy, interesting, self-paced, 'nonlinear' learning."

Helen Petach of Chemistry finds the "World-Wide Web Virtual Library: Chemistry" at www.chem.ucla.edu/chempointers.html, to be especially useful. Helen describes this site as "a comprehensive library of every university chemistry web site around the world (and includes government sites in the U.S.). Click on any university name and get information on such topics as: (1) chemistry demonstrations (Brigham Young University) (2) pictures of 3D molecules (Brookhaven National Labs) or (3) faculty research interests (important for students looking into grad school)."

Psychology's Rick Gardner likes "Psych Web" at http://www.gasou.edu/psychweb/psychweb.htm. Rick notes this as "an excellent meta-index both for teachers of psychology and for students studying psychology. Numerous teaching tips for psychology teachers on planning curricula. Numerous sites are sorted by topic, including commercial pages, on-line journals, directories, and search tools. Chat rooms for discussions are included and the page is regularly updated."

The grand winner comes from May Lowry (Education). Her nomination for "amazing web site" is the "World Lecture Hall" at http://www.utexas.edu/world/lecture. From May: "This site is a must visit for faculty members who are planning to use the web as an instructional tool. It includes syllabi, assignments, lecture notes, exams, and activities from on-line courses in 91 disciplines from Accounting to Zoology." Many of the web sites recommended above can be found through starting at this final site and following links.

If there is any doubt in your mind about the usefulness or impact of the WEB in the instruction of your discipline, go to this site, look up your discipline, and see what is available to students in your field—exciting and sobering!!