5/27/98
ATHENS, Ohio -- The Ohio University Department of Biological Sciences received a 1998 Instructional Web Site Grant of $5,000 from the Ohio Library and Information Network, or OhioLINK.
The grant, one of eight given to Ohio universities this year, will be used to make improvements to a World Wide Web site created by Ohio University biology instructor Molly G. McCarthy for the Biology Department's introductory biology laboratories.
The site, designed for student use, currently includes links to class textbooks, dissection slides, handouts, images of animals and an answer key to quizzes on biological identifications.
"Having all the images on there seems to be the most valuable aspect for the students," McCarthy said. "Most biology Web sites have notes and course materials, but very few have the actual lab materials."
McCarthy envisioned the project more than a year ago, and has been collecting images and information for the Web site since that time. The process, she said, cost several thousand dollars in time and equipment.
"The grant will help us to incorporate OhioLINK into the site so that students can conduct investigative research directly from the Web, add the investigative assignments to the page, and continue to add links to sites of interest and relevance to the course," McCarthy explained. She and Catherine Rhodes, an Ohio University health sciences librarian who will help implement the site's improvements, intend for the Web site to encourage library research among biology students.
OhioLINK grant applicants were asked to propose a project that would enhance students' learning experiences beyond the classroom and provide innovative teaching ideas for other university faculty across the state to share. McCarthy hopes the site will be used as a model by other departments and universities.
"It's very exciting to see how we can apply this technology to course content, as well as motivate students to do research at the library. The project really recognizes the role that libraries play in serving the informational needs of students," Rhodes said.
The grant requires that improvements to the Web site be completed by September 1998.
The current version of the Web site is located at http://cscwww.cats.ohiou.edu/~biosdept/introbioslab/.