NSDL – A Tool for
Teaching and Learning
Eileen McIlvain
Pathways Liaison
NSDL Core Integration
BEN Scholars Workshop
December 8-10, 2006
NSDL Pathways workshops goals…
 Build awareness and use - spread the word…about
BEN, about NSDL
 Connect to user communities
 Give NSDL the opportunity to learn in a direct way
about unique PW issues and needs
 Explore different models for professional
development and capacity-building workshops –
evaluate for efficacy, share for replication
 Build capacity - capitalize on partnership
opportunities – shared audiences, shared resources,
services, expertise
 Build long-term support; sustainability
The National Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Mathematics
Education Digital Library
The National Science Foundation’s online
library of resources for education and
research …
…established to catalyze and support continual
improvements in STEM education at all levels
(K-12, higher education, lifelong learning)
NSDL Overview
Funding Agency: National Science Foundation
 Education and Human Resources Directorate
 Initiated by NSF in 2000 as R&D project, now part of NSF’s educational
cyberinfrastructure
Scope: Education at all levels (K12, higher ed, lifelong learning, research)
 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)
Structure: A digital library describing:
 2M+ selected online STEM resources from hundreds of distributed
collections and services, provided and maintained by many
organizations.
 10 Pathways portals and over 200 NSF-funded NSDL grantees
 All joined by a Core Integration team
Columbia University
Cornell University
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)
What is a Digital Library?
Lesson
Plans
Interactives
Documents
Maps
Communities
of Practice
Images
Exhibits
Remotely
Operated
Instruments
Videos
News
Tools
Animations
Services
Data Sets
Professional
Development
Visualizations
Where we were… Where we are…
 NSDL 1.0 (2002-2004)
 integrated access to NSF-funded NSDL projects that had
released collections
 two levels of searching and browsing
 community governance and organization
 NSDL 2.0 (2004-present)
 Building the foundation for educational partnerships - move
from a general purpose digital library to a federation of
portals each with its own focus (one library, many portals) ->
Pathways strategy – discipline-specific or audience-specific
portals of NSDL. FEDORA-based technical infrastructure
enabling contextualization of resources.
Technical Infrastructure
Metadata:
Modified Dublin Core with crosswalks to other schema. Metadata
are harvested through OAI and NSDL’s repository API
Repository Architecture:
Migrating from metadata-centric Oracle database to resourcecentric, object-oriented, FEDORA-based repository (Flexible
Extensible Digital Object Repository Architecture)
Search:
New resource-centric search based on Lucene
Authentication:
Working toward community sign-on using Shibboleth (single login
across multiple portals)
Archiving:
Persistent archive provided by San Diego Supercomputing Center
Partnerships
NSDL Pathways
 Educational level and discipline-specific
portals to NSDL resources
 Built by leading organizations who are
trusted by their target audiences
 Provide resources, tools, services, and
professional development
 A method for professional organizations
to engage and serve their membership
communities
Pathway and Lead
Ed Level
Discipline
Math Gateway
Mathematical Assoc of America
Undergraduate
Mathematics
Computational Science Education
Reference Desk (CSERD)
Shodor Education Foundation
Undergraduate & High
School
Computational Science
Applied Math and Science
Education Repository (AMSER)
Univ of Wisc, Madison
Community Colleges
Applied Mathematics &
Science
Teachers’ Domain
WGBH Public Television
K-12
Life, Earth, Space, &
Physical Sciences
Middle School Portal
Ohio State University
Middle Grades
Science, Mathematics, &
Technology
ComPADRE
AAPT, APS, AIP/SPS & AAS
Undergraduate & High
School
Physics & Astronomy
BioSciEdNet (BEN)
AAAS, plus >20 professional
societies
Undergraduate & High
School
Biology
Materials Digital Library
Kent State University
Undergraduate & Above
Materials Science
Engineering Pathway
UC Berkeley, Univ of CO
Undergraduate & K-12
Engineering
ChemEd DLib
ACS, JCE DLib; Univ of Wisconsin
Undergraduate & K-12
Chemistry
NSDL Offers Educators…
An organized point of access to the
Internet for high quality resources
supporting STEM education
A source for accurate, appropriate, and
relevant information for educators and
learners at all levels
Peer reviewed materials
Resources that support standards
Why Not Just Use Google?
The NSDL Value Proposition…
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Relevant search results
Trusted providers
Appropriate for students
Contextualized resources
User-contributed content
Peer reviews and other annotations
Aligned to educational standards
A bridge between the education and research
communities
Context
Partnerships
Tools
&
Services
Resources
Publisher Partnerships
Established agreements:
Scientific American
Oxford University Press Journals
HighWire Press
McGraw-Hill Higher Education
Springer
Elsevier (books)
John Wiley
Blackwell
Tool Factory
Cambridge University Press Books
Cambridge University Press Journals
Houghton-Mifflin/McDougal-Littel
Nature Publishing Group
Tom Snyder
BioOne
National Academy Press
Negotiating agreements:
Bedford, Freeman & Worth
Oxford University Press Books
Taylor & Francis
SAGE Publications
O'Reilly Media/Safari
Exploratory discussions:
American Psychological Association
Riverdeep Interactive Learning
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
Institute of Physics Publishing
American Physical Society
Context
Expert Voices
 Models scientific inquiry and exposes the
processes of scientific research
 Promotes and facilitates conversations
between research and education
communities
 Brings content expertise into the classroom
to support out-of-field teachers
 Allows scientists, teachers, and media
specialists to collaboratively develop
instructional context around NSDL
resources
How Much Time Do You Have?
Ask a question
Assemble a links list
Create a module
Run a simulation
Blog on Expert Voices
Download a resource
Find a website
Use an existing module
NSDL and BEN…
 What are your needs?
 What kinds of outreach are you engaged in?
Teacher training? Professional development
workshops? conference attendance and booth
events?
Dissemination
 Add NSDL to lists of recommended resources
 NSDL search box on portals and partner sites
 NSDL toolbar on university department, school,
and library browsers
Eileen McIlvain
Pathways Project Liaison
eileen@ucar.edu
303-497-8354
http://nsdl.org