AgrowKnowledge: The National Resource Center for Agriscience & Technology Education: AgrowKnowledge is a national partnership between community colleges, but is also partnered with "business and industry, leading universities in agriculture education, secondary schools, and professional associations." Users can click on "Strategic Plan", near the top left hand side of the page, to read AgrowKnowledge's mission, vision, beliefs, and importantly, their key strategies, which are Capacity Building, Curriculum Development, and Faculty Development. Found on the left side of any page are the "Educator's Corner", "Resource Teams", and "Employment Center". Visitors interested in learning about the career possibilities in agriculture in the 21st century will definitely be interested in clicking on the "Career Clusters" link in the top middle of the homepage. A career cluster "identif[ies] the knowledge and skills learners need as they follow a pathway toward their career goals." When a career cluster is chosen from the graph, an overview, active job openings, credentials, and employment outlook for that cluster opens in a new page.
Nuffield Council on Bioethics: For those unclear on what exactly bioethics encompasses, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics website is a great place to become acquainted with this field. Visitors can click on "Further Information" at the top right hand side of the page to find the "Faqs" link, and then click on "What is Bioethics?" The study of bioethics includes topics such as xenotransplantation, which is an animal to human organ transplant, prenatal screening, genetically modified crops, and patient confidentiality. The Council's current work, found under the link "Our Work" at the top of any page, addresses online medicine and dementia. The Council's members include physicians, theologians, lawyers, philosophers, and scientists. Each bioethics issue the Council has addressed has an accompanying paper, which can be found under "Publications" near the top of the page. Each paper can be downloaded free of charge one week after publication.
UN Millennium Development Goals E-Learning Materials: The United Nations continues to work on its Millennium Development Goals, which are meant to address human suffering throughout the world. While various media outlets have offered some coverage of these goals over the past ten years, some people may have not heard much about them. The unique learning materials offered on this site provide a bit of background about the goals and an increased understanding of the data that the United Nations collects in order to measure progress in these areas. Along the top of the site, visitors can look through the "Glossary" of terms and click on a link to get further help with using the site. The primary educational materials are contained within four separate sections that help users learn about the Economic and Social Data Services (ESDS) database, which is the primary data source for these types of international databases. Finally visitors can look through the "Activities" section to take in some hands-on activities that use various data sets from the ESDS database.
Virtual Microbiology: Created at the University of Wisconsin, the Virtual Microbiology site contains a wide range of high-quality scientific educational materials that are meant to supplement and enhance more traditional materials. This particular item is an online textbook, divided into eighteen chapters. Of course, there are the traditional text passages and charts to enhance all of the material, but there are also number of nifty videos that provide additional exploration of topics like pond microbes and hands-on demonstrations. Visitors can also sign up to receive updates about new materials that make their way to the site and they can also provide user feedback.
