This project is creating an "Economics Pedagogic Portal" in order to provide a single web-based source for all resources related to undergraduate economics instruction. This broad Portal is being designed primarily for instructors in economics. It assists instructors in learning about effective teaching methods operant both within and beyond their discipline. In addition, it provides tools to facilitate instructors in switching to more effective teaching modalities and assessing how these innovative methods are working in their classrooms. The Portal seeks to increase teaching economists' knowledge of fundamental research findings from the learning sciences and illustrate how those findings apply to classroom teaching to improve student learning. Building on past NSF investments in pedagogical innovation in STEM disciplines, the Portal is being designed to highlight a variety of research-based teaching innovations in STEM fields that can be readily adapted to economics instruction to improve student learning. This development work is being done in collaboration with the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) at Carleton College and is building on the SERC "Pedagogic Services" framework that makes pedagogical modules developed by SERC partners (often through NSF-funded grants) accessible via a pedagogic database. SERC provides an experienced support staff and a collection of services including: content hosting and web site design, common templates for developing/submitting module resources, expert technical support, workshop space and coordination, and extensive experience developing comprehensive "teaching commons" web sites that bring together a variety of National Science Foundation-funded projects.
