ABLE Resources to Enhance Your Lab, Career, and Life

 

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2013, Volume 34

Mark E. Walvoord

Abstract

The Association for Biology Laboratory Education has been a strong source of resources for Biology laboratory staff since its 1979 inception. These resources are in the form of annual conferences with hands-on workshops, the annual Proceedings of those conferences, and the networking possibilities with like-minded scientists. ABLE's web presence began in June 1995 when ABLE member Corey Goldman set it up on a University of Toronto web server (C. Goldman, pers. comm.). It remained there until 2007 when it moved to its present location of http://www.ableweb.org. This website, and the amazing coding work of member Chris Beck, have allowed ABLE to build upon the resources offered to ABLE members and random, internet surfers alike. Our website has an average of 30 people per day visit 2 of our pages for 2-3 minutes. Visitors usually arrive at our site through direct bookmarks (70%) or internet searches (23%, usually through google.com) and they are most often there to download popular lab activities from our annual Proceedings (Tested Studies for Laboratory Teaching). Visitors are mostly from the United States and Canada, though each year visitors come from well over 100 countries (ABLE Web Committee Report, ABLE 2012 Board Meeting, June 19, 2012, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). The attached supplement (website guide in PDF), and the mini-workshop presented at UNC-Chapel Hill in June 2012, presents information for website visitors to make the best use of the ABLE resources available there. As with most electronic media, changes will continue to take place fairly rapidly on our webpage. But, the information provided here should allow readers to learn about current resources on our website, even if the methods to use them, layout, or color schemes will be updated in future versions of this evolving technology. Users will find resources to assist Biology laboratory staff in curriculum enhancement, job relocation, and development as educators, and networking with other professionals.

Keywords:  ABLE resources

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (2012)