Locating lesson materials
Find high caliber materials
The community of faculty around the country and the world is generous about sharing their expertise. One example is the MERLOT (multimedia educational resource for learning and online teaching) archive. Faculty members submit teaching materials that are peer reviewed by editorial boards, and ranked by users of the site for quality and usefulness. Numerous other archives, sources and databases have been created by government agencies, private foundations and non-profit organizations to support education. Some examples are provided on this page. The time that new faculty members take to explore these existing materials is well invested. Not only will you have more time for students, research and service, the quality of the collective effort is impressive.
Modify materials to fit the setting
The teaching materials located in various archives are just the beginning for new faculty members who are planning courses. Each teaching situation has unique challenges to address, and therefore materials that one faculty member creates may need some modification to fit another setting. Whether modifying an assignment, tweaking the content, or refining an assessment, the time it takes to modify an existing lesson is considerably less than what it would take to begin the process from scratch, particularly when planning a course for the first time.
Contribute materials for others to use
In addition to being a consumer of teaching materials, new faculty members bring fresh innovations to teaching. When you have created or know of a high caliber way to teach a subject, be sure to contribute to the larger conversations about teaching and learning by submitting your idea for publication. Find an appropriate venue, and become part of the network of faculty who constantly strive to be the best teachers they can possibly be. Places to submit your ideas include archives on your campus, websites for professional organizations and associations, blogs, or by creating your own website.
Continually update and revise
Teaching, even a course you have taught multiple times, is an evolving process. Excellent faculty members are constantly seeking ways to improve their assignments, courses and programs. Each time you begin preparing for a new academic period, leave time to consider new readings, assignments, simulations, documents, ways to evaluate, and means to engage students with the topics you have decided are vital to the course. Look anew at the decisions you made when you taught the course before, and see if you need to update topics, the order of concepts, or the ways the course interfaces with those taken before or after it. Outstanding professors rarely teach the same course in the exact same way, since the field is continually progressing, changing and unfolding in new directions. Stay current by keeping up with the latest articles and books in your discipline, talking with top thinkers in your field, and continuously articulating your thinking in light of the new ideas you discover. In this way your teaching will remain fresh, up to date, and reflective of the current thinking in your area of expertise.
Digital Archives of Materials - Multidisciplinary
MERLOT
Multimedia Education Resource for Learning and Online Teaching, California State University system
Find peer reviewed online teaching and learning materials in this archive organized around disciplines. Share advice and expertise about education with expert colleagues, and be recognized for your contributions to quality education.
Digital Edge Apple Learning Interchange
Apple Inc. (2008)
This archive of teaching with technology contains teaching ideas for both K-12 classrooms and higher education. These sample lessons, instructor comments, assessments and much more offer complete teaching materials to explore.
Encountering the Middle Ages Lesson
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Example of a lesson on the Middle Ages.
Art Images for College Teaching
Minneapolis College of Art and Design
The collection includes architecture, archaeology, art history, natural history, great lakes, zoology, fish, and many others.
Digital Collections & Archives
Tufts University
This digital archive is a collection of materials related to courses taught at Tufts, many of which are available to visitors of the site. It includes syllabi, lectures, exams, audio/visual materials, etc.
Teaching Resources on Africa
African Studies, Columbia University
This collection of teaching resources is useful for both K-12 and university faculty teaching in the field, and includes art, film and music, food, history, philosophy, religion, languages, literature, etc.
Digital Archives of Materials - Mathematics
Math Archives
SunSITE, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
The archive contains teaching materials for contests and competitions, as well as links to other math archives.
Mathematics and Math Related Departments
Compiled by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville
This is a comprehensive list of universities with math resources.
Teaching Resources
StatSci.org
This is a collection of materials and initiatives for teaching statistics.
Calculus I
MERLOT Math Editorial Board Collection
This collection was developed by the members of the Math Editorial Board for MERLOT, composed of materials members used in the teaching of Calculus I.
Calculus II
MERLOT Math Editorial Board Collection
This collection was developed by the members of the Math Editorial Board for MERLOT, composed of materials members used in the teaching of Calculus II.
Digital Archives of Materials
Teaching and Study Resources
Special Collections and Archives, Marquette University
This collection contains, among other things, classroom based curricula about Native Americans created by a group of teacher-scholars who participated in America’s First Nations, a project to develop social studies curriculum from original source documents.
Exemplary Learning Materials
Classics Award Winners, MERLOT
This site contains links to the annual award winners in all subject matter areas on MERLOT, by year. These outstanding materials are selected each year by the MERLOT Editorial Board in that subject matter field.
Teaching With Film
Images of Madness: Feature Films in Teaching Psychology
Fleming, M.Z., Piedmont, R.L. & Hiam, C. M. (1990). Teaching Psychology, Vol. 17. Boston University
This site offers film suggestions and teaching materials for integrating film into psychology.
Movies for Teaching Science
Breithaupt, H. (October, 2002). European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) reports, Vol.3, No. 10
The first public database of scientific films and images for educational use went online this year, and this article offers how to access this database.
Teacher’s Guide Series
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
These are activities designed to capitalize on students’ natural interest in current films and the excitement generated by the Academy Awards to teach valuable lessons in critical thinking and creative writing, and to develop visual literacy skills.
Digital Archives of Materials - Language Arts
Writing Matters
Newsletter for instructors of writing intensive courses. Manoa Writing Program, University of Hawaii, Manoa
This site offers instructor resources for creating effective writing assignments, responding to student writing, and quick tips, etc.
Syllabus Archive
Department of English & Comparative Literature, Columbia University
Current syllabi for courses from the medieval, renaissance, 18th century, 19th century and 20th century, American periods, along with theory and special topics are included.
Electronic Archives for Teaching the American Literatures
Center for Electronic Projects in American Culture, American Studies Program. Georgetown University
This archive is a complement to the electronic discussion list T-AMLIT. It contains essays, syllabi, bibliographies, and other resources for teaching the multiple literatures of the United States.
Digital Archives of Materials - World Languages
Personal Collection in MERLOT
Franklin, L., Northern Virginia Community College, Alexandria Campus
This collection of materials for world languages is a compilation of the most effective MERLOT world language resources this faculty member has located in the larger archive. Items include Spanish, East Asian, World Music, French, and pedagogical materials.
Personal Collection in MERLOT
Hodge, M.E., Northern Virginia Community College
This extensive collection of materials in Spanish contains the most effective materials in MERLOT that this faculty member has located in MERLOT.
Digital Archives of Materials - Business
Business Classics Award Winners
MERLOT Business Editorial Board
This collection of Classics Award Winners was selected by the members of the Business Editorial Board for MERLOT, for their outstanding quality and effectiveness.
