Moving UniServe Science website to Web2.0 and beyond

Abstract

UniServe Science was originally set up in 1994 with some Federal Government funding as a clearinghouse for information about new technologies in tertiary science teaching. Since that time it has changed its focus and currently it is funded by The University of Sydney through the Faculties of the Sciences to expand its activities to better serve its clients. UniServe Science now has two main activities: • Supporting tertiary science teaching, both within the Faculties of the Sciences at the University of Sydney and the broader community • Serving science and mathematics teaching in NSW Schools and the broader community. The various sections of our website contain information about, and links to resources for a wide range of topics across the science disciplines suitable for staff teaching from kindergarten through to tertiary level. Ours is a dynamic website and information is constantly being updated and amended and we welcome feedback and contributions from educators as we continue to expand our community and endeavours. As our website is in the process of moving to a new Content Management System (CMS) we are looking at ways we can make the site more useful for our clients and encourage collaboration and interaction amongst science and mathematics educators in the tertiary sector, as well as across all sectors. Questions we are asking ourselves and the wider community include – do we include blogs and/or wikis, do we move some of our educational resources to a Learning Management System, and if so what are the implications, what support services and resources are academics seeking and how can we best provide these. Through general discussions we hope to find some of the answers to these questions and hence provide a more effective service and resource for our clients.