University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Education Division Advisory Committee Meeting

Biology Workbench Education Enhancements

Dr. Eric Jakobsson, Project Director

June 22, 1998

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Biology WorkbenchBiology Workbench(http://biology.ncsa.uiuc.edu)(http://biology.ncsa.uiuc.edu)

• Developed by the NCSA Computational Biology Group.

• A model for Web-based distributed scientific computing.

– Provides rapid access to biological databases and analysis tools.

– Provides the computational power of a supercomputer on a desktop computer with a Web browser.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Education Enhancements for Biology WorkbenchEducation Enhancements for Biology Workbench(http://bioweb.ncsa.uiuc.edu/educwb)(http://bioweb.ncsa.uiuc.edu/educwb)

• Work began late spring of 1998 under the direction of Dr. Eric Jakobsson.

• Development team includes four graduate and undergraduate research assistants who are supported in part by funds from the Education Division.

• Six educators are collaborating with the team to develop educational materials.– Sickle Cell Anemia– Cystic Fibrosis– Comparing Primate Proteins

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Some Future PlansSome Future Plans

• Interest by College of Education to use the Workbench to support inquiry learning.

• Interest by MVHS to integrate workbench into their curriculum with ties to state learning goals and national science standards.

• Interest by BioQuest to develop curriculum materials using the Workbench.

• Discussions started with organizations, such as the Trace center and CILT, during Alliance ‘98 for future collaborations.