The Bio-Link Clearinghouse of Instructional Materials for Biotechnology Technician Education is a collection of instructional and curriculum materials that are specifically targeted for courses and programs that educate biotechnology technicians and bench scientists. The Bio-Link Clearinghouse includes:

1. New materials that are not published elsewhere
2. Reviews of commercially available instructional/curriculum materials
3. Links to other sites that have materials relating to biotechnology technician education

The materials in the Bio-Link Clearinghouse are categorized as follows:

1. CURRICULUM MATERIALS. "Curriculum" (as we are using the word) has to do with what you teach as contrasted with how you teach it. Examples of curriculum materials appropriate for the Bio-Link Clearinghouse include:

   A skill standards document
   A syllabus
   Course descriptions
   An outline of the sequence of courses in a program
   Documents that outline course competencies, outcomes, or objectives

2. LABORATORY EXERCISES. These are any activities that your students perform in the laboratory.

3. CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES. These might be lecture notes, problem sets, role playing games, discussion ideas, "dry labs".

4. REVIEWS OF PUBLISHED MATERIALS. A review tells readers about published materials or other web-sites that they may find helpful.

5. ASSESSMENT ITEMS. This includes test question banks, performance assessment activities, portfolio-related materials, and so on.

6. LINKS TO OTHER RELATED SITES.

7. OTHER. This might include, for example, an online course, an SOP (standard operating procedure), etc.

There are already many excellent web resources for instructional materials in biology and biotechnology. Bio-Link was funded by NSF (The National Science Foundation) to concentrate on the instruction of technicians and bench scientists, particularly in two-year colleges. The Bio-Link Clearinghouse reflects this biotechnology workplace emphasis.

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A brief description of all Bio-Link Clearinghouse materials is available in the on-line Bio-Link Clearinghouse Catalog. The actual materials themselves are available to subscribers. A subscriber is an educator who works in an educational institution and has registered with Bio-Link. No fee is necessary to register as a subscriber. (However, if you work with a for-profit company, you must contact Dr. Elaine Johnson, 415 487-2472) As a subscriber you will receive a password and will be able to download materials directly from the web-site. Occasionally materials will be available in a form that is not accessible via the Internet. In such cases we will mail you these materials, at your request, and there will be a fee to cover any costs associated with mailing and reproduction.

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Click here for information about becoming a Bio-Link Clearinghouse Subscriber.

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The materials in the Bio-Link Clearinghouse come from educators who want to share their materials with colleagues. If you would like to become a Bio-Link contributor, thank you! Click here for more information about becoming a Bio-Link Clearinghouse contributor.