Educational Research
National Organizations
NMU Resources
Additional Resources

Educational Research

National Endowment for the Arts - The NEA provides grant support for institutions and individuals, including some dedicated to outreach and arts education.

Teaching Sociology Journal. Selected articles available online through ASA website.  4/1997 - 4/2013 issues available through Olson Library.

Grants & Research can provide lots of help in finding funding sources, putting together grants, and grant management once you receive an award.  Contact them early and often!

National Organizations

An international consortium of more than 750 academic institutions and research organizations, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) provides leadership and training in data access, curation, and methods of analysis for the social science research community.

ICPSR maintains a data archive of more than 250,000 files of research in the social and behavioral sciences. Along with that, it  provides a complementary set of Teaching and Learning Resources, including learning guides, exercises, 

NMU is a member of ICPSR, so after creating an account you will have full access to ICPSR resources. 

The Quality Matters (QM) Program is a nationally recognized, faculty-centered, peer review process designed to certify the quality of online courses and online components. Colleges and universities across and beyond the U.S. use the tools in developing, maintaining and reviewing their online courses and in training their faculty.

The Quality Matters Rubric has become the most widely used set of standards for the design of online and blended courses at the college level. Today, more than 700 colleges and universities subscribe to the non-profit Quality Matters Program.

The QM Process for continuous improvement is the framework for quality assurance efforts in online learning and provides effective professional development for faculty making the transition into distance education.

NMU is a campus subscriber to Quality Matters and plans to implement QM reviews for all of its online courses. Please contact the CTL if you have questions about QM or NMU's implementation of the QM standards.

The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) is a community of higher education institutions and organizations committed to the advancement of learning through the  innovative application of technology. The ELI website contains a wealth of resources concerning learners, learning principles and practices, and learning technologies.  One great feature is the 7 Things You Should Know About series of briefs, which explore the significance of a specific technology for teaching and learning. 

NMU is an institutional member of ELI, so NMU faculty have full access to all resources on the ELI website and also receive free and discounted registrations to ELI programs. The CTL hosts group participation sites for many of ELI's live online events.  

MERLOT is a free, web-based resource designed to help faculty find online teaching and learning materials quickly and easily. MERLOT's strategic goal is to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning by increasing the quantity and quality of peer-reviewed online learning materials that can be easily incorporated into faculty-designed courses.

The Online Learning Consortium (OLC), formerly known as Sloan-C,  is "the leading professional organization devoted to advancing the quality of online learning worldwide." OLC offers resources for professional development and institutional advancement of online learning.  Resources include publications (including the respected Online Learning journal), conferences, online courses for faculty, and community networks.  NMU is an institutional member of the OLC.

NMU Resources

The Lydia M. Olson Library contains books and journals and provides access to numerous databases. Librarians offer personal guidance in the use of the online catalog, indexes, abstracts, reference sources, online databases and Internet sources. Students are encouraged to seek assistance in accessing and evaluating the many resources available. Library tours and instructional presentations are offered to help students become familiar with the library and information resources and to help them develop their research skills. Try searching for particular resources in the primary or secondary literature on teaching.  OneSearch searches ERIC which is a large database of educational resources as well as other databases.

Peer Evaluation of Teaching consists of the review of teaching performance by colleagues, usually in the same or a similar discipline, with the purpose of assessing and improving the quality of teaching.  

TLAC (The Teaching and Learning Advisory Council) is an NMU Senate committee dedicated to the support of teaching.  TLAC works closely with the Center for Teaching and Learning on a number of projects including oversight of grants and coordination of workshops and seminars.

The New Faculty Central website provides resources and a calendar of events specifically tailored to early career faculty.

Student-centered active learning techniques have been proven to have positive effects on student learning. During a class session that employs active learning, the instructor typically minimizes lecture and instead facilitates various types of student group work, such as problem solving, role playing, investigation, and analysis.  

Though it is possible to incorporate many aspects of active learning in a traditional classroom, the constraints of fixed row, front-facing seats present challenges.  Active learning is more easily implemented in a learning space designed with active learning in mind.  These spaces have furniture that facilitates collaboration, and typically have several dry erase boards or other writing surfaces available for students. Some also have enhanced technology to facilitate active learning.

NMU has several active learning classrooms on campus, including the majority of the rooms in Jamrich Hall.  Visit the Classroom Support website for details about our classroom services, including forms for requesting equipment and assistance and reporting problems, as well as a database of all learning spaces on campus.

Additional Resources

If you would like to suggest additional resources for inclusion, please contact us.