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John
Korey Before we open the discussion up to the larger group, I will present two initiatives aimed at improving communication among instructors teaching quantitative methods in the social sciences, whether in research methods or in substantive courses. The first of these is SIMI -- the Site for Instructional Materials and Information (http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/ORG/Other_Resources/SIMI/simi.html) at the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). When fully operational, SIMI (which was begun by former ICPSR Council member Ed Nelson) will provide (1) instructional modules and exercises that can be downloaded and modified for classroom use, (2) links to other instructionally related data sets in the ICPSR archives, (3) links to external teaching resource sites, and (4) a listserv for research methods instructors. The second is the Teaching Resources Depository (http://www.csubak.edu/ssric/) maintained by the California State University's Social Science Research and Instructional Council (SSRIC). This site includes teaching modules and exercises (many but not all specific to California), an SPSS Tutorial, and a variety of other teaching tools that have been developed by faculty for their classes. John L. Korey |