April 15, 2016 (Vol. 36, No. 8)
URL:
http://biowiki.ucdavis.edu
Rating:
Strong Points: Wide range of content
Weak Points: Fairly text-heavy
Summary:
With the cost of textbooks continually on the rise, many educators are starting to create open-access content for students. One such example is the UC Davis Biowiki. Biowiki is similar to a digital textbook, though it’s more accurately described as a dynamic hypertext—a body of information that’s constantly updated and appended. (In fact, the Biowiki tagline is “Think Outside The Book.”) The four core subjects included in the Biowiki are biochemistry, genetics, medicine, and microbiology. A variety of topics are included within each subject area. The content is largely text-based, with occasional illustrations, and the contributing author is named at the bottom of each entry. Biowiki contains a good deal of information that can be accessed either by browsing through the chapters or by searching for keywords.