Scitable

Nature Education has launched Scitable, a free, online educational resource for undergraduate biology students and educators, initially focusing on genetics.

Scitable is said to combine authoritative scientific information with social media functionality. It provides students with free online access to more than 180 overviews of key genetics concepts. The overviews are evidence-based and have been vetted by Nature Publishing Group (NPG) staff. Scitable users can connect with each other via groups, chat functionality and other social media features. This means that students can collaborate online with classmates, or with a wider community of experts, researchers and fellow students.

In addition, educators can set up public or private groups for their students, providing reading lists, course-packs of Scitable articles and group discussions. It can also be incorporated into courseware services such as Blackboard.

Scitable is the first product launch from Nature Education, a division of NPG formed in January 2007 to develop innovative education resources and tools for college science students and educators. Scitable currently focuses on the field of genetics but Nature Education plan to expand the service to other subject areas in future.