Incorporating long-term, collaborative research projects into short-term class experiences: Challenges and opportunities

As undergraduate institutions incorporate more research into the curriculum as a matter of best practice, one challenge is how to balance time and resources available for traditional lab periods with the realities of those needed to perform authentic, long-term experiments. Collaborations in this context must also ensure quality control while allowing flexibility for both faculty and students. The EREN-DATIS project, a multi-site, multi-year collaboration that examined leaf decomposition rates from native and non-native species in terrestrial and aquatic sites, offers a good model for examining how to minimize challenges and maximize opportunities associated with classroom use of long-term research projects.