Subject portholes are reserved spaces where registered users can customize and create their own academic content for a particular subject area. Examples of possible contributions are learning resources such as guides, tutorials or quizzes or just a brief account of your experiences as a learner or educator. The idea is to create subject-specific material that will help others to make efficient use of the vast amount of Open Courseware that is now available.
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These sub-headings follow the OCW subject menu - more can be created if necessary.
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"This course (David J. Malan, Harvard Extension School) is all about understanding: understanding what's going on inside your computer when you flip on the switch, why tech support has you constantly rebooting your computer ....." I recommend this as a good introductory primer - audio - video - slides etc. What do you think?
Here are 2 sources I came across today that seem to provide good introductory material in computer science ......
This is a textbook for the MIT course, Software Engineering for Internet Applications and is authored by Eve Andersson, Philip Greenspun, and Andrew Grumet (MIT Press 2006). It is a full text book available with no charge. Chapters are ......
1. Introduction
2. Basics
3. Planning
4. Software Structure
5. User Registration and Management
6. Content Management
7. Software Modularity
8. Discussion
9. Adding Mobile Users To Your Community
10. Voice (VoiceXML)
11. Scaling Gracefully
12. Search
13. Planning Redux
14. Distributed Computing with HTTP, XML, SOAP, and WSDL
15. Metadata (programs that write programs)
16. User Activity Analysis
17. Writeup
plus reference chapters, Glossary, To the Instructor etc.
The other item is, Programming Tutorials: "We have scoured the internet to bring you an extensive collection of developer tutorials. You will find tutorials and lessons on most languages you want to learn how to program with here. We have Visual Basic, VB.NET, Java, J2EE, C, C++, C#, ASP, ASP.NET, Perl, JavaScript, Web Services, and XML tutorials. Most of the tutorials are either beginner or intermediate level but we have included a few advanced tutorials as well. Also you will find a few tutorials covering PHP, Cold Fusion, .NET Framework, HTML, and Python."
No entries at present.
No entries at present.
free peer reviewed encyclopedia written by scholars from all around the world - interesting development along the lines of Wikipedia except that each article is written by an expert and anonymously peer reviewed to ensure accurate and reliable information - looks promising!
Some interesting material here in this blog by Leigh Blackall.
This book could be of some interest to self-learners. I've read very little of it - its over 300 pages long, so download and save the PDF, but its absolutely free! The main headings are: 'Prologue: Encounters with Four Mentors' followed by three parts entitled, 'Starting Out', 'The Practice of Independent Scholarship' and 'Independent Scholars in Action'.
Over 20 Units from the Open University with titles such as: 'What is good writing?', 'Extending and developing your thinking skills', 'Giving Presentations', 'Using a Computer for Study', 'Living with the Internet', 'Presenting Information'
New media scholars at George Mason University discussing how Web 2.0 technologies will change humanities teaching and research - interesting material via Open Culture
Another excellent Web 2.0 introduction for educators. All 58 slides by Bill Warters, OTL Faculty Fellow, at Wayne State University.
The Study Guides and Strategies web site is authored, developed and maintained by Joe Landsberger as a learner-centric educational public service. There's a lot here to interest students and self-learners.
Over 20 Units from the Open University with titles such as: 'What is good writing?', 'Extending and developing your thinking skills', 'Giving Presentations', 'Using a Computer for Study', 'Living with the Internet', 'Presenting Information'
Some of the greatest people in history have educated themselves to a large degree using a process known as autodidacticism - some of the best tools for the modern autodidact
Also from OEDB:
Tips for students new to online education. Know how to apply, what kind of computer you need, and prerequisites for enrollment at online schools.
And this!
236 Open Courseware Collections, Podcasts, and Videos
- SciVee is an "online science community where scientists can make their research known to their fellow peers as well as the general public. Scientists can create "pubcasts" which are online presentations that allow a scientist to combine their publication with media such as video, audio, images, and text to allow visitors to quickly grasp the key concepts of their publications, as well as an increased chance for citation. Scientists can also form communities around their research/projects/interests and can start discussions or plan events with their group."
Not exactly my field but "What is Civil Engineering" by the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering seems to me to be an excellent illustrated introduction.
These sub-headings follow the OCW subject menu - more can be created if necessary.
Health and Life Sciences (general), Agriculture, Horticulture, Botany, Paleontology
This Beginner's Guide from Rothamsted Research, could be useful.
"Biology Century presents a summary of knowledge of the Biological Sciences as we enter the 21st century. The last 100 years have seen a revolution in our thinking about life and living systems. Starting in the first decade of the century with Bateson's coining of the term "genetics" and ending with the completion of the first complete characterization of the structure of the full hereditary structure (genome) of some simple organisms. Biology Century is organized around a set of major concepts of Biology. Each major concept is broken down into smaller and more specific ideas." - lots of material by Philip Farabaugh
This free online textbook from Palomar College looks like good introductory material. "... emphasizes topics in biology and botany, with special emphasis in ecology, adaptations and the economic importance of plants in our daily lives."
I recommend this for anyone getting into biology. There is a lot to read and some has just been updated. I particularly liked the "no nonsense" approach to evolution!
Some presentations under this subject heading .....
Further suggestions for videos or podcasts are welcome!
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Two sets of introductory books for free download.
The texts at FreeMathTexts.org by Alain Schremmer,
The texts are being developed as integral part of packages suitable for classroom use including Homeworks, Reviews, Exams, etc, in a form that makes it easy for the instructor to use. This is a work in progress but 'Reasonable Basic Algebra' is fully available now. Several other packages are in preparation and should be available before the end of the year.
The other texts by David Santos are mostly complete and available at OpenMathsText.org:
There is material on Arithmetic, Elementary Algebra, Probability, Calculus, Discrete Maths, Linear Algebra and Number Theory.
These sub-headings follow the OCW subject menu - more can be created if necessary.
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Please add items of general interest here. ('Post New Comment' below)
Online introductory textbook by Professor Russell A. Dewey of Georgia Southern University.
How to Study this Book, Psychology and Science, The Human Nervous System,States of Consciousness, Senses and Perception, Conditioning, Memory, Cognition, Animal Behavior and Cognition, Motivation and Emotion, Development, Personality, Abnormal Psychology, Therapies, Frontiers of Psychology, Social Psychology, Sex, Friendship, and Love