NCLOR Khan Academy Series Updated with Engineering Resources

This week the Khan Academy collection in the NCLOR was updated to included more electrical engineering resources. In fact, over 260 items were added to the collection with topics that included: amplifiers, circuit analysis, electricity and magnetism, electrostatics, semiconductor devices, reverse engineering, and signals & systems. The content also included resources on robotics like how to make home-made robots and Lego robotics.

These additional resources join a large collection already in the NCLOR that include content in math,  biology, chemistry, finance, physics, and history. The Khan Academy is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation award winning not-for-profit organization with the goal of changing education for the better. Each video in this series is a digestible chunk of information, approximately 10 minutes long, closed captioned, and especially purposed for viewing on the computer.

Example Video: “What is inside an alarm clock radio?“,  Created by Karl Wendt.

The NCCCS courses that these resource may supplement are: ATR211 and EGR210.

To access these resources, you can do any of the following:

• Log into the NCLOR and click on the More button on the left menu bar. Then click the Resource Series link and then “Khan Academy” .
• If you are K-14 faculty, you can add the links to the resources directly to your LMS based course. (learn how)

Open SUNY Textbooks Added to NCLOR

Today, 10 new eTextbooks were added to the open educational resources collection of the NCLOR. Open SUNY Textbooks is an open access textbook publishing initiative established by State University of New York libraries and supported by SUNY Innovative Instruction Technology Grants. This pilot initiative publishes high-quality, cost-effective course resources by engaging faculty as authors and peer-reviewers, and libraries as publishing service and infrastructure.

The pilot launched in 2012, providing an editorial framework and service to authors, students and faculty, and establishing a community of practice among libraries.

The subjects included in this resource series are: Academic Success, Computer Programming, Education, Humanities, Information Literacy, Mathematics, Psychology, Public Administration, and Science.

The ebooks in this collection are all made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License  

The NCCCS courses that these resource may supplement are: ACA111, AGR150, ANT210, ANT220, ANT230, BIO285, ENG131, LIB110, MAT167, MAT285, PAD151, PAD152, PSY260, PSY265, and WEB140.

To access these resources, you can do any of the following:

• Log into the NCLOR and click on the More button on the left menu bar. Then click the Resource Series link and then Open SUNY Textbooks.
• If you are K-14 faculty, you can add the links to the resources directly to your LMS based course. (learn how)

Sixteen New S.T.E.M. related Courses from NC School of Science and Mathematics and NC DPI

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction in partnership with NC School of Science and Mathematics have developed sixteen open courses in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) with over 3,500 resources. These STEM courses, now available in the NCLOR, have been designed to give teachers the materials they need to teach four, full-year courses in the subjects of: Agriscience & Biotechnology, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Energy & Sustainability, and Health & Life Sciences. The courses are organized into topical lessons and those lessons are organized into units based on themes. Many of the units are fully integrated STEM units, meaning they contain real-world challenges and authentic assessments in science, technology, engineering and math.

All course content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Course Details: Click on any of the courses outlined below to view course contents in more detail.

• Course 1: Fundamentals of Flight (15 Units)
• Course 2: Material Science and Electrical Applications (10 Units)
• Course 3: Automation ( 8 Units )
• Course 4: Security (6 Units)

• Course 1: Agricultural Ecology (9 Units)
• Course 2: Agricultural Genetics (7 Units)
• Course 3: Agricultural Biotechnology (8 Units)
• Course 4: Agricultural Solutions (8 Units)

• Course 1: Foundations (7 Units)
• Course 2: Planetary Boundaries (8 Units)
• Course 3: Human Impacts (10 Units)
• Course 4: Paths to Global Solutions (10 Units)

• Course 1: Biomedical Systems I (8 Units)
• Course 2: Biomedical Systems II (7 Units)
• Course 3: Biomaterials, Statics, and Strength of Materials (7 Units)
• Course 4: Neuroscience, Neuroengineering, and Neuroeconomics (4 Units)

To access these courses, you can do any of the following:

• Click on any of the links above.
• Log into the NCLOR and click on “Browse by NCSSM STEM Courses ” on the left menu bar.
• If you are K-14 faculty, you can add the links to the resources directly to your LMS based course. (learn how)

UNC-TV Science Educational Resources Added to OER collection

Forty-two new science resources were added to the open educational resources collection of the NCLOR on January 24th, 2014. The UNC-TV Science website is sponsored by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by UNC-TV members. The new resources included in this series are the North Carolina Science Now and the resources included in Quest NC.

• North Carolina Science Now is a weekly series that airs on UNC-TV. The series promotes awareness and understanding of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) subjects critically important to our state and nation’s future.
• QUEST is a consortium of public media providers across the country coming together in a unique collaboration to foster widespread STEM literacy for general audiences. Quest NC is North Carolina’s contribution to that collaboration.

Example: ” Fruit Infusion” from NC Science Now, September 25, 2013.

To access this series, you can do any of the following:

• Log into the NCLOR and click on “Browse by Resource Series” and then the UNC-TV Science Resources series.
• If you are faculty, you can add the links to the resources directly to your LMS based course. (learn how)
• Simply, click the UNC-TV Science Resources Series to view the series as a guest.

NC DPI K-12 Vetted collection added to the NCLOR

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NC DPI) has now added over 9,600 resources to the NCLOR. This collection is the result of the ongoing collaboration between the NC Community College System and NC Department of Public Instruction (K-12). All resources in this collection have been vetted by K-12 subject matter experts and tagged to Common Core and NC Essential standards. This collection includes resources from all subject areas of the standard course of study for K-12 in North Carolina. These subjects include: Arts Education, Career Technical Education, Engineering, English as a Second Language, English Language Arts, Healthful Living, Information and Technology, Mathematics, Professional Development, Science, Social Studies, and World Languages. The collection is available for all K-12 and Community College educators in North Carolina.

This collection will also be made available via Home Base the statewide, instructional improvement (IIS) and student information system (SIS) for teachers, students, parents and administrators.

Accessing Content: To find this content you can log into the NCLOR and do any of the following:

• Freetext Search the State Vetted K-12 Resources Collection from the “Within” dropdown list on the search page.
• Browse by NC DPI Subject: Click on Browse by NC DPI Subject, then select a subject from the list.

National Science Foundation adds Science of NHL Hockey and Olympic Winter Games

The National Science Foundation resource series has added two new special video reports. The Science of NHL Hockey® and the Science of  Olympic Winter Games joins the other two video collections already available ( NFL Football® and the Science of Speed (NASCAR)®). These video series explores the science behind some of America’s most popular sporting events.

Summary: The National Science Foundation, in partnership with NBC Learn and NBC Sports and the National Hockey League, explore the science and math behind professional hockey in this 9 part video series.

Accessibility: Closed Captioned

Summary: NBC Learn has teamed up with the National Science Foundation to produce Science of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, a 16-part video series that explores the science behind individual Olympic events.

Accessibility: Closed Captioned

 

The NCCCS courses that could be enhanced by using these resources are:  PHY080, PHY090, PHY101, PHY102, PHY0110

To access the series you can do any of the following:

• Log into the NCLOR and click on “Browse by Resource Series” and then the National Science Foundation series.
• If you are NCCCS faculty, you can add the links to the resources directly to your LMS based course. (learn how)
• Simply, click here to view the series as a guest.

NC BioNetwork Collection Updated

Six new learning resources have been added to the NC BioNetwork collection of the NCLOR. The newly added resources included in this addition are: Performance Verification of an Analytical Balance (video), Strawberry DNA Extraction (video), pH Meter Calibration (video), Manufacturing Safety & Awareness (tutorial), Preparing for the Professional Interview (tutorial) and the VINSIM – Virtual Vineyard (Simulation). These new resources join the other 53 outstanding resource also included in the NC BioNetwork collection.

To access this series you can do any of the following:

• Log into the NCLOR and click on “Browse by Resource Series” and then the NC BioNetwork series.
• If you are NCCCS faculty, you can add the links to the resources directly to your LMS based course. (learn how)
• Simply, click here to view the series as a guest.

Football & Fast Cars: National Science Foundation Resource Series

A new resource series from the National Science Foundation is now available in the NCLOR. This series initially  includes two video collections of the Science of NFL Football® and the Science of Speed (NASCAR)®. These video series explores the science behind two of America’s most popular sporting events.

Summary: NBC News’ educational arm, NBC Learn, has teamed up with NSF and the National Football League® to release the “Science of NFL Football®”–an informative 10-part video series that explores the science behind America’s most beloved sport.
Accessibility: Closed Captioned Instructional Materials: Lesson Plan available for each episode.

Summary: You can’t win NASCAR® races without getting the science right. NSF has partnered with NASCAR® in the production of the “Science of Speed”, a fast-paced 12-part video series that explains the scientific principles that are so essential to the NASCAR® experience. Accessibility: Closed Captioned

To access the series you can do any of the following:

• Log into the NCLOR and click on “Browse by Resource Series” and then the National Science Foundation series.
• If you are NCCCS faculty, you can add the links to the resources directly to your LMS based course. (learn how)
• Simply, click here to view the series as a guest.

PhET Interactive Simulations Added to NCLOR

This resource series is a free and open collection made available by the PhET Interactive Simulations Project at the University of Colorado. This STEM related resource series was added to the NCLOR as a direct result of faculty interests  according to last summers NCCCS faculty resource poll. The  subject area Physics is the main focus of this series but other subjects included are Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science and Math.

The PhET is a National Science Foundation sponsored project and all of the simulations have been extensively researched and evaluated. They are written in Java and Flash, and can be run using a standard web browser as long as Flash and Java are installed. Each simulation in the series has a link to corresponding teacher contributed activities.

To access this resource series:

1. log into the NCLOR  < www.explorethelor.org > or through your institution’s learning management system (LMS)
2. navigate to the Browse by Resource Series area
3. click on the PhET Interactive Simulations series.

Harvard University Open Learning Initiative Resource Series Added to the NCLOR

The Harvard University Extension School’s Open Learning Initiative resource series includes 8 noncredit courses featuring Harvard faculty. This 194 item series is comprised of courses in disciplines such as: the classics, English, computer science, mathematics and history. All courses include lecture videos but some may include links to lecture notes and/or problem sets.

To access this resource series:

1. log into the NCLOR  < www.explorethelor.org > or through your institution’s learning management system (LMS)
2. navigate to the Browse by Resource Series area
3. click on the Harvard Open Learning Initiative series.