Open Source Living

Many thanks to Paul Hamilton for linking me up to Open Source Living! It is a mega good site with all sorts of goodies (like Yatzee! Wee!) The beauty is that there are goodies for all y'all (PC/Mac/Linux), and the whole site is completely compliant with all the rules about open source stuff. Oh, there isn't a space designated specifically for education, but different programs are tagged as educational. So, have fun digging!!!

Check it out!

The FREE screencapturing Kwout!

I ran across this AWESOME free tool called Kwout that allows you to quote a web page. It is free and no downloads. Here it was it looks like:

Beth's Second Life via kwout

Watch This

Regrets

iTalki

A music video from Corenell vs. Lisa Marie. But you didn't really care, do you?

The whole online language learning community has been improving massively over the past year. Over at Wide Open, I pointed out a couple neat sites such as Open Mango, Live Mocha and Lingro. Check these all out if you haven't, cause they're great.

iTalki is the latest addition to the group. While not all that different from the other language learning communities, the site benefits from a nice design. An excellent addition as well is the shared resources, including language books, essays etc. from around the web.

As the old adage goes, you don't have to do something new, just something better.

Mininova's Featured Content

Mininova, the great torrent site, has rolled-out a new feature called "Featured Content". Through this option, artists can take advantage of the site's popularity to distribute or promote original materials. Many historical and educational materials are also popping-up here.

For instance, check out this biography on Coney Island, Nosferatu, The Man Who Knew Too Much, TedTalks and French Maid TV.

More Merry Christmas

Nothing says Christmas like Wham! Some more great links:

Mashable's Christmas Toolbox
Ugly Christmas Lights
DIY Photo ornaments in 15 minutes
DJ Riko Christmas Mixes

Merry Christmas!

Just when I finally got this out of my head, the internet comes around and messes things up for me. Here's a great list of dozens of other Christmas related videos.

Drooling over Web 2.0

I need to tell Wynn that I can't possibly write on this blog for at least a month. I won't have time because I fell in love with an AWESOME blog written by Larry Ferlazzo.

He posted a list about the BEST web 2.0 apps for education. What is AWESOME is that this site includes stuff that is fresh and new (read: not the same old, same old).

The blog is FULL (like 8000 links or so) of cool web applications and games and other yummy uber goodies. 99.5% of the programs are FREE, and there are wicked link backs to OTHER sites.

So, enough reading here....go THERE!

Image Source

Two Hip Tools

So, I am drooling...

TWO NEW TOOLS...okay...maybe they aren't all that new, but they are new to me.

Screencasting is just awesome for students.

Image what students can do if they can take class home with them!

First Stop: Screencast-o-matic

Second Stop (thanks to Vicki Davis for the heads up): Jing

Wicked cool stuff!!!

Grab 50 More Lives

So, you thought for first life was a pain in the arse?

Sign up for these 50.

Zap Reader

Tired of chasing your finger along the page? Try zap-reader to speed read effortlessly. Paste text of interest to zip along at the pace of your liking.

Not a new concept, but handy and well done with lots of speed and formating options. The plug-in "tools", however, are where the real power comes in. Try out the wikipedia firefox plug-in or the bloglines button. Now you're zapping along....

Drooling Over Webware

I am sure this is listed on here somewhere, but, ok, I am a nerd, and I am drooling over the site as we speak.

WebWare 100

Got Cooties?

OMG!

What a riot...

Wicked Web 2.0 Tutorials

The California School Library Association has a WICKED WICKED WICKED cool site that teaches peeps how to use a variety of Web 2.0 tools. There are 23 tutorials and you self pace right on through them.

Go here and start yer learning!

Back for Good

Bet you're all tired of the cheeky "Good Morning Campers" post. I know I am.

Don't know if any has been paying attention, but over the past two months I've been regularly posting on an OEDB as a paid writer. The site's been sold and the new owners aren't interested in continuing the "Wide Open" blog.

I wish the best to the OEDB guys and I'm glad I was a part of it, however briefly. I haven't had much time for blogging recently and being forced/incentivated helped me to get a rhythm going and to remember that I like to do it. I hope to do some more posts back here on Stingy Scholar in the future.

'Cause you know, it's not about the money...it's about the music. All those chicks and parties and blow, dude, that was just keeping us from focusing on the m-u-u-sic....

But seriously, if you want to pay me, drop me a line at wynnwilliamson at gmail dot com. I'm just a whore for the money.

The Sweet Stuff

So, there are two new wicked cool resources that are floating out there in Cybertopia.

First, the New Media Consortium (NMC) is presenting a text called The Evolution of Communication, and they are encouraging conversation. Larry Johnson (known as Larry Pixel in Second Life) and Alan Levine (known as CDB Barkley in SL) put this together in the hopes that it will start the conversation about the changing nature of communication. Here is a wee blurby:

This white paper is being released in a variety of forms as part of the NMC's New Scholarship Initiative. Download the white paper in PDF (78k) -- but please also contribute to the paper and add to the conversation around it by commenting on it here.

So, go check it out and contribute!

The second goodie is one of my personal favorites! The Spoon River Anthology is now ONLINE! WOOT WOOT WOOT! The site totally kicks tookas...so go check it out!!!

Good Morning Campers

Hey guys - I'm back from a long and un-announced sabbatical. I didn't mean to disappear for the summer leaving you with only dancing bollywood supermen and no explanation. I've been pretty busy with work, moving, a book and holidays - and I just hadn't found time to post in a while. But now I think I'm back on track. Thanks to Beth and the other SS writers who've been posting in the meanwhile. And thanks to all of the emails and links suggestions over the past few months - I've been seeing all of them and will post many good ones.

In addition to more regular posting on the Stingy Scholar, I will also be taking over Steve Carson's (of MIT OCW fame) role at the blog Wide Open Education of the OEDB family. Jimmy Atkinson invited me to fill Steve's loafers and I'm happy to do so. OEDB is making a great effort to become the equivalent of the US News & World Report listing for online education. In the process, they are also building a great database of knowledge on free educational resources and online learning in general. I'm very excited to assist in the development of this site.

Although my postings at Wide Open Ed will probably resemble these Stingy Scholar posts at first, I'm hoping to tackle different issues and differentiate the two. Not quite sure yet but will think about how. In any case, if you like this site, be sure to visit both in the future (here's the feed) and I'll certainly be referring back and forth. See you soon.

Video talks by smart folks

SCItalks has a wonderful series of video lectures organized by subject, everything from aeronautical engineering to the history of science, and if science isnt your thing check out BUSItalks for business realated talks, HUMtalks for humanities and GOVtalks for all things political.

What's Up at the Commons

Exciting NEWS over at the Creative Commons website!

First, they announced the launch on On Classical - a wicked cool place to dig up some classical music.





Second, the Open Educational Resources site is growing in leaps and leaps and leaps...there is just TONS of awesome educational goodies there!!!







Second Life has its own version of sharing called Open SLedware...if you are a SLer, you can get free educational goodies at onrez.com (formerly SL Boutique).

Two Excellent (and Free) Spanish Podcasts

I've been working on relearning some Spanish, and so far I love listening to Notes in Spanish and Coffee Break Spanish. In addition to the free podcasts, both websites have forums for discussing Spanish, and both also offer worksheets for paying members.

Notes in Spanish is hosted by Ben Curtis, a Spanish-English translator, and Marina Diez, a native Spanish speaker from Madrid. Right now they're working on a series for Inspired Beginners, with 5 great episodes so far. They've also published over 30 intermediate lessons and 75 advanced lessons!

Coffee Break Spanish is hosted by two people from Scotland: Mark, a language teacher, and Kara, a beginning Spanish learner. The idea of Coffee Break Spanish is to learn at a comfortable pace (like during your coffee breaks). Mark and Kara have made over 30 beginner lessons so far, teaching basic phrases and grammar that will immediately be useful in practical situations, like visiting a Spanish-speaking city.

These two weekly podcasts teach different words in different ways, so by subscribing to both you get the full package! I haven't paid to get the extra materials, but from what I've heard they're extremely helpful. With or without them, though, the free podcasts are an amazing resource for any stingy scholars looking to learn some Spanish.

Two Peas and Cheese in the Giant V-Pod

Some kickin reources for summer! Feast your keys upon them!!!!

A new blog collecting videos and PPTs on Second Life!

Open Knowledge Foundation is releasing its Open Textbook Website!

Also, check out some of the builds for Literature Alive! in Second Life.

A group of SLeducators has started a SL version of Open Courseware. Even if you don't use SL for teaching, you can check out open access movies and audio goodies at SL Guide.

Best of History Lesson Plans

Some classic superhero Bollywood dance numbers. via Boing Boing.

If you are a history teacher looking to make the most of free web resources in the classic, have a look at this list of lesson plans and activities from Best of History Web Sites. This is a very good list pointing to resources from the BBC, Smithsonian, Discovery, C-Span and many individual teachers.

Flight Level 350

Dear all, I welcome myself back after a long stint away. I have no excuse.

So today I present another all-time favourite of mine, Flight Level 350. Although not strictly a 'learning site', this vast database of aviation videos contains the full spectrum of aviation videos - from superb crosswind landings by Jumbo's to a cockpit view of an MD-11 landing in Stockholm. There really is every aviation video imaginable on this site. The learning side of this site comes with many of the videos, providing you with interesting facts of the aircraft, performance, spec, etc. The Forums are also a popular place to share opinions, ask technical questions and review the videos.

Enjoy

Great Map Collection from the Boston Public Library

Map lovers should check out the webpage for the Norman B. Levanthal Map Center at the Boston Public Library. The library has imaged many highlights from their 200,000+ collection of maps and atlases from all times and places. Start with the virtual tours for an overview. Teachers should also see the Educational Resources for teaching ideas (such as the Darfur exercises).

On the topic of maps, we looked at the wonderful Strange Maps blogs a few months ago. If you haven't been in a while, give it another look. It's still going with many fun curiousities, such as the mysterious East German island near Cuba.

Grammar Girl at Quick & Dirty

Lots of good writers still make grammar errors. So why not spend 6 minutes trying to correct them? There are plenty of good grammar sites on the web, but Grammar Girl has won me over with the quick episodes and useful info. Not to mention her sharp wit and lovely voice. If you're looking for a place to start, try i.e. versus e.g. or the comma splice (where she correct Scott Sigler - lots of geek cred). Here's the iTunes link.

P.S. Ms. Grammar Girl, I know I make many mistakes on this blog but I promise to do better.

The Mutopia Project

Looking for open sheet music? Check out the Mutopia Project. More than 800 works by classical composers such as Bach, Chopin and Mozart are available and organized by instrument and style. The music can be downloaded in A4 or letter-sized paper and midi files are also available.

SuTree

Back from a long trip and a longer case of the flu. Here's "Heartbeats" from The Knife.

We've looked a couple sites trying to find educationally relevant online video clips in a world full of bad home videos and softcore porn. Two of the better eduvideo sites, Videojug and Expert Village produce their own professional videos. SuTree takes a different approach - letting users round-up the quality materials already out there.

So far SuTree has more than 5000 lessons on topics ranging from finance to health to everyday advice. The videos come from user upload sites such as YouTube and Google Video as well as professional sites such as the BBC, CNN and the two sites mentioned above. Thanks to Avi (again) for the site suggestion.

Educational Yummies

I found a bucket-full-o-yummy educational resources that I can't wait to share. They have prolly already been mentioned here, but they are worth another gander.

The OER Commons (Open Educational Resources) is just a ALL YOU CAN EVER WANNA EAT BUFFET of goodies!!! I am still over there filling up my plate!

The WikiEducator is another lovely buffet of educational goodness.

Citizendium is a cool place that is like the Wikipedia of Good People doing Good Things.

The Index of Perdita Women is another little hot spot.

LitQuotes is another must-have resource for the wee lil English teacher in you!

The Sound of Young America

The Sound of Young America is by far my favorite podcast right now. On this "Public Radio Show About Things That Are Awesome", host Jesse Thorn mixes comedy, music, television and everything fun/interesting into addictive 30 minute segments.

Perfectly self-proclaimed as "Conan O'Brien on the radio" or "Fresh-Air but more fun", I think any Stingy Scholar reader would enjoy this show. Here are some episodes I've particularly enjoyed.

"Faking It" - A discussion with Yuval Taylor on authenticity in music. Lots of talk on Leadbelly and early blues.

"Simon Lovell" - A former conman-turn author reveals the secrets of the hustle and short-con.

"Dan Harmon" - Co-creator of Channel 101 and the new VH1 show Acceptable.tv talks about television as an art-form and the origin of the cult, un-aired pilot "Heat Vision & Jack" (check it out).



"The Human Giant" - Hilarious comic-group discuss the origins of some of their best sketches such as the Illusionators and shittiest boombox

Curriki

Amaral - "Revolucion"

Curriki is a web community of K-12 educators sharing lesson plans and projects in a central location. Although the site materials vary in quality, Curriki has a bit of funding and is pitched by Scott McNealy, former Cisco CEO. Homeschoolers in particular might want to check out this site over the weeks to come.

Open Shakespeare and SLIC

An awesome resource has just been updated for all you Bard lovin' readers!

The Open Knowledge Foundation just released the newest version of Open Shakespeare.



Also, if any of you are interested in exploring Second Life, there is a 24 hour inworld conference being held on Friday, May 25th. The

Second Life International Conference: Best Practices in Teaching, Learning and Research

is FREE FREE FREE...but you do need to sign up (and, if you are new, you should go in a few days ahead of time to learn how to walk and talk).

Museum of Lost Communications

This video introduces PESTER, the latest 1970s technology for busy executives on the go. PESTER (Portable Enhanced System for Telecommunications & Recreation) contained a phone, cassette player, camera and games - a deck of playing cards was held in the pack compartment. The phone connected "wirelessly" at strategic contact points and send recorded message through operators.

The University of Dundee's Museum of Lost Communications has information on PESTER and eight other technological devices from 1900 to 1979. All have several pictures and video demonstrations. Some of the best include the Zenith Radio Hat (1952), the portable video case and ashtray (1979) and some early music piracy in the Acoustograph (1920).

Cozi is a Great Web Calendar

Amy Winehouse - "Back to Black"

I've been using the free Cozi calendar for a week now and I'm very impressed. Here's why:

(1) Easy to Use -Lots of web calendars are far to complicated to figure out. With the Cozi calendar you type in simple English and the program figures out what you mean. Type "Movie tomorrow at 7" - the program uses tomorrow's date. There are also shopping lists ready with all the common items you need.

(2) Easy to Access - Cozi is a software download, but you can access your information online from anywhere. For me, the most important feature is the ability to synch the information with your work Outlook calendar. If you live in the US or Canada, you can also retrieve your events and shopping lists from your mobile phone.

(3) Great Design - The great layout and interface really seals the deal for me. All of the pages are attractive and intuitive. Cozi also makes a great screensaver using the pictures in your PC.

If you've been disappointed by all the other web-calendars or family portals you've come across, try Cozi.

A Groovy Cool FREE Conference

If you are interested in learning about SL and how it is used to teach...come to the 2007 Second Life International Conference: Best Practices in Teaching, Learning and Research.

This is a free event for educators BY educators. You get lots of groovy free things, chances to win prizes, opportunities to hear the best and the brightest educators (LIVE!), and the chance to meet other folks JUST LIKE YOU!

It is a 24 hour conference...so every time zone will have something happening in the virtual world. Be sure to get your account and do all the newbie stuff a few days before the conference starts; you don't want to waste precious conference time learning how to keep your britches on :-)

Also, for those interested, here is a kickin' article about why Second Life is a groovy place for men (and women - too).

Aviation Systems Standards

Just stumbled upon some rather good free online aviation resources. As I continue to study for my PPL from home, I try to find as much as possible from the web which can aid my studies. Some of these study aids I'm happy to pay for, though once in a while you come across some helpful free resources which I'd like to share with any budding aviation enthusiats out there.

I've only had a quick scan through, but the aeronautical chart users guide is a great place to start. They contain introductions and breakdowns of all IFR, VFR & IAP symbols (which is extremely handy!).

The digital terminal procedures guide contains full details and airport diagrams of all major US airports (so for those of you interested in FS, then this is a great add-on).

Unfortunately I have not had the chance to review the whole site, but check out the front page and have a look from there.

Happy surfing and I do hope to contribute more faithfully to this excellent site in the future.

Goodies Galore

I had the awesome opportunity to speak with the Women of the Web tonight for their weekly chat. Of course, I blabbered on about Second Life. These four women (Cheryl Oakes, Jennifer Wagner, Sharon Peters, & Vicki Davis) are just amazing, and host an engaging weekly series for folks using web2.0 tools. So...go there...Tuesdays...9PM EST.



Their wiki is home to such treasures as:

WeTheTeacher
This is really for younger students; but there is a wicked cool jeopardy game maker there. The concept can be adapted and applied to college students, too.

The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly of the Internet
This is a nice wiki focusing on elements of the Internet.

Literary Worlds
This is another 3D environment used to teach literature. AWESOME stuff!

Free NES + Free Books

The Minibosses doing Castlevania III. If you are an old-school Nintendo junkie, put away the power glove and check out this site. vNES lets you play 830 games online. No ROM emulations, downloads or nuttin'.

As for the free books, Fred alerted me to this pretty popular list (at least judging by the number of Diggs) from Fried Beef. We've posted many of these sites before, but that doesn't mean it's not worth revisiting.

What's Going On With Textbook Revolution?

We've received a couple comments/emails asking why the Textbook Revolution site's been down and when it's coming back. Here's the answer from Jason:

"My old webhost managed to destroy my site, and reconstructing it has proven to be far more difficult than I'd hoped. Not to fear, Textbook Revolution will be back in the near future. Thanks for your concern and sorry for the delay in connecting you to the free books."

So not to fear, TBR will be back soon...

In the meanwhile, you might want to check out the free textbook google custom search.

The YouTubes for Data and PDFs - I Don't Get It....

Happy Easter! Enjoy the Peep Show (warning, some might consider this R-rated depending on your sensitivity to marshmallow-on-marshmallow action).

We've seen a lot of buzz about two sites recently. Swivel has generated buzz as the YouTube of Data. Meanwhile, Scribd is heralded as the YouTube of PDFs. I've taken a look at both sites and my reaction is that both are filled with lots of garbage. Sure, there are some good material on the sites, but I really don't understand the appeal. I'd love to hear some different opinions, so comment or email and tell me why I'm wrong.

Fred's Finds: Don't Miss These Great Sites

eMule Poetry Archives - Many don't think of eMule as an academic resource but there are tons of copyright free poems here.

ReadPrint - A nice collection of books, by name and/or by author. Skim the list to see what you might be interested in.

Librivox - The open audiobook site where users submit their home recordings.

World Lecture Hall - This is "old reliable"--been around a while but still useful. It is a directory of online syllabi and courses indicating if they include audio and video.

Digital Book Index - One of the largest resources for finding an ebook.

The Insane Human Slingshot & Useful Government Resources

Just for fun, here's some crazy bungee contraption in action (thanks, Trevor).

The University of Louisville has created a useful library linking to government resources on hot topics. For instance, this is a good place to look if you're researching topics like bioengineered food, dirty bombs, or tobacco and smoking. Above all else, this is a great site for debaters looking for some quick supporting details.

Pitt School of Law's "The Jurist"

If you're interested in the US law but tired of drudging through convoluted legalise, check out the Jurist from the University of Pittsburgh. Now celebrating its ten year anniversary, this site has evolved into a comprehensive review of national and international legal news and commentary, complete with video and downloadable documents (i.e. Guatanamo Bay plea agreements).

TV Links

"Cancion de Adios", a great song from Coti, the young Argentine Andres Calamaro sound-alike.

We've been relaxing at home this long Easter weekend. Well, sort of. Unfortunately, I've been scrambling around attempting to learn how to do multiple regression modeling (if we have any statistics experts in the crowd, I'd love to hear from you). Anyway, the little lady has been very patient as I've been working the whole week. Patient mainly due to the great old Gilmore Girls, Friends and Will & Grace episodes on TV Links - a great page we stumbled across. Unlike torrent sites, you can view the episodes directly in an internet window. Since this is a British site, there are also many excellent British shows such as Black Adder, Brass Eye, Extras, the IT Crowd and Michael Palin's Full Circle. The site also has music videos, cartoons, anime and a ton of movies.

(I know that readers have mixed feelings about sites linking and/or hosting "pirated" material. We're certainly sympathetic to those feelings and always try to highlight free legal materials, but until the industry gets their act together I don't see a problem pointing out excellent sites like these.)

Wicked Cool Information

I was slightly benched from SL due to a nasty bout of Blue Screen, but, fear not faithful readers, I am back in the clenches of my virtual identity.

I have come by some excellent resources, and want to share them with you!!!

First, George Kurtz (SL Butch Dae), sent a nice link to SLED about the bennies of educational gaming. It is well worth a look-see - especially if your colleagues poo-poo the idea of using games in the college classroom. George also posted a link to Parade of Games - a very cool site linking out to free games to use in the classroom.

Speaking of games...the Community College without Borders Project just built a Blue Obelisk Garden and Science Complex for Open Notebook Science on the Second Nature Sim in Second Life. This was built to highlight the cutting-edge open chemistry work of Dr. Jean-Claude Bradley, Associate Professor of Chemistry, at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA.

Up t0 15 people can play the Blue O game to test their knowledge of Lewis Structures. Oh....you sooooo know you wanna!!!

Beth's Top 10 Kick-Arse SL Videos

Right…so…I am benched from Second Life, as my puter decided to blow up. My college gave me another one to use, but, alas, the video card is “not supported by Second Life.” Poo.

So, I actually got some work done, and then decided that I simply missed SL too much. I couldn't look at my pictures because they were lost in the Crash of 2007. I had to rely on some pics from the King of Educational SL Resources, Pathfinder Linden.

Alas, I needed moving images, so, I hopped onto YouTube and decided to find 10 cool videos ABOUT SL (since I can’t go in myself).

Here they are (not in any special order, mind you):

1. I lie. I have a favorite. Kurt Vonnegut, author of my favorite short story ever – Harrison Bergeron – was in SL and here in the Video.

2. U2 on YouTube from SL (say that three times fast) raises awareness about One.org (a charity to end AIDS).

3. Second Life: Get One has a lot of zany images that demonstrate the possibilities of SL.

4. Machinima: Text 100 in Second Life demonstrates how SL can be used in business, and the discussion points can be applied to education, as well. I think it is an advertisement for the company that put it together, but you can go ahead and ignore that part (I did, hehe).

5. Tour of Info Islands is awesome because it really shows the potential of SL for the nerdy-cool folk like me.

6. A wee video about the making of Suzanne Vega’s SL Guitar is pretty wicked, too.

7. Of course, you sooooooo need to hear her sing Tom’s Diner in SL, and the gorgeous Ms. Vega was the first Big Name recording artist to show up and be cool in SL. WOOT WOOT!

8. Okay, I am not a Trekkie, but I do know others who admit their addictions. So, if any of you out there are Treksters, check out this clip.

9. I am a huge fan of Sun MicroSystems for their support of the SL platform. Here is a video of the Sun Pavilion and their first press release in SL. Visionaries.

10. Finally, I sooooo hope this exists in SL because I truly am an addict of the Game Show Network, and – holy pete – I hope the Price is Right is in SL, complete with neutering ads by Bob-the-Boss-Barker.

Ugh, Now I want to GO INWORLD AND FIND BOB!!! Pathetic, I know.

Top 14 MIT OpenCourseWares (#1-5)

The moment you've all been waiting for: the top 5 MIT OCW's:

5. Chinese I (Regular), Spring 2006
Lectures: None
Readings: Free online textbooks and .mp3 files
Study materials: Flash cube study tool, three sample exams

Although there are no lecture videos or notes, this course stands out for the great free textbook and audio pronunciation files. Additionally, through a downloadable study software, you can test yourself. Students might also want to check out Knuckles in China-Land and some of the Chinese language-learning sites we've looked at.



4. Symmetry, Structure, and Tensor Properties of Materials, Fall 2005
Lectures: Video/Audio
Readings: All readings provided
Study Materials: Problem sets

From the MIT site description - "This course covers the derivation of symmetry theory; lattices, point groups, space groups, and their properties; use of symmetry in tensor representation of crystal properties, including anisotropy and representation surfaces; and applications to piezoelectricity and elasticity."





3. Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (Spring 2005)
Lectures: Audio (see below), very detailed notes
Readings: Free online textbook and links to other related free readings
Study materials: iCampus, projects, 2 exams with answers

One of the first core courses for undergraduates studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. The site uses a free textbook and very detailed lecture notes containing the power point presentation and more than 20 pages of notes per lecture. Additionally, through iCampus, you can listen to audio lectures and you can use a variety of tools to test yourself online (it's a bit tricky to find the lectures, you need to link to iCampus under other resources and sign-up for a free account). The OLS discussion group is more active than most.


2. Aircraft Systems Engineering, Fall 2005
Lectures: Video/Audio, most lecture notes, lecturer bios
Readings: All readings provided
Study Materials: Sample student projects, image gallery

The course was administrated by the Space Shuttle Orbiter Project Manager and a shuttle astronaut. Guest speakers provide the majority of the content, discussing topics such as system design, accident investigation, and the future of NASA's space mission.


1. Introductory Biology, Spring 2005
Lectures: Video
Readings: Have to buy one textbook, but also uses a second online textbook
Study Materials: Problem sets, recitation problems and exams - all with detailed solutions

Biology core material course covering the fundamental principles of biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, and cell biology. Lots of study materials provided.

Quintira Search Clouds

Oksana mentioned that I haven't been posting music videos in a while, so thought I should get back in the habit of doing it. This duet Alejandro Sanz/Shakira duet's been on the radio a lot the past couple days (and stuck in my head), so here you go!

Catching up on a bunch of great email updates from people. Promise to have them all up over the next few days. Quintura is one of these suggestions that I really like. There are plenty of new search engines out there, but this one has a very intuitive and functional cloud interface. Enter a search term and related, suggested terms appear. Choose appropriate ones to refine your search. A new Quintura for Kids is also available.

Top 14 MIT OpenCourseWares (#6-10)

Part two of our three part series. Here are the MIT courses ranking 6-10.

10. Quantitative Physiology: Organ Transport Systems, Spring 2004
Lectures: None
Readings: Detailed related notes corresponding to lecture topics
Study materials: Problem sets and exams with solutions; related resources

Although this course has textbooks to purchase listed in the syllabus, the primary materials are available as pdfs. Detailed problem sets for studying are also available.



9. Logic I, Fall 2005
Lectures: None
Readings: Textbook in development
Study materials: Problem sets

Very detailed readings from textbook in development by MIT faculty entitled "Logic: The Art of Persuasion and the Science of Truth".





8. Software Engineering for Web Applications (Fall 2003)
Lectures: Detailed notes
Readings: Two free online textbooks
Study materials: Problem sets and exams

A course with two online textbooks (Internet Application Textbook and SQL for Web Nerds). Also included are detailed problem sets and exams - both with answers. Course is available in Spanish, too.


7. Advanced Fluid Dynamics of the Environment, Fall 2002
Lectures: Detailed notes by topic and sub-topic
Readings: None
Study materials: Problem sets, iCampus site

Very detailed lecture notes and iCampus site with sixteen modules explaining topics such as waves, basic laws, thermal effects, etc.


6. Electromagnetic Fields, Forces, and Motion (Spring 2005)
Lectures: Detailed notes
Readings: Free online textbook
Study materials: Downloadable problem sets and exams with solutions; video demonstrations

This course examines electromagnetic forces, stress tensors and other fun Maxwell-related concepts. The site has the full text of the textbook used in the first half of the course and 24 videos demonstrating the concepts. Although there are no audio/video of the classes, detailed notes are available as well as great downloadable problem sets and exams with solutions.