The Stingy Scholar

Unlimited Classes from Live Instructors for less than $1/Day

2009-06-17T00:55:00.003+02:00

For the last six months we've been working on something at eduFire that I'm very excited to be able to announce for the first time. It's called eduFire SuperPass and it's my personal (and far from complete!) answer to the question: How can we change education?

As anyone who reads Stingy Scholar likely knows, education has all sorts of problems. The cost of education is increasing rapidly the total cost of a year of college at many schools now is about $50K/year) and recent evidence suggests that higher education might, for the first time ever, provide a negative ROI.

Education is a raw deal for many teachers too. Most teachers take home a small fraction of the revenue that is generated every time they teach. I saw this first-hand when I worked for Kaplan and took home about $15 in pay for every $100 in revenue that Kaplan generated from my teaching services.

What we've built and are taking live today is eduFire SuperPass and here's how it works. For $29/month people can receive unlimited access to any SuperPass class on eduFire. Right now there are over 150 SuperPass classes on eduFire and we expect that number to increase greatly in upcoming weeks. These are live classes with actual instructors, not simply self-paced, computer-generated classes.

For us, it's not really about the money though. $29/month helps us create a sustainable company and helps our teachers make a living doing what they're most passionate about. In our view, education is the foundation upon which the rest of society is built. And, as we've written about on the eduFire blog numerous times before (e.g., here, here, here & here) we think there's a real (and massive) opportunity afoot to completely revolutionize how people around the world learn. We're far from the only ones who are working on this. There's a great group of companies and organizations out there who are seeing a world that doesn't exist and asking, in the words of George Bernhard Shaw, "Why not?"

So I'll encourage you to give SuperPass a try (we're offering a 7 day trial for only $1 to allow for easily sampling). Or if SuperPass isn't right for you do me a *huge* favor and drop me a line (jon at edufire dot com) and tell me what would make SuperPass something you would sign up for. We're just getting started here and your feedback will be invaluable in helping us create something that thousands (and ultimately millions) of people someday use and get a ton of value from.

It's our vision that world-class education should be available to everyone. And not just canned classes. Actual live teachers teaching students around the globe. We're excited about that vision and hope to have your help in the Revolution.

Information Must Be Free

2008-12-30T21:29:00.003+01:00

Although we don't explicitly point to legal free materials, we can assume that's the focus here, right? So, clearly I wouldn't link to this fantastic site as there may be slight copyright violations going on.

I also wouldn't write a site summary like: "If you're looking for a thorough selection of finance and economics texts, no one can beat BD Analyst. An excellent resource for CFA prep and business students as well as financial professionals."

And of course, I wouldn't point to and recommend any specific materials available for download, such as the Brealey Myers Principles of Corporate Finance-4th Edition.

So yeah, not going to do that.

By the way, here's a post with people yelling at me for posting materials like this. Feel free to join in!

We Papers

2008-12-07T19:10:00.003+01:00

I don't know if wePapers should call themselves the YouTube of academic papers & documents. Because YouTube has stuff like this:

wePapers, on the other hand, has stuff like this and like this. For a new site I'm impressed by the depth and quality of the materials available on this site. For instance, in the economics subcategory there are 340 papers available on topics ranging from Game Theory & Competitive Strategy to the Case for Internet Music.

Basically, wePapers is everything that we like:

1. High quality academic materials including tons of stuff from Columbia, MIT, Hebrew University and UCLA

2. Professional clean interface. Great, fast-loading pdf/web integration to view, resize and read the documents

3. Easy access, navigation and downloading. The materials aren't trapped or hidden. Save them to your laptop. Print them out.

4. Totally free, no catches or büll$h!t.

Yeah, so check it out.

Unigo: Actually Useful College Reviews

2008-11-30T20:05:00.003+01:00

I remember junior year of high-school when I went with my parents on the typical tour of New England colleges. At the time the ivy halls and quads all blended together and I left struggling to distinguish one school from the other. I wish I had Unigo back then.

The idea behind Jordan Goodman's site is to let students offer insights into the true character of their universities. With videos, testimonials and photos, Unigo feels like a mix between a friend's Facebook page and Amazon product reviews.

I went to check out my alma mater, NYU, to see how accurate the info was:

Here's Madeline Goico's summary of major stereotypes:

All the guys are gay. All the students are rich. There are a lot of Jewish people. Tisch students are pretentious. Stern students are amoral money mongers. NYU is a wannabe Ivy League.

Certainly won't see that in US News & World.

Check out some of the pictures. Now here's a tiny, filthy hole-in-the wall Goddard dorm. A party in U-Hall. Yeah, that's not what they show on campus tours.

And video tours? Zach talks about free printing in Stern hall? Visits the Weinstein cafeteria? Discusses the ridiculous scheme to move the Washington Square arch a few feet (Boy glad my tuition dollars were well spent).

Seriously. This is a great site. This is internet 2.0 at it's best.

Check out this article from the NY Times and other alums go and add your comments. Future generations should be warned.

PanchuMom: My Wife's New Blog!

2008-11-24T21:27:00.003+01:00

If you've noticed a drop in activity from my part - say, over the last 6 and 1/2 months - that's largely due to Lucas, our little bundle of joy (and vacuum of blogging time). While my stingy scholar moments have been largely supplanted by horsey rides and nappy changes, motherhood's inspired my wife.

From "one hand" recipes and homemade toys to candid reviews of parenting books, PanchuMom covers the spectrum of the new mom universe. Cheli's blog is helpful, critical, personal and practical.

I hope you enjoy and please feel free to comment and share.

BBC's Ma France

2008-08-29T10:11:00.003+02:00

Over the basic few months of Stingy Scholar sabatical, I've had a chance to post less free educational resources and use them more. This is one that I've used and will keep using.

I've always been a big fan of the BBC's free language learning sites - but they've gone above and beyond with Ma France, the interactive video program for post-beginner French students.

While there are many programs targeted at language beginners, few focus on that middle ground from memorizing conjugation tables and basic vocab to understanding conversation. And I'd wager that the majority of language students are stuck right there.

Ma France works like this:

(1) You watch videos with french, english, both or neither subtitles.
(2) You review the lesson grammar and vocab
(3) You practice with some review games cleverly put together (such as Bocchi or Solitaire)

The BBC has done a fantastic job designing MaFrance with tons of video exercises, sharply editted to keep you interested. Fun topics include speed dating or adventure sports.

Maps of History's Greatest Journies

2008-08-27T21:49:00.003+02:00

It's been a while since I've posted - more on that soon - but I've been coming across many great links that I want to share.

For instance, check out these great interactive maps of history's great travels from Good Magazine. Not too much text on each journey, but it's fun to see the overlap between Magellan and Moby Dick. Credit to Boing Boing for finding this.

I have lots of unanswered emails and link suggestions. Sorry.

All of the correspondence makes me very happy and responses are on the way.

1000 Professors sign statement of intent to use open textbooks

2008-04-16T14:13:00.003+02:00

Nicole Allen over at Make Textbooks Affordable has been doing some great work lately. The most recent example: she's enlisted the support of over 1000 faculty members at schools around the country who have signed a statement of intent to use affordable textbooks, including open textbooks, whenever they have a choice.

Read the press release here.

Read the statement and see the list of faculty members (including Prof. Marty Ross, who taught my field geology course at NU) here.

Keep an eye on this space for more news about Textbook Revolution and Make Textbooks Affordable.

House Passes Legislation to Make Textbooks Affordable

2008-02-11T04:43:00.000+01:00

I know this blog's been a bit quiet lately, but things are about to get much busier. We've had some great news on two fronts. First, Textbook Revolution, the sibling site to the Stingy Scholar, is about to get a significant makeover in the coming weeks. Our fellow open education advocate and coder-extraordinaire Joshua Gay has been hard at work for several months building a wiki-based version of the site that will let students, professors, and anyone else come in and add to our huge list of free books. They'll also be able to add reviews and tags. I think the result will be a much better site that really encourages professors to start adopting free textbooks en masse.

The second piece of news is even more exciting. I heard today from Nicole Allen, director of the Student PIRGs' campaign for affordable textbooks at http://www.maketextbooksaffordable.com/, that the U.S. House of Representatives has just passed a very important piece of legislation to help bring transparency to the textbook market. Nicole asked me to post the following guest blog here at Stingy to help spread the word. What follows are her words on why this bill is so big. Make sure to tell your Senators that they should include this legislation in the final bill!

Nicole says:

Everyone knows that textbook prices are out of control: the average student spends about $900 a year, and prices are only going up. Making textbooks affordable is an important part of making higher education affordable. That's why new legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives today will bring down the cost of textbooks for millions of students.

The College Opportunity and Affordability Act (H.R. 4137) includes three critical provisions to help students deal with textbook prices. First, it requires publishers to tell faculty the price of textbooks when professors are choosing books for their classes. Publishers often withhold prices from professors, hoping that cost won't factor into their decisions - and students end up paying the price. If publishers put price on the table, professors can consider the cost to students when selecting textbooks.

Second, the bill makes publishers sell the parts of bundled textbooks separately. No more shrink wrapped packaging preventing you from just buying the textbook without the CDs, workbooks and online passcodes - or from buying a supplement without a whole new textbook! Eliminating unnecessary bells and whistles will ensure that students can buy what they need, not what they don't.

Third, the bill encourages colleges to give students course booklists the semester before the class starts so they can shop around and look for better deals. Students can usually track down lower prices and used textbooks online, but they need to know in advance which books to look for. Otherwise, they're locked into buying from the bookstore.

The House bill is a huge win for students. It helps ease the burden of textbook costs for students now, and it paves the way for more low-cost and open-access textbooks to enter the market. When the House meets with the Senate to combine their two education bills, the Senate should make sure to retain these critical textbook provisions to help students make college more affordable.

eduFire - A New Way to Learn Languages...and More

2008-01-17T06:21:00.000+01:00

A while back when Wynn asked me to contribute to The Stingy Scholar I told him that I wasn't sure of what I could commit over the next year. Little did I know... In addition to running LearnOutLoud.com I became increasingly convinced over the last year and a half that there was a big opportunity to bring some massive (and healthy!) disruption to the education industry. While there is a lot of cool stuff going on in the space it seemed like there was something missing.

What we're soon launching at eduFire.com (BTW, the name comes from the Yeats quote "Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire") is the first very small step in what might prove to be a long journey. The goal is to empower hundreds of thousands of people to make a living teaching people what they are most passionate about over the web. We're starting with foreign language training which according to some estimates is a $20 billion market globally.

We'll be launching the main service in a few weeks or so but in the meantime we've put up a teaser blog at blog.edufire.com that contains hundreds of free videos, articles and podcasts to help you learn a foreign language. While we only have a few hundred resources up right now we'll be taking that to a few thousand in the next month.

Our ultimate goal is to give you access to the best teachers independent of geography. It seems really interesting that since the beginning to time people have learned from teachers who were in close physical proximity. Through technology that has changed in the last decade but that's about to change radically in the coming decade. We're hoping to be a part of that change. I'd love to hear any comments you might have about how that can best be accomplished.

Thanks to Wynn and the gang for letting me pop in from time to time and may 2008 be your most learning-filled year yet!

Top 80 Charities for Open Source and Open Access Advocates

2008-01-05T22:03:00.000+01:00

The lovely Amy Quinn sent me a link to this AWESOME OA/OS resource. You should go right this very second and check out all the open goodness!

Happy New Year (btw)...this is our first post of the NEW YEAR!

May our lives be full of easy and free sweet tools!

Open Source Living

2007-12-31T20:26:00.000+01:00

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!

2007-12-29T02:35:00.000+01:00

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

2007-12-28T22:44:00.000+01:00

Regrets

2007-12-26T23:08:00.001+01:00

iTalki

2007-12-25T18:13:00.000+01:00

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

2007-12-25T16:09:00.000+01:00

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

2007-12-23T17:42:00.000+01:00

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!

2007-12-23T17:18:00.000+01:00

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

2007-12-23T16:14:00.000+01:00

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

2007-12-18T00:23:00.000+01:00

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

2007-12-17T15:43:00.000+01:00

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

Sign up for these 50.

Zap Reader

2007-12-11T23:02:00.000+01:00

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

2007-12-11T15:55:00.001+01:00

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?

2007-12-11T07:12:00.000+01:00

OMG!

What a riot...

Wicked Web 2.0 Tutorials

2007-12-09T04:28:00.000+01:00

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

2007-12-06T22:05:00.000+01:00

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

2007-12-02T18:44:00.000+01:00

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

2007-10-01T06:27:00.000+02:00

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

2007-09-18T08:39:00.000+02:00

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

2007-08-15T19:29:00.000+02:00

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

2007-07-06T21:27:00.000+02:00

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

2007-06-24T23:55:00.000+02:00

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

2007-05-27T11:45:00.000+02:00

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

2007-05-22T18:04:00.000+02:00

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

2007-05-20T18:52:00.001+02:00

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

2007-05-17T23:43:00.000+02:00

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

2007-05-15T14:08:00.000+02:00

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

2007-05-13T19:09:00.000+02:00

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

2007-04-30T03:10:00.000+02:00

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

2007-04-24T00:17:00.000+02:00

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

2007-04-24T00:08:00.000+02:00

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

2007-04-16T17:27:00.000+02:00

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

2007-04-15T18:32:00.000+02:00

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

2007-04-14T17:43:00.000+02:00

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

2007-04-13T17:06:00.000+02:00

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

2007-04-11T17:14:00.000+02:00

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

2007-04-11T05:49:00.000+02:00

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

2007-04-10T23:24:00.000+02:00

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?

2007-04-10T23:12:00.000+02:00

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....

2007-04-08T23:56:00.000+02:00

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

2007-04-08T23:38:00.000+02:00

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

2007-04-08T22:24:00.000+02:00

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"

2007-04-08T21:34:00.000+02:00

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

2007-04-08T18:23:00.000+02:00

"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

2007-04-04T21:27:00.000+02:00

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

2007-03-31T05:39:00.000+02:00

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)

2007-03-30T13:12:00.000+02:00

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

2007-03-29T23:40:00.000+02:00

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)

2007-03-27T13:11:00.000+02:00

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.

The Top 14 MIT OpenCourseWares (#11-14)

2007-03-25T22:49:00.000+02:00

Earlier this month we talked about the "turn-key" OpenCourseWare. In a turn-key OCW, the student has all the materials they need to use the course. There's no need to buy a textbook, no gaps in information, and plenty of study materials available.

Maybe we gave MIT a little bit of short shrift. While it's true that some of their courses provide sparse materials, no other institute on the planet has opened their doors as wide as MIT. And among the materials there are some real gems.

Here's our list of MIT's best courses. Some might not completely classify as "turn-key" courses, they're pretty darn close (the top 5 definitely classify). All these courses have textbooks and/or detailed notes. Some have audio/video lectures or demonstration. Thanks to Steve Carson and Chris Johnson at MIT for providing a short-list that we used as a basis for these rankings.

Numbers 11 through 14 are listed today. The rest will be up in two future posts appearing over the next few days. As a reminder, these ranking are not based on the quality of teaching, but the extent and variety of materials provided.

14. Classical Mechanics: A Computational Approach, Spring 2002
Lectures: None
Readings: Free online textbook
Study materials: Problem sets

Course studying the fundamental principles of classical mechanics, with a modern emphasis on the qualitative structure of phase space. This course also has other course materials online, including downloads and supporting documentation for the Scheme Mechanics System.

13. Structural Analysis and Control (Spring 2004)
Lectures: Some notes
Readings: Free online textbook
Study materials: Problem sets

Course discussing computer-based methods for the analysis of large-scale structural systems. Free textbook and lecture notes totaling about 100 pages. Problem sets also available.

12. Inventions and Patents (Fall 2005)
Lectures: None
Readings: Free online textbook
Study materials: None

Course with full downloadable textbook, Create or Perish, and many exemplary student papers. Also lots of good links to relevant sites.

11. Managing Innovation: Emerging Trends (Spring 2005)
Lectures: Detailed notes
Readings: Free online textbook
Study materials: None

From the Sloan school of management, Eric von Hippel's Democratizing Innovation text takes center-stage, free to download under a CC license. To support the text, the course also provides lecture notes.

Rare Book Room

2007-03-25T15:05:00.000+02:00

This site contains about 400 rare books photographed page by page at high-resolution (more than 200 MB in some cases). Using this site, you can browse all of the classics prepared in this way by Octavo over the past ten years. Among the selections are original editions of Poor Richard's Almanac, lots of Shakespeare, old bibles and classic science texts. Go here to see all texts available.

Bits and Pieces for Educators

2007-03-24T07:50:00.000+01:00

I have been collecting a few things around the Web in my hunt for good content to put into my Literature Alive! project in Second Life. These tools and resources have been so incredibly useful that it would be SUCH a crime not to pass them along to you!

The Open Shakespeare Project is an awesome tool for those of us still teaching the Bard. They use the Gutenberg Goodies, but are also looking for some free hands to volunteer. The package is housed by the Open Knowledge Foundation (woot woot for OKF!). Many thanks to Rufus Pollock for posting the message...that lead to the exploration...that lead to the post (the web...T'is a web of wonder :-) For those of you with a little skepticism about the TRUTH about Billy S. - take a look at Mark Anderson's “Shakespeare” By Another Name: The Life of Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, The Man Who Was Shakespeare.

My newest best friend is the lovely and free VIXY program. It converts anything movie-ish to a file like QT (which is the only thing that runs in SL..). A word to the ethically wise...it is against the TOS of both YouTube and Google Video to convert their encrypted movies...so be sure to email the content owner and get some lovin' first (and a permission slip).

If I were at all creative and good at graphics, I am sure I would LOVE the Gimp program. I have it; it looks like it is fun. But, alas, I am pathetic and don't know what to do with it. I do know that a lot of my SL friends use it and swear by it (and at me....har har), and they say it is just as lovely as Paint Shop Pro (and it is FREE).

The awesome site, Brainy Betty, is sooooooo worth another mention here at Stingy Scholar. It is a must have if you use PPT to create Jpegs for loading into SL.

Finally, if you are planning to use SL to teach or you want to lurk around and spy on those of us who do....grab yer horse and join SLED. Many of the good leads I get happen right there...and here...so, giddy up :-) You will also want to check out the SLEDucating Blog (handy scripts, lots of fun).

Zamzar - Free Online File Conversion Tool

2007-03-21T20:35:00.000+01:00

Zamzar is a free online file conversion tool that allows you to convert Document, Image, Music and Video Formats without having to download any software. For example, you can convert a PDF document to a .doc file, or you can convert an MP3 file to a .wav file with this online tool. There are literally hundreds of different conversions supported. See a list here.

Zamzar also has the ability to convert files from URLs with support for a variety of video sites, including YouTube.

The interface is super easy to use. Once you have uploaded your file to be converted, you supply an email address to which Zamzar will send your converted file. You are then given 24 hours in which to download the file. Keep in mind, there is a 100 MB limit in place for each file. The site indicates there can be up to a one hour delay between submitting your file and getting back the converted file. I did a test conversion with a larger PDF file and had my conversion back in about 20 minutes.

Brookings Institution Transcipts Collection

2007-03-14T22:42:00.000+01:00

The Brookings Institution has a great webpage including complete transcripts of hundreds of events since 1999. For those unfamiliar, the nonprofit is a well-known US policy think-tank. The events cover a wide range of economics and political issues.

Dragonflies of Manitoba

2007-03-13T20:59:00.001+01:00

The Province of Manitoba today launched the Dragonflies of Manitoba Education Program, a web-based education resource on Manitoba dragonflies emphasizing their biodiversity, basic biology, ecological role and conservation needs.

Cool stuff.... Check it out here Dragonflies of Manitoba.

Self Made Scholar

2007-03-13T07:06:00.000+01:00

The Self Made Scholar is a fantastic new website on our favorite topic - learning for free on the web. Jamie has compiled the most comprehensive and usable list I've seen of free online classes. Over the next few months, the site will continue to gather key resources and post extended articles teaching people how to learn independently.

I spoke with Jamie over the weekend and she's also agreed to do a post here on The Stingy Scholar from time to time to discuss some issues related to free learning and point out some good materials he's posting on Self Made Scholar.

Primary Source List

2007-03-13T06:56:00.000+01:00

Another good link suggested by Avi, this is a list compiled by About.com for archives or source documents in topics such as new, math, history, arts and entertainment. We've seen many of these sources before, but this is a pretty good short-list.

Top 10 Firefox Add-ons for Researchers

2007-03-10T06:36:00.000+01:00

If you use the internet as a serious research tool, you've probably already switched to Firefox. But if you're yet to explore Firefox add-ons, you're missing out.

Here are our top 10 add-ons for research. Some integrate search and bookmarking sites into your browser. Others provide ways to view and take notes on pages. Some make minor, but wonderful adjustments. If you've never installed a firefox add-on before, now's the time.

(1) Fleck - Lets you slap post-it notes on a webpage and share the results with others (who don't need to have sign-up with Fleck). Fleck adds an unobtrusive yellow dot alongside the URL bar. Click on it to open Fleck tools. Trailfire is a similar product, but Fleck wins out better for aesthetic and simplicity.
How to use: Click the yellow dot near the URL bar.

(2) Firefox Showcase - Displays Firefox tabs visually within one window. Choose one of the page tabs to switch to it. Very handy when working with tons of pages simultaneously.
How to use: Select View>Showcase (or Shift+12).

(3) StumbleUpon - With StumbleUpon, you can randomly flip through excellent sites pre-selected by other users. This is one of those addictive products that works much better than it sounds. This isn't so much a fine-toothed research aid as a chance to randomly come across an unexpected piece of research gold.
How to use: Log-in using the Stumble-upon toolbar. Choose a channel to view pages or hit the "Stumble!" button to load random pages related to your topics chosen during sign-up.

(4) del.icio.us bookmarks - This add-on changes the firefox bookmarks to your del.icio.us bookmarks. Very handy when you work on multiple computers. Best of all is the ability to delete bookmarks using the right-click button. If you choose to display most-visited bookmarks on the del.icio.us toolbar and you'll have a row of icons for easy access.
How to use: Hit the "tag" button near the URL bar to add a bookmark. Click on the del.icio.us icon to browse your bookmarks.

(5) Breadcrumbs - A handy extension that records the sites you visit and lets you search within them. So, for example, if you came across a great page mentioning Benjamin Franklin but can't remember which, open Breadcrumbs and run a search to find it quickly.
How to use: Go to Tools>Breadcrumbs and select "Search Pages".

(6) Resurrect Pages - Ever find an article linking to a great website with exactly the information you need? Excited, you click on the link...and the page is dead! With this add-on you can resurrect that page by using the five big cache/mirrors (CoralCDN, Internet Archive, Google/Yahoo/MSN Caches).
How to use: Right-click on any dead page and choose a mirror.

(7) Answers.com - Firefox has a huge list of dictionary and translation add-ons. Try them out and see what's best for you. Personally, I like the Answers.com quick look-up because it provides a number of different definitions, such as Barron's legal and economic meanings.
How to use: Right-click and choose "look-up in Answers.com"

(8) Highlight all - A simple but super-handy add-on that highlights all appearances of a given word. Hit F8 to turn on the extension then highlight a word with your mouse. All appearances of the word with be in yellow.
How to use: Hit F8 to turn on the highlighter. Select any word with the mouse and all instances will appear in yellow.

(9) Searchbar autosizer - Another simple add-on you'll soon take for granted. Install this and you'll notice that the Google searchbar has shrunk. Start typing and it will expand to fit what you're looking for.
How to use: Automatic. Just type in the Google search bar as always.

(10) Googlepedia - As with dictionaries, there are a ton of search add-ons, many letting you use multiple engines simultaneously. With this extension, whenever you do a Google search, the wikipedia results appear alongside. If you click on an internal wikipedia link leading to another wikipedia page, new Google results for that term appear.
How to use: Automatic. Will appear when you conduct searches from Google.com.

We should also mention the Greenstone Search Bar, a tool for searching through the massive New Zealand digital library collection. This collection includes the Gutenberg project and dozens of other huge collections dealing with medicine, anthropology and other areas. Unfortunately, the toolbar is a little obtrusive and takes up way too much browser space. But try installing it and playing around because it's a great way to find all of the materials on this site.

These are just a few good ones. There are tons of great add-ons for thing such as modifying the download window or swiping all the embedded media on a page. If you know any good ones we include add them below or send us an email.

Mysterious Universe

2007-03-08T21:23:00.000+01:00

Not strictly a free learning post, I've decided to stray just this once to inform you of a podcast I've recently become enthused by on my travels. Mysterious Universe is basically a plethora of the weird and super-weird goings on in this World (and on others apparently). Hosted by an enthusiastic Australian by the name of Benjamin Grundy, the podcast has become incredibly popular. Prompted by this success, Mr Grundy quit his day job and took to podcasting full-time. I must say, some of the stories are incredible, others farcical. However, there is no bias to the way he reports, it's all in good spirits (literally).

Anyway, if you fancy a departure from intense learning, then pop over to the website and have a look around. The links and stories posted on there are equally as exotic. If a live sheep being lowered into a hole reported to be 80,000 feet deep, only be brought back up dead and pregnant with a baby seal with human eyes, then hey - you know where to go! Ciao. P.S. What's wrong with this duckling?

Orbiter

2007-03-08T11:36:00.000+01:00

A recent discovery of mine has taken me into the realms of space travel and all the wonders associated with it. Released in 2000 by Dr Martin Schweiger, a computer scientist at University College London, Orbiter is a closed source freeware space flight simulator for Windows. Designed for space enthusiasts and general sim enthusiasts alike, it is function-orientated focusing mainly on maneuvering both realistic & fictional spacecraft. It is an ongoing project with numerous updates & add-ons, the most recent being September 2006. With the focus on being more a realistic sim than an arcade one, the functions included are impressive, for example; solar sailing, orbital, sub-orbital & interplanetary travel, docking & docking attachment systems, satellite retrievals, planetary motion, gravitational effect, atmospheric flight, and the option of being able to construct your very own space station. There is even a planetarium mode whereby the user can overlay ecliptic & celestial grids over a starmap, introduce coordinates, plot positioning & relay comm information. Visually the sim is superb given that it's a free programme. 3D virtual cockpits, MFD's (Multifunctional displays) & HUD's (Heads-up display) make up the screen visuals while commands are made via the keyboard, mouse and even joystick. Customising these views & commands to include more complex system instruments makes for a more realistic sim.

There is a rather steep 'learning curve' before you get the hang of piloting the many number of crafts & missions available, but like all sims, for those interested it is challenging and fun at the same time. I'm hoping my attempts at summarising this highly complex sim has been successful. However, you really should take a look at the official introduction of Orbiter for a more in-depth review, and of course the official website for the download, gallery's, requirements, reviews, etc.

For a general review of this sim, without spending too much of your work-time on non-work-time things, head over to that site we all know and love, wikipedia for the 'lowdown' on Orbiter as I believe you Americans call it. Oh, and here's one more tempting screenshot to finish off with... Till next time my friends.

AOPA - Part 3 - 'Weather Wise'

2007-03-05T14:59:00.000+01:00

AOPA - Weather Wise, Ceiling & Visibility

First off, I must apologise for not posting a single 'post' last week. Work combined with a heavy dose of the flu are not the greatest colleagues. However, please find Part 3 of the AOPA online courses, entitled 'Weather Wise'. This course offers a brief insight into the perils of certain weather conditions, cleaver tips for what to look out for before and during flight, along with a clever little quiz at the end. This course should take you about 40-50 minutes. As usual, please find some screen shots for your viewing pleasure, and until next time. Link to the course; http://flash.aopa.org/asf/wxwise_ceilingvis/html/weatherSafety.cfm

Open Learn Has Lots of Good, Free Stuff

2007-03-01T23:44:00.000+01:00

Let's keep it real. (Is that antiquated slang? I have a feeling no one says that anymore).

It's great to talk about important issues and intellectual debates...blah blah blah...but the Stingy Scholar is really all about the swag. That's right, baby. We want the free stuff. So let's drop the whole development of the OCW movement angle and look at the awesome free stuff that the Open University is providing under the name Open Learn.

As we were saying, the OCW's are short versions of full paid courses. Here are some particularly good courses to check out:

What do genes do?
What is the genome made of?
French: Ouverture
Motion Under Gravity
Earthquakes
Potable Water Treatment

We've pointed out these courses because they contain a lot of neat audio/video resources or are particularly well-developed, but Open Learning has a ton of good course. Especially in business and arts/humanities - two areas where there are not nearly enough OCW's. Check out these pages on Hume and Delacroix. A full index of all courses is here.

These are all self-contained modules and there is no need to buy a textbook (although there is often links to good external resources). You can also keep on online journal and discuss the materials with other students in related forums

The Open University is developing a number of online tools in the Lab Space. Lots of clever ways to speak with other users and link ideas together.

Over the next year these courses are going to get even more developed. Great for us.

MIT vs. The Open University: A Step Towards "Turn-key" OCW's

2007-03-01T22:57:00.000+01:00

Over the past week I've been involved in some interesting discussions with people at MIT and the Open University about "Turn-key" OCW's. Borrowing a concept from corporate finance, a "Turn-key" OCW is a ready-to-use module complete with all the materials a student needs to learn.

We here at the Stingy Scholar applaud the efforts of MIT, Berkeley, Utah State and other universities sharing course materials. However, in most cases an online user cannot actually, using the provided materials in the OCW, experience the course to the same degree as a student in the classroom.

Perhaps only some of the lectures are on the site (if any). Or perhaps the uploaded materials lack context and are hard to follow. One of the most frustrating problems is the need to pay $100 or more for the course textbook. That's pretty expensive if you're actually enrolled in the class and even harder to stomach just to follow an online syllabus.

A "Turn-key" OCW would provide you with all of these materials. The online user would not be at a disadvantage for lack of materials.

We all love open coursewares, but the movement is still in its infancy. And already we're starting to see two sides form around this very point. The two sides are headed by MIT and the Open University.

With MIT OCW's, we get a glimpse of full, world-class university courses. The full syllabus is online so we see exactly what these students are reading. Often we get pdf notes and reading materials. And in many cases we can watch or listen to the lectures.

Open Learn, on the other hand, provides a shortened version of the paid course. While these self-contained modules might lack the depth of the paid courses, they are complete with all of the materials you need to use them.

Let's review this dichotomy. MIT presents the full course and allows you to access part of it. It's like glimpsing into an classroom through a peephole. The Open University provides you with a mini-version of a proper course. You have your own complete classroom, but it's the "light" version.

There's merit to both approaches. MIT provides a great tool for professors developing their own courses and looking for example to model. It's also fantastic for students wanting to simulate a real MIT course. The Open University provides a tool for home schoolers' and independent learners - people that want to get started learning now. People that don't want to fill in the gaps.

Over the next few weeks we're going to look at some courses that fall somewhere in the middle. Courses that might properly be called "Turn-Key" Open Coursewares. If you've been using some good examples, let us know.

Oh yeah, and check out the MIT vs. Open Learning debate here on the Open Fiction blog. See? I told you it was a real debate.

Win a Chance to Play Hockey with Guy Kawasaki

2007-03-01T22:43:00.000+01:00

So I wouldn't usually post something like this, but I love Guy Kawasaki and I love hockey. Most of all, I think it's cool that these Stanford guys participating in the EntrepreneurshipWeek Innovation Challenge would ask me to post something on their competition entry.

Here's the background - the students are given a pad of 100 post-it notes and they have to find a way to make as much money as they can. Their idea: raffle off one of the prizes, based on the assumption they are going to win it.

Pretty ballsy, huh? Well, I suppose that's the spirit of entrepreneurship. So you can bid for one of the post-it's on eBay. The top 10 bidders receive a post-it and, assuming these students win, you will be joining them and Guy Kawasaki for some hockey. Hurry up 'cause there's only 12 hours left to go!

Fred's Finds: Representative Poetry Online

2007-02-27T21:04:00.000+01:00

This is an excellent website from the University of Toronto based on the classic Canadian teaching anthology first published by Professor W. J. Alexander. The website contains 3391 carefully chosen poems and are supported by criticism. The poems can be searched by title, author, first line and last line.

Along with these tools, the site also has a very extensive bibliography and glossary of poetic terms. In short, a very thorough tool for a sophisticated study of British and Canadian poetry.

Destination: Commercial Sims

2007-02-25T04:02:00.000+01:00

I will be reviewing a whole bunch of educational sites in SL, but first...let's talk shopping.

In real life, I hate shopping. In SL, I think I need some sort of shopper support group. Further, I actually CARE about fashion in SL....I sooooo don't care about it in RL. There is even a fashion mag....omg...and I read it!!!!

My favorites?

Aerolite Mall - there are some great vendors there that sell some pretty hip clothes. I can usually find what I need here, and the prices aren't bad. My favorite clothing stand is run by Lara Languish. She has a nice mix, and also a bunch of free stuff. My other favorite stand is Phoenix Designs; the owner, Neoznet Watts, built me a custom laptop for my RL students playing in SL. Mall owner, Liam Clinton, has laid it out pretty well...there is space to bring lots of your friends.

CryoGen Cloning Lab - They have awesome shapes and skins there, and they sport a pretty nice mall, as well. The detail of the skins is quite impressive, and is worth the linden. My skin is from A Lady, but these are probably more detailed than even I sport. The owner, Michelle Margrass, also designs the skins. She is right on top of things!!!

Calla Hair - I have bought a LOT of hair, and they have nice hair for not much Linden. I like their version of ashe blonde (pictured above).

ETD Hair - This is my other hot spot for hair. The hair has great detail, and it isn't too expensive. Their long cuts are flexi and I am a huge fan of honey and honey burnt (um, omg...was that a sentence I actually uttered????)

DE Designs - I like wicked cool clothes....and DE has the best detail I have ever found in all of SL. The outfits come with a lot of pieces, so you get a variety of looks from one outfit.

Soooooo.....if you are inworld...IM me, and I will soooooo take ya shopping!!!!

Floodle Free eBooks

2007-02-24T18:26:00.000+01:00

Floodle buys the rights to ebooks and posts a new one free every day. While some of the options are a little sketchy (get paid to watch TV, real estate foreclosures, etc.) there are also lots of cookbooks and quirky submissions (such as the big book of puppy names). And if you don't like what's available, ask in the forum. Most of the ebooks are things people asked for.

Top 20 Freeware Adventure Games

2007-02-24T18:12:00.000+01:00

Here's Indy Gamer's list of the top 20 freeware adventure games in 2006. Well done round-up. Nice succinct descriptions, direct download links, and handy "resembles" suggestions. (i.e. Try Duty & Beyond if you liked Maniac Mansion).

Public Radio Podcasts

2007-02-24T18:02:00.000+01:00

PublicRadioFan has a pretty extensive list of public radio shows available as podcasts. The shows are organized by category so it's easy to find stuff you know (i.e. Car Talk) or new shows on music, foreign languages, literature, sports or dozens of other topics. There's so much informative and entertaining material on public radio - thanks for this index.

The Trouble with Textbooks, Part 1

2007-02-23T16:53:00.000+01:00

People often ask me what got me started on my somewhat quixotic quest to tell the world about free textbooks. The real answer is probably that I’m slightly crazy. Rooted in some deep unanalyzed recess of my brain, next to the squeaking wheel that’s responsible for my constant ire about Boston’s underperforming public transportation system and just below the room full of angry gnomes who keep a torch burning for the lost cause of copyright reform, there is a ball of anger that I’ve decided to throw at the textbook industry. Of course, even a moderately crazy fool like me knows better than to mention a room full of angry gnomes with flaming torches during an interview with US News and World Reports or NPR. Instead, I tell the story of Giancoli’s Physics.

To start the story, I have to backtrack to 1991, when I was a junior at Billings West High School (official motto: “Failure is Not an Option”). I took two full years of physics at West High under the tutelage of John Linn, an irascible Korean war vet with a pocketful of great stories and a firm grasp of how to teach physics to fifteen-year-olds. I loved that class, even though I didn’t really get a good handle on vector addition until years later when I learned how to operate marine radar. I still have the 3.5” x 5” notecards we were allowed to make to hold the formulae we needed on tests.

Fast forward to 2003. After misspending my youth in the Caribbean, I found myself enrolled in a program studying geology at Northeastern University (official motto: “We’re # 98!”). After spending hundreds upon hundreds of dollars during my first year on textbooks that I barely used, I was beginning to wise up to the textbook racket. My degree required that I take two semesters of Physics, never mind that I’d already had two full years in high school. I took the first semester with a friend, and we both balked at the cost of the text, around $130 for Giancoli’s just-released 5th edition.

I was incensed. I’d taken this class once already, in 1991, with a well-used book that was probably printed in the mid-1980’s, and as far as I could tell nothing in introductory algebra-based physics had changed in the intervening years. Newton’s Laws still reigned. Force still equaled mass times acceleration. Gravity still pulled objects earthward at 9.8 meters per second squared. I couldn’t for the life of me understand what could justify a brand-new edition of a physics textbook when there were so many existing books that could have explained the concepts just as well.

Searching online for a more affordable alternative, I found a link to Ben Crowell’s Light and Matter series, a set of physics textbooks available entirely free online. My interest was piqued, but this wasn’t the book assigned for my class, so my friend and I ended up splitting the cost for Giancoli. I was consoled by the fact that at least the book would last me through both of my required physics classes.

Still, I was intrigued by the whole concept of free online textbooks. It seemed to me then, and it seems to me now, like an inherently practical idea to publish books online. I started digging around and found more and more free books. Then, in January of 2004, the Make Textbooks Affordable campaign unleashed their report RipOff 101, which confirmed what I had begun to find out on my own: the textbook companies were playing students like a pickpocket at Mardi Gras. I decided I had to do something, while I was still a student, to try to get professors to start using these free books. So out of frustration with Giancoli and my chance encounter with Crowell, Textbook Revolution was born.

Several years and several thousand hours of work later, Textbook Revolution is a thriving site with a couple of hundred thousand visitors a year, links to hundreds of free books, and plans to grow even larger over the coming year. I’m finishing my senior year of college. I’m midway through the final class on my list of requirements, which just happens to be Physics II. My friend lost the copy of Giancoli’s 5th edition we shared in the fall of 2003, but it doesn’t matter because since I took Physics I the field of introductory algebra-based physics has advanced enough to merit a new and improved 6th edition, only $153 at Amazon!

This time around, I didn’t even bother to go to the bookstore. Instead, I headed for the library to see if I could grab one of the two copies of the sixth edition available. I was too late to get either of them, but there on the shelf, I found copies of the second, third, and fifth editions. What I found out when I compared them will be the subject of part 2 of The Trouble with Textbooks, coming soon.

Dear JSTOR: Why won't you let us in?

2007-02-22T23:13:00.000+01:00

Imagine this. You are researching a topic through Google Scholar. And there it is. The perfect article. Exactly what you've been looking for. You go to read the article, and what do you get? A JSTOR error message. You're not allowed to read it.

Now we're all about being cheap here at the Stingy Scholar, but we realize that sometimes you need to shell-out a few bucks. But with JSTOR, you can't even pay if you want to. This isn't a problem if you can pop into the university library, but thousands of independent scholars around the world are shut out from the service.

Christopher Barden, a long time reader, recently wrote a letter to JSTOR to vent his frustration and ask them to open up their information. I think he makes some very effective points.

Dear JSTOR:

As an independent scholar not currently affiliated with any academic institution, I find it deeply frustrating that one cannot even pay for access for JSTOR.

The mission statement of your Mellon Foundation-funded “not-for-profit” scholarly database says you seek "to improve dramatically access to these journals."

The only thing dramatic about access to JSTOR’s journals is its bizarrely unnecessary lack thereof.

Why can’t one access this highly valuable database with a laptop and a credit card? Why build a digitized scholarly archive, searchable via the public internet, if access to it is controlled like some kind of top-secret database? Is this for university students and teachers only? If so, why? Is the access to online-searchable scholarship in a digital age to be reduced to only the years that one is actually affiliated with a large educational institution? What year is this: 2007 or 1007?

In an age when the Internet has made it not just possible but increasingly common for 'independent scholars to work outside the ivory tower, JSTOR is clearly designed to lock them out. And this seems just plain wrong.

Christopher also discusses the frustration with JSTOR results in Google searches:

JSTOR allows Google's public search engine to index its articles. And, because of the range of topics covered in academic/scholarly articles (which span a fairly broad spectrum of human thought and activity), JSTOR article search results increasingly come up as first-page results in Google searches on topics of scholarly interest.

While this is extremely beneficial to JSTOR, it renders millions of public search results practically worthless to non-JSTOR users. (Imagine Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown, and you’ve got a pretty clear picture of what JSTOR search results can feel like.)

Not surprisingly, JSTOR is yet to respond. I've posted the whole letter here.

Second Life in Education

2007-02-21T16:19:00.000+01:00

Over the past few weeks, I have been immersed in building a virtual British Literature classroom in Second Life. Educators are using SL as a teaching tool, and there is so much to talk about!

Instead of bogging us down with one long post, I thought I would do a series of spotlights on awesome content inworld.

Does anyone have a place they would like me to review?

To get us started in this journey, it is good for us to get to know some of the major players. Sarah Robbins, AKA, Intellagirl Tully, is an inspiration. Her work in SL is just incredible; I watched her teach a class the other night....her students were engaged...they covered difficult topics...it was all that a college classroom should be in the media age. I would be nowhere without her help....so please go check her out.

My other inworld inspiration is Bryan Carter, AKA Bryan Mnemonic. His resources for teaching English are great. He, too, asks students to tackle complicated material. His students are engaged...lively...energetic.

I have met my match for passion in these two educators...

Ask Stingy

2007-02-19T23:58:00.000+01:00

Thanks to everyone for all of the recent email suggestion and super-increased commenting. It used to be that we'd be skimming through hundreds of websites looking for something good to post. Now, you guys seem to be doing the work for us with all these great suggestions.

So since we've got some more time on our hands, we've decided to try a new feature - Ask Stingy.

* Researching a topic and looking for free primary sources?
* Find a great educational link but can't remember where?
* Parent of a young student working on a science project?

If you have a question related to free educational resources, ask us. We don't mind doing the work for you. We'll look into your question and put your answer in a post.

Send your requests to askstingy@gmail.com
(or stingyscholar@gmail.com).

43 Key Tips for a New Homebuyer

2007-02-19T23:38:00.000+01:00

Perhaps a bit beyond the scope of the site, but anyone considering the purchase of their first home should read this post. Although there are lots of places on the web with home-buying tips, this is one of the most informative yet succinct list around. Most importantly, theses 43 tips have lots of useful links to other equally informative posts. If you are entering the home-buying waters, be sure to check out Inman.com, the mothership of real estate info.

Ren'Py Visual Novel Engine

2007-02-19T23:31:00.000+01:00

Last summer, we looked at Blade Engine, a visual novel creator that lets you make your "Choose Your Own Adventure" styled graphic novel. According to some comments and emails, Ren'Py is a better alternative. The program is free with no catches or limitations. Download some of the games made with the program and see for yourself.

Fred's Finds: Huxley, Ethnologues, Gross Brains

2007-02-18T19:53:00.000+01:00

The Huxley File

A site devoted to Thomas Henry Huxley and covering the many subject on which he wrote – fields ranging from the design of marine invertebrate structure to the design of a good human society.

Ethnologue

A web version of Raymond Gordon's textbook on languages of the world. The full text is listed here.

Dartmouth's Gross Brain Atlas

Click on the lovely pictures to get a description of what part of the brain you are selecting along with what function that part performs.

Finally, here are a couple more good directories for you guys to check out:

Academic Info - lots of good test preparation resources here as well (SAT, GRE, LSAT, etc.).
Eduseek
Science News Blog Links

soZiety: A Great Skype Language-Learning Community

2007-02-18T19:34:00.000+01:00

We've looked at a couple language-learning Skype communities, but Soziety is a new one making an impact. At the end of the day, these sites succeed based on the community they attract - and that's what Soziety is doing well. Search for other users based on language, age, gender, country, and "karma" (favorable feedback). You can also limit search results to users online. As a nice little perk you can also make a few bucks by building up your karma or doing so document translation.

The Current State of DRM

2007-02-18T06:18:00.000+01:00

We're getting close. 2007 might be the year we say goodbye to DRM (at least audio DRM) once and for all. The recent Steve Jobs missive rocked the digital media world and other recent announcements seem to indicate the beginning of the end.

This is good. And here's why you should care.

First, there are a lot of reasons why DRM makes no sense. It doesn't protect the content companies and it needlessly frustrates customers. Plus, it represents the first time that control of media has moved out of the hands of consumers (see below):

There are distinct dangers to you if you buy DRM content. So our suggestion? Consume DRM-free media whenever possible. Support the companies that are trying to make unfettered access to legally purchased media a reality.

And spread the word. A DRM-free world means a lot for people who are looking to use the Web to learn. It's an important issue and we're at a tipping point. We'd love for you to help move the balance in favor of a world where infection from DRM is a disease that we've managed to eradicate.

AOPA Course part2

2007-02-16T12:06:00.000+01:00

Folks, as promised, please find the link to part 2 of the AOPA free online navigational courses. Today's course continues last week's theme regarding GPS operations. GPS for IFR operations will take you into the basic logistics of using your GPS for IFR system flights. As with all the courses offered by this website, it is introductory in nature only and will not allow you to take command of your next charter holiday flight!

I don't feel I need to explain the way the course works, it's all pretty simple in comparative terms. Here's the link to part2 http://flash.aopa.org/asf/gps_ifr/swf/flash.cfm, and below I've included a couple more screenshots for your viewing pleasure. Until next week folks.

The Pirate Primer: Mastering the Language of Swashbucklers & Rouges

2007-02-15T00:34:00.000+01:00

Geez. You think you know a guy. I know George Choundas as a skilled corporate litigator, a former FBI agent, and a trustworthy friend. But an expert on pirate vocabulary, syntax and grammar? - I had no idea!

While I still don't know why I'm only just hearing about this brilliant new book, The Pirate Primer: Mastering the Language of Swashbucklers & Rogues comes out this March. The book covers topics such as Greetings/Partings, Threats, Oathes, Insults, Proper Pronunciation and much much more. The publishers are working on setting up a companion website with addition pirate-language content such as a comprehensive compilation of pirate sayings and phrases (and pirate intensifiers, and pirate number-related terms, etc.). We'll keep you up to date when the site goes live. Meanwhile, pre-order through Amazon before the Boing Boing crew finds out about this.

Psychology Debate Podcasts

2007-02-15T00:20:00.000+01:00

What should we do with psychopaths? Does counselling screw you up? Is love a delusion? The Institute of Psychology at King's College (London) has made available this Maudsley Debates series covering hot topics in psychology. This is one of several podcasts from the institute. Thanks to Karen for another great suggestion.

Juiced Excel

2007-02-15T00:09:00.000+01:00

One of the first things I learned stepping into the office place is that my overpriced comparative literature degree wasn't going to get my very far. Knowing Excel would. It's pretty amazing what can be done with the program. And perhaps even more amazing
how few people know how to go beyond the basics.

The guys at Juice Analytics did a great job of putting together this Excel Training Worksheet. The tutorial is presented in a workbook download, with each sheet covering a topic like VLookups, Conditional Formatting, or In-Cell Graphics. Whether you're a newbie or a VBA wizard, I promise you'll find something in here you didn't know before.

Stingy Scholar, Now With Tags

2007-02-08T23:42:00.000+01:00

The impossible dream is now here. Look to the right and you will see a list of labels. Here's hoping this helps to make the site more navigable.

FYI - just to clarify a couple tags -"research" covers all potentially useful research tools, "university" covers college life as well as opencoursewares and other offerings from major universities, "ipod" covers things that can go on your ipod, and "portals" are sites with lots of good links organized by subject. Most of the other tags are pretty self-explanatory.

We've gone back and tagged the old posts...if you see something mislabeled or think we should add/divide labels, let us know.

Kelly Writers House at UPenn

2007-02-07T21:01:00.000+01:00

Here's a suggestion from my mother, from an article in the local South Jersey newspaper. Founded by a group of UPenn students and faculty, the Kelly Writers House serves as a writer's colony/refuge/workshop with over 150 events per semester. So why do we Stingy Scholars care? 'Cause they post all those great events online! Between webcasts with the likes of Richard Ford, Russell Banks, David Sedaris and a boatload of mp3s, these guys are doing a great job of sharing all they're doing. (Picture stolen from the Courier Post. Please don't sue a good Jersey boy).

Pod CityGuides

2007-02-07T20:56:00.000+01:00

An anonymous comment on the old post Free iPod Tour Guides links to a great site - Pod CityGuides. Tons of totally free mp3 guides for cities all around the world, even including recent weather and news. Sign-up is free - check it out if you're travelling soon, and some of the other great ones we've come across. Know more? Let us know!

The AOPA

2007-02-07T18:14:00.000+01:00

Most aviation enthusiasts like myself will have come across the well-known Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association, or AOPA for ease of reference. This US based website began life as a non-profit organisation established in 1939 and dedicated itself to general aviation as a whole. They have been the forerunners in the aviation world for pushing significant legislation through US Congress through to introducing new standards for private pilot training schemes, which is a huge achievement given their beginnings. They claim to have a membership base of more than 410,000 people, or as they also put it – “two thirds of all pilots in the United States”. You got to love those figurative comparisons! They are correct however in calling themselves the ‘largest, most influential aviation association in the World’. Although most pilots will have browsed and possibly used this site in the past, I would like to call attention to the abundant & free online exercises for budding pilots and enthusiast alike. Please note that you will have to create an account if you want to take any course. You will find all the courses are extremely well thought out and prepared. The interactive menus, friendly voices which accompany the courses and the superb graphics make this site an excellent learning tool, whether it's for refresher reasons, trainees or simply out of interest.

Given the size of this site in general and the numerous online courses on offer, I will attempt to make this a weekly entry (which is unfortunately the most I can promise due to my work schedule). This week therefore, I will begin with GPS for VFR Operations.

This course will offer you a clearer explanation of how GPS works and how you can use it to make your next VFR flight more efficient (and safe). The course will take you approximately 45-60 minutes. However, this would be an extremely lengthy post if I was to reveal the ins & outs of each course, so here's the link to part 1 of my post, and I hope you all enjoy; http://flash.aopa.org/asf/gps_vfr/swf/flash.cfm

Science, Optics & You

2007-01-31T21:39:00.000+01:00

If you teach science or are simply interested in science, Science, Optics & You is a great resource.....

Science, Optics & You is a new interdisciplinary optics, light and microscopy curriculum resource package targeting elementary grade students. It is a collaborative project of the Center for Integrating Research and Learning at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and Molecular Expressions. The project combines scientific inquiry with hands-on instruction and state-of-the-art educational technology to equip students with skills for the twenty-first century. It provides an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates science, mathematics, language arts, social studies, and the arts.

This resource is just a part of a much larger site called Molecular Expressions. Well worth a few minutes of your time.....

Free Touch Typing Program

2007-01-30T16:25:00.000+01:00

Are you looking for an online touch typing program for yourself or your students. Check out Touch Typing. You can use the program online or you can download it for offline use. There are some lessons to get you started and once you get comfortable with the program, you can easily create your own.

The Beggin' and Choosin' Awards 2006

2007-01-27T22:16:00.000+01:00

It's here...The nominations are in...It's time to vote...

As we did in 2005, the Stingy Scholar wants to recognize the best free educational resources during the year 2006. So with no further ado, here are the categories and nominees.

(1) Best Textbook
Motion Mountain (2005 winner) - Christoph Schiller's book is everything you can ask for - professional and free. It's no surprise that Motion Mountain won the BCA's last year and has been recommended by institutes around the world.
Wolfram's MathWorld - One of the most complete math resources on the web.
Digital History - Not just a great free textbook, but one of the best history resources period.
Freeload Press - These guys are doing an excellent job to offer a series of complete, ad-supported textbooks for real classroom use (complete with teachers' additions).

(2) Best eBook Site
Project Gutenberg - You can't skip the old-school original as a nominee in this category. Along with the internet archive, PG is probably the most important effort to make copyright free ebooks available.
Manybooks (2005 winner) - This site won last year, based mainly on the excellent user interface and variety of download options (psp, ipod, pdf, etc).
Bookyards - We like bookyard's efforts to round-up everything ebook in one central index. With over 11,000 books and hundreds of links, it's one of the most complete around.

(3) Best Audiobook Site
LearnOutLoud (2005 winner) - Outstanding free, professionally produced original work and links to free resources around the web.
Librivox.org - An excellent attempt to get users to contribute audio versions of copyright free texts (although quality levels do vary).
Podiobooks - We were previously unaware of this site. Podiobooks is presenting some good contemporary literature for free, with chapters broken-up and distributed in podcast form.

(4) Best Social Site
This award is given to the site that best allows users to contribute and help each other find free educational resources or share information via the site.
del.icio.us (2005 winner) - Although many wikis and portals attempt to collectively index educational links, del.icio.us remains a powerhouse due to the vast number of users and ease of bookmarking.
Second Life - This virtual world is getting known as a free ed resource. See here, here, and here for some of the most outstanding uses.
qoolsqool - A Digg clone for educational resources. Visit the best and selected resources for some of the most stellar entries.

(5) Best University -
Here's the "best actor" of the BCA's. Some might call the Best University category a two-horse race between last year's winner, MIT, and UC Berkeley. But over 2006 we have seen dozens of major universities making at least some token effort to offer some sort of open courseware or podcast. Below we have six universities who are doing outstanding work to break down the ivory tower and openly share their resources. Choose carefully...this one is for all the marbles.

For all universities offering free materials, see "courses & lectures" on our wiki (and please add any resource not listed there).

You can vote as many times as you like for your favorites.