Monday, February 6, 2012

More Literature and Some Computers

Hello all again

It has been an exciting 24 hours. I have signed up to volunteer at both the Gutenburg Project and librivox. On a more personal note, I've welcomed a new niece to the family. Welcome baby M.

So, for today's links I would like to share Librivox , essentially this project works much like Gutenburg and Bartleby, except produces audiobooks.

Secondly, for those of you who may be more math and science inclined, I have some computer science links.

The first is hosted by Stanford Universities Engineering department and includes complete well-done video recordings of lectures from basic to more advanced topics. As well as handouts, tests, and necessary software.

A program called Alice is the second link. This nifty little program was designed by Carnegie Mellon in order to lower the boundary to computer science. The program features 3D characters that you use computer-code like commands to move around. The program itself is free and comes with some basic tutorials. If you want to do more than play around you can buy the textbook, which is a bit pricey. I managed to learn to put together a fairly basic nativity scene animation in a couple hours without the textbook. I've embedded a video showing a simple demonstration and explanation of the program(you may need to switch to full screen in order to see the whole thing.

The third resource, Starlogo TNG , is produced by the good folks at MIT to lower the entry boundary into programming. You can create species, order them to move, and create games. Youtube has some decent demonstrations for this program.


Sunday, February 5, 2012

Books and Literature

Hello again

Today I'm going to provide some links that provide free public domain literature. The first is The Gutenburg Project . The Gutenburg project provides books in a variety of languages and formats, including many capable of being put on a kindle(I don't know about nooks, but assume they work on their to). The disadvantage is that most original typography is preserved, making some works more difficult read.

The second site is Bartleby . This site is better organized than Gutenburg and the formatting is more reader friendly. On the other hand it seems to only offer works in English and online.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Itunes U and the OpenCourseware movement

Hello

Today's update is one most of you probably know about, but is exciting enough to warrant mention nonetheless. Many universities, including notably MIT, UC Berkley, and others, have recorded some of their lectures and are giving them away, free, through itunes or other sources such as youtube. Often universities have sites were they have complied all the information by class and subject matter. The amount of supplementary material available varies, but very interesting nonetheless.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Hello all, welcome to my blog, the ultimate goal, the put together a navigable list of free online educational resources suitable for high school, college, and adult learners looking to try something new. My shorter term goal: learn how to do it.