Resources of the Week: Open….Stuff
By Shirl Kennedy, Senior Editor

When we hear the term “open source,” we typically think of software. When we hear the term “open access,” we typically think of journals. But you’ll find other types of open…stuff out there on the Web, and we’ve got a couple of stellar examples for you.

+ OER Commons

OER Commons is the first comprehensive open learning network where teachers and professors (from pre-K to graduate school) can access their colleagues’ course materials, share their own, and collaborate on affecting today’s classrooms. It uses Web 2.0 features (tags, ratings, comments, reviews, and social networking) to create an online experience that engages educators in sharing their best teaching and learning practices.

Anyone who teaches on a more-than-occasional basis will quickly see the utility of a resource like this. Even if you, personally, don’t lack for fresh course material, you can check here to see what your colleagues are doing.

And we saw plenty of lesson plans and syllabi on unusual topics and contemporary issues:

• Web 2.0: Risks for STI/HIV – Opportunities for Prevention, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
  

  This lecture explores the risks and prevention opportunities presented by the emergence of social networking and internet dating sites. Presented by the Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health.

• Climate change, from The Open University:
  

  Climate change is a key issue on today’s social and political agenda. This unit explores the basic science that underpins climate change and global warming.

• Determining Dinosaur Speeds, from DLESE Community Service Center (SERC)
  

  This exercise has students determine how fast a dinosaur was moving based on the tracks it made. It allows students with minimal quantitative background to become motivated and begin to develop an appreciation for dimensional analysis as they see whether or not they could outrun the track-making dinosaurs. Measurements from any dinosaur track site can be used in this activity. Learning goals, context for use, teaching tips, materials, assessment tips and related resources are provided.

You can search the site if you’re looking for specific content; an advanced search form is available. Alternately, you can browse by subject area (Arts, Business, Humanities, Mathematics and Statistics, Science and Technology, Social Sciences) or by grade level (Primary, Secondary, Post-secondary). Also, on the righthand side of the page, there is a tag cloud you can use for topical navigation.

In the middle of the page, you’ll see a section labeled “OER Top Ten,” which features a series of tabs. When you first arrive at the page, you’ll be looking here at Featured content — especially current or unique course material — e.g., Beyond Burma – Studying Buddhism and Buddhist Culture around the World (New York Times Learning Network), Wheelchair Design in Developing Countries (MIT OpenCourseWare).

Clicking the next tab will take you to a list of the Most Popular courses. Number one right now is Basic Research Methods, from ItrainOnline. Moving along to the following tab, you’ll see the Highest Rated courses, led by MIT OpenCourseWare’s Physics I — which dates back to 1999, BTW. (Ratings are user-determined, from one through five stars.) Finally, the newest items can be found under the fourth tab.
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+ Open Web Design

Open Web Design is a community of designers and site owners sharing free web design templates as well as web design information. Helping to make the internet a prettier place!

Indeed.

Let’s face it — few of us have formal design training…or natural talent. So what happens when you are tasked to put together a website for some organization, and you’re starting from…basically clueless? Well, you can browse the templates here until you see something that catches your eye. Or you can search by using a series of dropdown menus to narrow your selections by features, colors or intended use (business or fun). There’s also a link to the most popular designs. More than 3,200 templates are currently available here. Consider uploading your own if you think someone else could make use of it.