Research and Education
Looking back to the late nineteenth century, one can find traces of the earliest distance education learning programs at the university level at places like the University of Chicago and Columbia University. It would take six decades before an entire university was created specifically as a distance teaching institution, and it would happen on the other side of the Atlantic. This school is Open University in Britain, and they have continued this mission for over four decades. Recently, they created the LearningSpace website which contains dozens of different online courses, categorized into disciplines such as education, modern languages, and history. While visitors don’t have to register to use the materials, they may find it useful. Registering will allow visitors to discuss the materials in a forum, write journal entries, and complete different quizzes. [KMG]
With funding from the National Science Foundation, the Learning & Performance Support Laboratory at the University of Georgia has created this website for mathematics educators. Their primary focus is to build teachers’ mathematical content knowledge through mathematical investigations, and the resources presented here reflect this commitment. The primary mathematical fields covered here include algebra, geometry, number concepts, and data analysis. Within each of these sections, visitors will find “Recommended Investigations”, which are classroom-tested activities. These activities are engaging and well-written, and it is easy to see how they could be incorporated into a variety of lesson plans. Finally, the site also contains an interactive math dictionary that covers everything from absolute value to z-score. [KMG]
Designed as part of the Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education and Training (COMET), the Meteorology Education & Training website provides a wide range of resources designed for budding meteorologists and those with a general interest in the field. From the homepage, visitors will find sections such as “Topics”, “Communities”, “Resources, and an “About” area. Within the “Topics” section, visitors will find information on fields such as fire weather, coastal weather, basic climate, and space weather. Visitors can read up on these areas, and in many instances, they can take a short quiz to test their knowledge. Meteorology educators and students will enjoy the learning modules contained within the “Resources” area, as they cover such terrain as convective storm matrices and an introduction to anticipating hazardous weather and community risk. [KMG]
http://www.nypl.org/events/audiovideo.html
Lectures on the history of the New York subway and a master class with chanteuse Barbara Cook come together on this lovely website created by the New York Public Library, along with dozens of other webcasts. The site was created to allow the web-browsing public access to some of the very enticing talks, lectures, presentations, and performances that happen as a result of the New York Public Library’s efforts. The site contains talks on the history of illustrated Japanese books, a panel discussion on Google’s Print Library Project, and a conversation with Broadway impresario, Hal Prince. It is worth noting that the site also contains a nice selection of presentations on crafting and developing a small business proposal, and making sure that the business succeeds. [KMG]
http://www.globalintegrity.org/
Many of the world’s national governments have been plagued by charges of corruption and pervasive malfeasance over the past few decades. As a result, a number of international organizations have been created to provide information on corruption and governance trends for the policy community and the general public. With funding from the World Bank, the Global Integrity organization produces the Global Integrity Report, which features a number of “integrity indicators”, which analyze openness, governance, and anti-corruption mechanisms for a wide range of countries. Visitors to their site can read the Report in its entirety here, and also browse through a number of media resources designed for journalists. Additionally, visitors can also learn more about the organization’s staff members and their various methodologies for compiling reports. [KMG]
Housed at the University of Minnesota, the mission of the Center for Bioethics is “to advance and disseminate knowledge concerning ethical issues in health care and the life sciences.” To accomplish this important mission, they are actively engaged in a number of interdisciplinary research projects and they also perform a number of community outreach activities. From their homepage, visitors can learn about some of their activities and recent announcements and events. After taking a brief look here, visitors will want to move along to the “Resource Center” section. Here, they will find short summaries on a variety of bioethics topics, detailed overviews with thorough bibliographies, as well as an excellent set of resources for teachers who wish to incorporate bioethics into the classroom. Finally, visitors should not miss their “Publications” area, which includes the complete archive of their own “Bioethics Examiner” and a number of legal overviews of bioethics issues. [KMG]
http://www.uwm.edu/Libraries/digilib/cities/index.html
From Carthage to Chicago, this fascinating digital collection from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee presents quite a cornucopia of photographic images drawn from the world’s cities, past and present. The images are from the American Geographic Society Library, and just two photographers, Harrison Forman and the noted urban geographer, Harold Mayer, took the pictures. All told, there are over 5500 photographic images in this collection, and first-time visitors should read over the brief introductory essays on the scope and content of this project before jumping into the materials. By clicking on the “Cities” section, visitors can browse around the cities with the most photographs, and then they may also wish to perform a detailed search. There are some fun surprises here, including an aerial view of the Union Stock Yards in Chicago and the governor’s residence in Dar es Salaam. [KMG]
http://www.atla.com/digitalresources/
In an effort to provide a large set of high-quality digital resources for the study of religion, the American Theological Library Association and Association of Theological Schools established the Cooperative Digital Resource Initiative (CDRI). Drawing on the extensive holdings of its member institutions, including Vanderbilt University, the Hartford Seminary, and Boston University, CDRI has assembled an impressive digital image collection that features woodcuts, coins, maps, postcards, sermons, and other ephemera. First-time visitors can utilize the search form offered on the homepage, or they may also wish to browse the collections thematically. There are some real gems here, including a collection of postcards of New England Congregational and Baptist churches and illuminations from Armenian Gospels. [KMG]
