SBCTC Open Course Library Phase II Courses added to NCLOR
The Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) has updated the Open Course Library, which is a collection of expertly developed educational materials for 81 of the state’s highest-enrolled college courses. The materials are freely available online under an open license for use by the state’s 34 public community and technical colleges, four-year colleges and universities, and anyone else worldwide. The subjects included in this update are: Business, Communications, English, Fine Arts, Humanities, Mathematics, and Science.
This resource series contains the IMS Common Cartridge files of the Open Course Library catalog. These files are compatible with many learning management systems (LMS) and contain all of the course content including syllabi, course activities, readings, and assessments. Some courses have content available via Google Docs which enables users to download the course resources directly to their Google account.
All of the course titles included in this series are:
American Government, American Literature I, American Sign Language I, American Sign Language II, American Sign Language III, Art Appreciation, Biology I, Biology II, Biology III, Business Calculus, Business Law, Calculus I, Calculus II, Calculus III, College Success Course, Cultural Anthropology, Elementary Algebra, Engineering Physics I, English Composition I, English Composition II, French I, French II, French III, General Biology with Lab, General Chemistry with Lab I, General Chemistry with Lab II, General Chemistry with Lab III, General Psychology, Health for Adult Living, Human Anatomy and Physiology 1&2, Intermediate Algebra, Interpersonal Communication, Intro to Communication, Intro to Drama, Intro to Humanities, Intro to Mass Media, Intro to Political Science, Intro to Sociology, Introduction To Astronomy, Introduction To Business, Introduction to Chemistry (Inorganic), Introduction To Literature I, Introduction To Logic, Introduction To Oceanography, Introduction To Philosophy, Introduction to Physical Geology, Introduction to Statistics, Lifespan Psychology, Macroeconomics, Math in Society, Microbiology, Microeconomics, Music Appreciation, Nutrition, Pacific NW History, Physical Anthropology, Physics: Non Science Majors, Precalculus I, Precalculus II, Pre-College English, Principles of Accounting I, Principles of Accounting II, Principles of Accounting III, Public Speaking, Research for the 21st Century, Small Group Communication, Social Problems, Spanish I, Spanish II, Spanish III, Survey of Anthropology, Survey of Biology, Survey of Environmental Science, Symbolic Logic, Technical Writing, US History I, US History II, US History III, Western Civilization, Women in US History, and World Civilizations I.
Creative Commons License
This content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License which means that you are free to reuse the course in its entirety, edit it and use a your own modified version, or pick out only pieces which can be incorporated into your own course, as long as you credit the original author for their work.
The NCCCS courses that could be enhanced by using these resources are:
ACC111, ACC115, ACC118, ACC119, ACC120, ACC221, ACC3107, ANT210, ANT220, ANT230, ART111, ASL111, ASL112, ASL211, ASL221, ASL222, AST151, BIO100, BIO106, BIO110, BIO111, BIO112, BIO155, BIO160, BIO163, BUS110, BUS115, BUS116, BUS121, CHM115A, CHM121A, CHM131, CHM131A, CHM151, COM110, COM120, COM150, COM160, COM231, COM3709, ECO251, ECO252, EGR150, EGR220, ENG090, ENG110, ENG111, ENG116, ENG131, ENG132, ENG138, ENG231, ENV110, FLI3714, FLI3717, FRE111, FRE112, FRE211, FRE212, FRE221, GEL120, HEA110, HIS111, HIS121, HIS122, HIS131, HIS132, HIS162, HIS165, HIS232, HUM211, LIB210, MAT070, MAT080, MAT101, MAT151, MAT171, MAT172, MAT210, MAT223, MAT271, MAT272, MAT273, MSC160, MUS110, PHI210, PHI216, PHI230, PHY080, PHY090, POL110, POL120, PSY110, PSY150, SOC210, SOC220, SPA110, SPA111, SPA211, SPA212, SPA241,and SPA242.
To access this series, you can do any of the following:
NCLOR 6.0 New Features
Recently, the NCLOR updated the application to version 6.0. The update went very well without any technical issues. With the update came a few notable end-user functionality enhancements that could be of benefit to educators.
The following is a list of the features now available in NCLOR 6.0:
- Accessibility Enhancements – NCLOR 6.0 meets the international Web content accessibility guidelines from the World Wide Web Consortium, specifically Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Version 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) at Level AA, and meets the current US Government Section 508 Standards, specifically § 1194.22 Web-based intranet and Internet information and applications.
- User interface changes – Navigation buttons have been improved to offer better cueing for next action required. Some buttons may appear a different color depending on the action needed.
- LTI Provider support – NCLOR now has basic LTI provider support, allowing users to embed any NCLOR content into compliant LTI consumer applications.
- Expanded grade levels – The NCLOR grade levels, tagged to any resource, are expanded to included each grade level individually.
- Facebook and Google+ integration – You may now recommend resources from with the Open Educational Resources (OER) collection to your Facebook or Google+ accounts. This social media integration lets you share those resources with anyone which includes people without NCLOR accounts.
To view for more information about these new features, see the NCLOR 6.0 New Features Tutorial.
NCLOR Four Year Anniversary
April 1st 2013, marked the four year anniversary of the “production go live” date for the North Carolina Learning Objects Repository. Since that first roll out, the NCLOR has grown into a mature and robust system with over 16,000 individual high quality resources. The NCLOR is integrated into 57 of the 58 community college learning management systems and 556,460 pages have been viewed by 110,300 users. Users from 139 different countries have visited the NCLOR in the past 4 years but 88,104 visits are directly from North Carolina educators and students. (see Figure 1 below)
Figure 1: NCLOR User distribution map for North Carolina from Dec 2009 to Apr 2013
The future of the NCLOR looks brighter and ever. In the last year, the NCLOR has expanded to include a more integrated partnership K-12 or the NC Department of Public Instruction (DPI). In this effort, NCLOR has worked with the DPI leadership to integrate the application into the overarching K-12 Race-to-the-Top Initiative federal grant strategy.
The success NCLOR is not possible without the hard work and dictation of all the team members of the Learning Technology System division of the NCCCS System Office, the distance learning and library administrators at all of the NCCCS colleges, and our NC Office of Information Technology Services and Pearson –Equella partners.
NCLOR is version 6.0 & Open for Use
NCLOR has now been successfully updated to version 6.0 and is available for use. The upgrade completed in record time with no issues. Again, the NCLOR staff apologizes for any inconvenience this short down-time may of caused.
Thank-you,
Jonathon Sweetin
NCLOR System Admin
Planned application down time set for 6:00 pm, March 28th.
The NCLOR application update will begin March 28th at 6:00 pm and will be unavailable until 6:00 pm and March 29th. Users will not be able to access the NCLOR during this down time. We will be upgrading our current 5.2 production instance to version 6.0. The NCLOR staff apologizes in advance for any inconvenience.
Thank You,
Jonathon Sweetin
NCLOR System Administrator
Notre Dame University OpenCourseWare added to the NCLOR
Today, fifty new courses from the Notre Dame University OpenCourseWare were added to the NCLOR. The Notre Dame OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a free and open digital publication of course materials. By offering free, high-quality course materials to the world, OCW strives to overcome the barriers geography, economics, age and language present to the spread of knowledge.
This is a screenshot of the Notre Dame University OpenCourseWare website at http://ocw.nd.edu/.
The courses included in this resource series have links to lessons, assignments, exams, and additional resources. There are IMS package links in every course in order to download the complete course at one time. The subjects included are: Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Africana Studies, Anthropology, Arabic and Middle East Studies, Architecture, Center for Social Concerns, Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences, Classics, Computer Applications, English, History, Latino Studies, Mathematics, Peace Studies, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Poverty Studies, Sociology, Theology, and University Writing Program.
This is an Open Educational Resource series and you can access this resource series by:
- log into the NCLOR < www.explorethelor.org > or through your institution’s learning management system (LMS)
- navigate to the Browse by Resource Series area
- click on the Notre Dame University OpenCourseWare series.
NROC Algebra I (2011) and Developmental Math Courses Updated
Open to NCCCS Faculty Only
NROC Algebra I (2011) and Developmental Math courses have been updated in the NCLOR. The Developmental Math course was updated with 4 new units: Rational Expressions, Radical Expressions and Quadratic Equations, Functions, and Exponential and Logarithmic Functions. The course content is now available for browsing by complete unit (1-18) or by topic. This will help faculty find specific resources quickly and efficiently. Some link fixes to current resources and additional resource metadata were also included in this update.
NROC’s Developmental Math Program is designed to be used with students striving to meet college entrance requirements. The program has pre- and post-assessment features that help direct students to the content needed to close their proficiency gaps, and offers video, audio, interactive simulations, puzzles, and other instructional approaches that engage a variety of learning styles and attitudes. The NROC courses utilize various combinations of video, animation, still graphics, simulations, text and audio.
Learning Object “Finding Domain and Range” ( Screenshot of Development Math Course, Unit 17, Lesson 2, Topic 3)
Many of the Developmental Math and Algebra I resources have been tagged to the appropriate DMA 010-080 student learning outcomes.
Accessing Content: To find this content you can do any of the following:
- Search by free text for: “DevMath” or “Algebra I (2011)”
- Browse by NROC resource series: Navigate to the Browse by Resource Series area> click on the NROC series> Subject Area> Developmental Math or Algebra
- Browse by NCCCS Combined Course Library: Click on Browse Course Subjects C – D > DMA -Developmental Mathematics.
- Search by NCCCS Student Learning Outcome go to Search> Click on “Within” > choose NCCCS Student Learning Outcomes from the advanced search.
Important Note: Due to NROC license agreement this series is only available to NCCCS Faculty.
Harvard University’s Natural Science Lecture Demonstration Videos Added to NCLOR
Harvard’s Natural Science Lecture Demonstrations series provides visual demonstrations for a wide variety of topics to supplement lectures in physics, chemistry, astronomy, and biology. This collection has 37 videos attached to 8 resources. The lecture demonstrations have two important purposes: to increase student understanding of the concepts demonstrated, and to increase student enjoyment of class. Natural Science Lecture Demonstrations consists of a team of physicists and chemists who develop, construct, and present demonstrations for lectures in the Science Center building at Harvard University. Working with members of faculty, they aim to clarify and enhance the scientific concepts presented in lecture with visible, memorable, and sometimes mind-blowing effects.
The topics covered in this video series include: Newtonian Mechanics, Fluids ,Oscillations and Waves, Electricity and Magnetism, Quantum Physics and Relativity, Thermal Physics, and Chemistry. The NCCCS courses that could be enhanced by using these resources are: PHY-080, PHY090, and CHM-081.
Example: Pendulum Waves by NatSciDemos
To access this resource series:
- log into the NCLOR < www.explorethelor.org > or through your institution’s learning management system (LMS)
- navigate to the Browse by Resource Series area
- click on the Harvard Natural Science Lecture Demonstrations series.
Stanford Center for Professional Development Resource Series Added to NCLOR
The NCLOR now has 26 new video seminars from the Stanford Center for Professional Development (SCPD). SCPD is a part of the school of Engineering at Stanford University and connects professionals worldwide to the research and teaching of university faculty. Currently, there are five topics in this seminar series. The topics include; Engineering and Climate Change, Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders, Topics in International Technology Management, Human Computer Interaction, and Computer Systems Colloquium. The guest lecturers in this series include Melinda Gates, Peter Norvig from Google and many others.
Seminar Example: Google’s Peter Norvig on Online Education
To access this resource series:
- log into the NCLOR www.explorethelor.org or through your institution’s learning management system (LMS)
- navigate to the Browse by Resource Series area
- click on the Stanford University Seminars series.
Nation Science Foundation Resources Updated in NCLOR
The National Science Foundation collection is now updated in the NCLOR to include 206 new videos. The National Science Foundation, along with its partners at NBC Learn and CBS News, have created a digital collection of science, technology and engineering related videos. The video series included in this collection are: Chalk Talk, Changing Planet, Chemistry Now, Green Revolution, Innovation Nation, Profiles of Scientists and Engineers, Road to the New Energy Economy, Science Behind the New, Science Nation, Science in Motion, and The Science of the Summer Olympics.
These new video series join The Science of NFL Football, The Science of NHL Hockey, The Science of Speed (NASCAR), and The Science of the Olympic Winter Games series which were previously made available in the NCLOR.
Collection Example: Science of the Summer Olympics: The Biomechanics of Usain Bolt, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt holds the World and Olympic records for the fastest time in the 100-meter sprint. Bolt’s stride, strength, and muscle coordination make him not just a biomechanical marvel, but also a gold medal winner at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
The subjects included in this collection update are: Agricultural and Natural Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Computer Science, Education, Engineering, Health Medical Sciences, Information Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Social and Behavioral Sciences.
The NCCCS courses that could be enriched by using these resource are: ANT210, BIO130, CHM080, CHM082, CHM3001, CTS287, EDU271, EGR110, ENV110,ENV120, ENV230, FOR171, MSC160, MSC172, MUS110, PHY080, PHY090, SOC210, SOC220, SST110, and SST140.
Accessibility Statement: All of the videos in this collection are closed captioned or have links to the text version of the video narration.
To access this resource series:
- log into the NCLOR www.explorethelor.org or through your institution’s learning management system (LMS)
- navigate to the Browse by Resource Series area
- click on the National Science Foundation series.
