Blackboard and McGraw-Hill Higher Education apply that same approach to a bold and successful partnership. Their cloud-based providences directly address the mounting need for uniquely 21st century classroom materials.

“McGraw-Hill Connect is integrated into Blackboard Learn,” says Stacey Fontenot, vice president of marketing at Blackboard.”McGraw-Hill Connect is an eLearning system that includes the core textbook, assignments, and assessments. It is important to note that this is not just an e-textbook solution; it is essentially a ‘whole course solution.’ ”

How It Works

McGraw-Hill and Blackboard organized their collaboration as a direct result of educators’ demands. As online classes increased in popularity over the past decade, it makes sense that teachers and students would gravitate towards an equally convenient textbook option.

“The relationship was inspired by a market need defined through research and delving into problems faced in online instruction. For several years, instructors have been asking for content inside their learning management systems,” says Fontenot. “In combining the two technologies, the companies increase instructor efficiencies: a single sign-on into one system and one gradebook instead of two for all grades.”

Available all over the world, save for China and India, the partnership between the two higher education juggernauts yields two tempting options — McGraw-Hill Connect and McGraw-Hill Create.

Connect offers up an immersive, multimedia textbook experience. Most major academic subjects are covered, updated regularly, and illustrate major points with engaging graphics, video, audio, and more. McGraw-Hill offers webinars and other instructional resources to help educators get the most out of the tool.

As the name implies, Create provides a higher degree of customizing than Connect. Instructors browse thousands of different resources — mostly textbooks — and add excerpts, articles, and other learning materials for a personalized classroom resource. Unlike traditional textbooks, the content only reflects the courses’ unique needs, jettisoning anything irrelevant. They can even upload and share their own media for further personalization.

No matter which route teachers take, the partnership between the two companies provides a simple, friendly interface.

“Users simply log into Blackboard — with that single sign-on, they can directly access all of their course tools and content from McGraw-Hill Education right within the Learn environment,” says Brian Sylvester, executive marketing manager of digital integration at McGraw-Hill Higher Education. “As students submit assignments, their scores are automatically synchronized with the Blackboard gradebook. All course resources and performance data are accessible in a single online environment.”

Fontenot explains that many instructors use the printed textbook as primary and supplement with digital. “It is clear that there is an appetite for going digital and that it is getting closer to reaching a critical mass, but the level of engagement in an online course solution is still in its early phases,” she says.

Who Benefits — and Why

Digital textbooks have yet to fully overtake their print predecessors. But the ease and convenience of direct integration into learning platforms might very well lead to a complete, not-so-hostile takeover in the near future.

Teachers and Students

Because the McGraw-Hill and Blackboard partnership is cloud-based, teachers and students constantly access the must updated research and information. Rather than waiting on new textbook editions to finally see print, they need only log in to learn the latest.

“With vetted and peer-reviewed content available, faculty [members] don’t need to spend as much time building core content; instead they can focus on how to add to their course based on an incident that happened in the class or a current event. Instructors can easily adapt to student needs,” says Fontenot.

This immediacy also increases an online course’s scalability. “Using pre-packaged content helps an instructor go from teaching 50 to 300 students without the time commitment of creating another course shell,” she says.

Enhanced convenience leads to enhanced grades. Not only do students receive the most current data available in any given field, the easy logistics of integrated digital textbooks frees up their time for more important matters — like tackling challenging coursework requiring additional attention, which has actually led to greater classroom performance.

“The result [of tools, like McGrawhill Connect and LearnSmart, integrated with Blackboard] is a more efficient education for all parties involved — instructors save time designing, delivering and reporting their courses; students become more effective learners; and administrators enjoy lowered support costs and higher completion rates.”

Best of all, these perks come at no additional cost to either the teacher or the student: “As neither McGraw-Hill Education nor Blackboard charge for the integration itself, the service truly is a win-win,” he says.

The Companies Themselves

Blackboard and McGraw-Hill also mutually gain from the partnership. They maintained their status as industry leaders in their respective higher education sectors by considering consumer demands and meeting them. In this instance, a need for instant resources congruent to the immediate nature of online learning.

“[Blackboard and McGraw-Hill] have mutual goals in moving educators from print to digital solutions,” Fontenot notes. “McGraw-Hill can reach more instructors through the required campus-wide LMS, and Blackboard can offer high-quality, trusted, and proven content to its end users.”

As both companies grow, they learn how to best approach shifting needs regarding digital textbooks. Though the McGraw-Hill and Blackboard partnership is not the only one of its kind, it remains one of the most notable and popular — and one whose tenets could easily inspire future collaboration among other companies.

Similar Collaborations and Open Ed

Neither Blackboard nor McGraw-Hill work exclusively with one another. They both experiment with different integrated textbook techniques in order to establish some semblance of best practices. And, of course, advance the cause of online, collaborative, and open education.

Blackboard also partners with WileyPLUS, Cengage Learning’s Mindtap, Macmillan, Pearson’s MyLab, and, starting this summer, VitalSource. Each arrangement boasts its own unique features, offering schools different options suitable for different needs. Some allow for customization, others full digital versions of print textbooks along with instant updates when new research materializes.

But it isn’t just Blackboard stepping out and enjoying a few partnerships on the side. McGraw-Hill provides its own opportunities for learning platforms to integrate their textbooks.

“In addition to our partnership with Blackboard, McGraw-Hill Education also offers an LMS agnostic integration service, MH Campus, that enables single sign-on access and gradebook integration with more than 90% of the LMS in use at higher ed institutions today,” Sylvester says.

“The underpinnings of this integration are standards-based, leveraging Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) from the IMS Global Learning Consortium,” he continues. “These standards have provided a FERPA-compliant framework for many content, tools, and platform providers to securely integrate their offerings in an efficient and consistent manner.”

All these initiatives not only revolutionize online education by meeting the consumers’ need for convenient, integrated textbooks, but they further promote the concept of open ed as well. Though they require schools to subscribe, their structures reflect major characteristics of the open education movement — collaboration and customization.

The Future

Textbooks fully interwoven with learning platforms illustrate more of a permanent trend than an experimental fad. They make perfect sense within the context of online education. Because arrangements such as the one between Blackboard and McGraw-Hill are convenient, time-saving, come at no additional cost, and improve student performance, it is not a stretch to say they occupy an integral spot in open and online education.

“As all digital tools and content are becoming increasingly interoperable, educators and students are demanding a similar experience from their learning resources,” says Sylvester. “The partnership gives our joint customers the freedom to select the content items and assessments they wish to assign to students and deploy them directly within the Blackboard Learn environment — tearing down the walled gardens that existed previously between systems.”

Sylvester notes how the increasing number of academics taking advantage of the McGraw-Hill and Blackboard collaboration bodes positive for online and open education’s future: “This shift is further evidenced by the sizable portion of our customer base accessing course materials via these channels today and the number of other providers working to develop similar capabilities for their offerings.”

Only one major concern compromises integrated digital textbooks’ survival. Academia’s notorious hesitance to experiment with new technological innovations prevents it from fully implementing integrated textbooks.

After dismantling this final roadblock, partnerships such as Blackboard and McGraw-Hill’s will likely transition from a major niche to mainstream success. Their advantages fit snugly into a higher education environment valuing open, collaborative, and digital learning options. Shunting integrated textbooks to the sidelines does teachers and students a major disservice, wasting their time and maybe even lowering grades. The future of higher education should involve integrated technology, even if it means using it to initially supplement instruction rather than to completely replace older methods. If schools truly hope to further the cause of online and open options, these virtual publications absolutely need to be available.

The post McGraw-Hill and Blackboard: Partnering to Create the Learning Experience of the Future appeared first on OEDB.org.

HootSuite

HootSuite is a powerful social media manager with over 6 million users.

It will let you monitor and post to multiple social networks including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, WordPress, etc.  You can schedule and deploy status updates and tweets in advance, track mentions of your name, and view reports analyzing social media traffic.  The application offers the Ow.ly url shortener for quickly making short urls to post on Twitter.  And there are mobile apps available for nearly every type of device.

Here’s what you can do with some of the major social media applications:

Twitter

Use HootSuite to send and schedule Tweets, search what others are tweeting, organize your tweets by list or keyword, as well as monitor Mentions, Direct Messages, Sent Tweets, Favorited Tweets, and more in dedicated streams.

Facebook

Post updates, add images, monitor feeds, and more.

LinkedIn

HootSuite allows you to post directly to your Company Pages, Groups and Profiles, as well as create job search streams.

Google+ Pages

Share and comment on posts, search public posts and updates, see recent user activity, as well as view comments and +1s.

WordPress

schedule and cross-post content to multiple WordPress accounts. The publishing platform integration also allows you to reblog noteworthy posts and create a stream for blogs you’re following.

Create Your Own!

Start by signing up for a HootSuite account here: https://hootsuite.com

You will then be brought to your dashboard page and you’ll see that you haven’t set up any tabs or added any social networks yet.

Set up Your Profile

You can start by filling out your profile by clicking on the default owl avatar in the upper left corner.  This will lead you to your profile page where you can edit your info and start adding social networks.

Add Social Networks

Once you’re done with your profile, click to start adding your networks.  You can add up to 5 with the free account.  You will be prompted to login to your social networks as you choose each one.  HootSuite will then be authorized to access those applications and feed in your info and enable you to post to your accounts from within HootSuite.

View Tabs

Once you’re done adding your social networks, click on the Home icon on the left navigation.  This will bring you to your main dashboard where you will see that HootSuite has set up tabs for you displaying different feeds from each of your networks.  You can organize any of these by dragging and dropping them with the mouse.  Now you can easily monitor what’s happening on all of your social networks in one interface.

Post Status Updates and Tweets

You’re now ready to start posting to your social networks.  Click into the “Compose message” box at the top and you will see that it expands.  Here is where you can write your status update or tweet, include a link to a website in the “add a link” box to be automatically shortened, and choose which of your social networks to send the update/tweet/message to.  Also, if you click on the calendar icon, a scheduling interface appears and you can choose the time and date that your update will be deployed to your networks of choice!

View Reports

There are basic reports that are available with the free account of HootSuite.  Click on the analytics icon on the left navigation and choose either: Twitter Overview, Ow.ly Click Summary, or URL Click Stats – Ow.ly.

Success!

Congrats! Now you know how to create your own social media posting dashboard, monitor your networks, schedule and post to multiple networks at once and view analytical reports.

The post How to Create a Social Media Posting Hub with HootSuite appeared first on OEDB.org.

Libraries offer resources, from research to licensing support, that are essential to the future of MOOCs as they grow both in numbers and in seriousness. As MOOCs become an increasingly valid and valuable resource, it’s clear that they can benefit from another great educational resource: librarians.

The MOOC Library

MOOCs have sparked an educational revolution in recent years, but the academic library has gone through its own major changes, commonly known as Library 2.0. Libraries have expanded their offerings beyond traditional paper books and journals to include digital resources including search engines, databases, and active online communities and assistance.

In their latest iteration, libraries have grown to become an information commons in physical and digital forms, with study rooms, computer labs, and virtual reference. And these resources make them a perfect complement to MOOCs. Rebecca Miller, information literacy coordinator at Virginia Tech, views MOOCs and libraries as a natural partnership, as libraries have always been about providing access to information and education. “MOOCs are just the newest incarnation of this goal,” she says.

Miller sees libraries supporting MOOC students by doing many of the things they’ve always done, like providing access to resources, and even existing as a place where learners can use the Internet to access a MOOC. Miller points to the many potential MOOC support roles for librarians: as copyright consultants to MOOC faculty, tech and research assistance for MOOC learners and instructional design consultants as MOOCs are built.

Librarians can extend beyond the role of MOOC support, though. Librarians are experts in information and other resources that can help both faculty and students in MOOCs. In addition to a support role, Miller would like to see librarians move to the role of collaborators in growing MOOC potential.

Librarians can lend legitimacy to MOOCs as well. Critics like Elizabeth Dill, library assistant at Georgia Military College, question the research MOOC students use to complete their essays. In MOOCs: Where are the Librarians? she asks, “From whom are the references coming? Are they scholarly? Peer-reviewed?” With a librarian weighing in on a MOOC, students can get connected with the quality references they need to be a part of serious scholarship and satisfy critics who question the validity of MOOCs.

The MOOC Challenge

It’s clear there’s huge potential for librarians in MOOCs, so why aren’t they there? “There is still no clear standard for how library services should be integrated into the online learning platform,” says Forrest Wright, author of What do Librarians Need to Know About MOOCs? Librarians may be doing their part to help MOOCs here and there, but their contributions are far from widespread. Wright highlights common approaches including embedding librarians in courses for student questions, or requiring that students work through research tutorials that teach them to use library resources.

But according to Wright, these tasks may be difficult, as MOOCs bring in many more students than conventional online courses, students that are not officially a part of the institution. “These realities pose both logistical and moral challenges,” Wright says. Can librarians reach all of these students, and, is it a good idea to use library resources to support these unaffiliated students? Merrilee Proffitt, senior program officer with Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) agrees that the MOOC student population is a concern, identifying the size, diversity, and unaffiliated status of the MOOC student body as a big shift for libraries. This, according to Proffitt, is what libraries are most carefully considering.

In addition to the challenge of supporting thousands of students at once, a lot of work goes into creating and supporting a MOOC. Duke University reports their first MOOC took over 600 hours of effort to build and deliver. And Duke librarians have been integral in gathering materials for massive courses and integrating technologies into MOOC lessons. Lynne O’Brien, the director of academic technology and instructional services at Duke University, cautions librarians getting involved with MOOCs to be prepared for questions from an international audience, with differences including languages and technological resources.

While the massive influx of nonaffiliated students can be a challenge for libraries, that’s also part of what makes them such a great opportunity. MOOCs are free and open to all and easy to access, so they attract students from all walks of life and locations around the world. Ed Rock, provost and director of open course initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania explains that MOOCs may be attended by residents in assisted living facilities and autistic children. Librarians supporting MOOCs are able to reach these students that go beyond the scope you’d expect to find in an academic library.

Yes, it’s difficult to help so many students, who may not have a reliable Internet connection, be able to use Flash, or even speak English. These are challenges that can’t be ignored. But dwelling on these difficulties is beyond the point of MOOCs. The point is that participating in MOOCs allows university libraries to serve populations they’ve never reached before, and an opportunity like that is worth rising to meet the challenge.

What MOOC Librarians Can Do

We’re still at the beginning of exploring support for MOOCs, Proffitt explains. Even leaders are still working to become grounded. But she highlights providing scholarly materials and embedded research skills as the resources most academic libraries are currently bringing to MOOCs. Still, Proffitt insists in these beginning stages, we’re going to see a lot of development in MOOCs and how they relate to learning on campus.

Proffitt recently hosted MOOCs and Libraries: Massive Opportunity or Overwhelming Challenge?, a conference at the University of Pennsylvania with thoughtful discussion on how libraries can move forward with MOOCs. In the conference and her related work, Proffitt has seen academic libraries embrace open courseware and new learning for their residential students as the field of online learning has grown.

What’s next for librarians and MOOCs? Librarians can take open education to the next level, with course-specific research guides, advocacy, and course materials, among other resources. Attendees of the OCLC MOOCs and Libraries event identified some of the next steps they hope to take in working with MOOCs, including:

• Take a MOOC.

  You can’t support, grow, or advocate what you don’t fully understand. There’s no better way to gain an understanding of MOOCs than to jump in and take one from the student’s perspective. You might even consider taking the MOOC MOOC, a course designed to inform students about the many aspects of MOOCs. Proffitt encourages librarians not to worry about finishing, but to poke around to better understand opportunities for support. “The discussion boards and other places where students hang out can be overwhelming but also quite revealing,” says Proffitt.

• Become a part of MOOC development.

  As institutions scramble to get MOOCs developed, they may overlook the resource they have in academic librarians. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be involved. Don’t wait to be asked, just find a seat at the table. “Approach the faculty and see what the library can do to help,” says Proffitt. “Everything is highly experimental right now, and I’m a big fan of learning by doing.”

• Offer licensing and access support.

  One of the most valuable things librarians can do to support MOOCs is offering assistance with licensing and access. Librarians can share vendors, provide advocacy, and point faculty to public domain and open access resources.

• Develop course research guides.

  Work with faculty on their course plans and identify where students might be able to take advantage of library resources, including journals, books, and reference materials, both online and off. You can create course guides that point students to quality scholarly materials that they can rely on.

• Encourage MOOC use.

  As an information hub with computers and a reliable Internet connection, it’s hard to think of a better location where students can go to take a MOOC. Promote your institution’s MOOCs as a host and create local MOOC learning communities. You can also offer library resources for MOOC study groups and face to face discussion opportunities.

• Create library MOOCs.

  Teach information literacy, library research skills, and more in a librarian-led MOOC. It will help teach important skills, and give students an introduction to the process of completing a MOOC.

In addition to OCLC attendee recommendations, City University of New York suggests librarians can advise faculty on open access content, create course-specific resource guides, and negotiate with MOOC-featured publishers. Gerard McKiernan, author of the MOOCs and Libraries blog, encourages librarians to subscribe to open education resource blogs, like Open University’s ORIOLE. Discussion groups like Library 2.0′s Open Educational Resources can keep librarians in the loop as well. McKiernan also points to white papers like MOOCs: Massive Open Online Courses as useful resources.

“We’re at the beginning, not the end,” Proffitt says. MOOCs have a lot to offer students and the future of online higher education, and librarians are in a great position to help this fledgling resource grow in depth and quality. There’s so much librarians can do, and there are many opportunities for development.

The post Librarians: Your Most Valuable MOOC Supporters appeared first on OEDB.org.

Google+ is like Facebook in that it’s a robust social network in which people can connect with friends and colleagues, post status updates, share photos, videos, and other content, and discover trends. It’s similar to Twitter in the way you follow people and are followed by them. Google+ uses what it calls Circles which are categories of people such as friends, family, acquaintances, professional contacts, etc. You can add anyone you want to any of your circles without an approval of a friend request. And people can follow you by adding you to their circles.

One unique feature really makes Google+ stand out and that’s its Hangouts. Google+ Hangouts are group video chats that can include up to 10 people. Hangouts can be broadcast live by enabling the ‘Hangouts on Air’ check box when setting up the hangout. Your video chat will then be broadcasted both on the Google+ and YouTube channels. Your public hangout will then be recorded and the video and will be made available on your Google+ homepage at the end of the chat. I can think of a million ways that libraries could make use of Google+ Hangouts for live author chats, instructional sessions, book groups, etc.

So, how do you get started? Here’s a quick guide to get you going.

1. Create Your Profile

It all starts here: http://plus.google.com. Click in to create your profile and fill it in with as much information as possible. You’ll get more out of the social network if you fill out the “About” section with info about your job, your bio, your educational details, etc.

2. Claim Your Content

You’ll definitely want to claim the content you create in your Google+ profile. This is called Authorship and comes will many benefits in Google search results. I just wrote a detailed post on this called Five Compelling Reasons You’ll Want to Claim Authorship on Google+. Check that out for more details.

3. Find People

Google+ has a few ways to find people and add friends. It unfortunately does not offer an import of friends from Facebook at this time. But you can access your Yahoo and GMail email contacts. Click on the “Find People” option on the left navigation bar and toggle through the Suggestions on the right for importing email contacts. You’ll also see that in the center, Google+ has suggested many people that you may know. You can quickly add each individual to one of your circles. At the top, you can see 3 tabs that you can toggle through – “Find People”, “Added You”, and “Your Circles”. If you click into the “Added You” tab, you’ll see people that have you in their circles. You can quickly add them into yours here. And to see everyone in your circles, just click into the final tab, “Your Circles”. This is also where you can create new circles – at the bottom of this page.

4. Start Posting, Commenting, and Socializing

Start with the Home button on the left navigation and check out the stream of updates, photos, and other shared content from people in your circles. If you like an update, give it a +1 (which is similar to a “Like” on Facebook), or comment on or share the post with others.

Choose the Explore button on the left navigation and start checking out what’s hot and recommended. Click into some trending topics, suggested communities, and pages you might like.

And post some status updates of your own!

5. Join Communities

Click into the Communities button and search for some of your interests or career pursuits. You’ll quickly see that there are many communities of people who share your interests. This is a great way to get to know people in this social network.

6. Start a Hangout

And when you’re feeling more comfortable, jump into or start your own video chat! For a complete guide to how Hangouts work, check out this great article, Getting started with Google+ Hangouts.

The post 6 Quick Steps to Get Started with Google+ appeared first on OEDB.org.

1.) Google Will Display Your Photo Next to Results

If you’ve gone through the process to claim authorship on Google+, the Google search engine will display your Google+ photo next to every article or blog post you’ve written making search results not only more personal and but also makes them stand out more. It is speculated that these results with photos next to them get higher click-through rates than those without.

2. Your Author Name Will Lead to More Results

Right underneath each article or blog post that you’ve written, Google will display your full author name which searchers can click into for more results of works written by you.

3. Searchers Can Instantly Add You To Their Circles

When searchers limit their results to your author name, your Google+ info gets displayed on the right side of the search results. Searchers can instantly add you to their circles from the serach results page.

4. Your Authority Will Be Displayed

With each article that you write, Google will display the number of circles that you’re in within Google+, displaying your authority to searchers.

5. You Can Get Authorship Analytics

Once you’re an author you can also get a Google Webmaster Tools account. Once you’re signed in, click on Labs in the left navigation to reveal the link to Author Stats. This will give you statistics on clicks and click-through rates for all of your posts.

How do you claim authorship on Google+? There are two easy ways, one is to put a snippet of code within your website or blog linking your content to your Google+ profile, or by having an email address at the same domain as your content and including that email on your Google+ profile. Either way, you’ll also need to add your website/blog to your Google+ profile in the ‘Contributor To’ section. For in-depth instructions for claiming authorship, see the Google Authorship page here.

The post Five Compelling Reasons You’ll Want to Claim Authorship on Google+ appeared first on OEDB.org.

Five Mathematical Areas to Familiarize Yourself With

Throughout the history of science and philosophy, the concept of reason has been picked apart by the world’s greatest minds. Of all the many investigations made into the concept, mathematics remains one of the best tools we can use to get closer to fully understanding the “laws” which govern reality. Below is a brief overview of several mathematical areas, with brief descriptions and test questions you can use to study.

Pre-Algebra

This area of mathematics is usually studied by middle school students as an introduction to algebra. In some senses, it’s the backbone of everyday math. Therefore, refreshing yourself on the core concepts can be quite easy if you have some background with arithmetic, multiplication and division in the form of basic algebraic equations.

Test Your Knowledge!

Solve for “x”:

1. 2 + x = 4
2. (15 – 5) – x = 10

There are a few steps we need to follow in order to “solve for x.” The key is to isolate the “x” before the equal sign. For the first question, simply subtract 2 from both sides of the equal sign. Subtracting 2 from 2 equals 0, and 2 from 4 equals 2 (you cannot subtract a number from x). Now your equation should look like 0 + x = 2, which is essentially x = 2. Now try the second question and see how you do!

Calculus

Typically, students study some form of calculus as a junior or senior in high school, or in the first years of college. It certainly is not the easiest area of mathematics! The invention of calculus is often credited to 17th century thinkers Isaac Newton and Wilhelm Gottfried Leibniz and is defined as the mathematical study of change. Change, as we all know, can be quite complicated, and the study of calculus definitely follows suit.

Because calculus equations can get rather complicated and unwieldy, there will not be any practice questions for you to take in this article. If you’re looking to spark your memory, this basic calculus refresher created by Dr. Ismor Fischer at the University of Wisconsin is a great resource to keep handy.

Geometry

Like calculus, this area of mathematics is something many people tend to just get or struggle their whole lives trying to grasp. It requires a keen sense of spatial intuition, in addition to a robust knowledge of algebra and trigonometry. Invented by the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid, geometry is the study of shapes and sizes, as well as distinguishing the various properties of space.

Test Your Knowledge!

1. What is the supplementary angle to 24?
2. Find the area of a circle with a radius of 7.

For the first question, you should know that supplementary angles must add up to a total of 180. So solving this question is rather easy, just subtract 24 from 180 and voila! Question number two requires the memorization of a formula (geometry requires that you memorize many different formulas). The formula you need in order to find the area of a circle is: Area = Pi (3.14) x Radius squared.

Trigonometry

Trigonometry is quite similar to geometry, except it’s all about triangles. You’d never realize how important triangles are to our world until you study a bit of trigonometry. In addition to naturally proceeding geometry during a student’s course of study in mathematics, it also tends to precede the study of calculus. Many of the functions and equations learned in trigonometry are often heavily used in careers that rely upon applied mathematics, such as engineering.

Test Your Knowledge!

1. Find the Sine of angle A with and adjacent side of 8, an opposite side of 9 and a hypotenuse of 10.

If the question above seems like a bunch of gibberish, don’t worry; you’re not alone. Without going into too much detail, the Sine is really just a ratio of two sides of a right triangle: the opposite side of angle A and the triangle’s hypotenuse (the diagonal side). So, the equation would be: Sin A = opposite / hypotenuse (adjacent side doesn’t matter for this formula). See if you can do it!

Applied Math

As the name would imply, the various systems of applied math are considered to be the more practical areas of mathematics. Examples of applied math include statistics, computer science and economics. Typically, areas within applied mathematics fall under the auspices of the liberal sciences, and do not often require the same degree of mathematical knowledge needed by students of the hard sciences.

Test Your Knowledge!

1. (Probability) If you roll a die once, what is the probability that it will show an even number?
2. (Economics) Last month, shoppers bought 200 boxes of cereal out of 250 total boxes from the grocery store. This month, 300 shoppers wanted to buy cereal, but only 250 new boxes of cereal arrived. Did the supply or demand increase for cereal this month? Was the demand met?

The first question is pretty easy compared to other probability scenarios. On a normal,

6-sided die, there are 6 possible outcomes: 3 possible even numbers and 3 possible odd numbers. Therefore, there is a 50% (1/2) chance the die will show an even number. The second question is also relatively simple. Since 300 shoppers (100 more than the previous month) wanted to buy cereal, the demand obviously increased. Moreover, 50 boxes were carried over from the previous month, making the total number of boxes available for this month 300. Therefore, the supply also increased and the demand was met.

Resources for Refreshing Your Math Skills

Below is a list of some of the greatest resources you can use to continue your refreshing your knowledge of mathematics:

• The Ultimate Math Refresher for the GRE, GMAT, and SAT: This comprehensive study guide is an excellent resource for refreshing your skills in several mathematical areas, such as arithmetic, algebra and geometry. Not only does the book go over these areas in depth, it can help you prepare for the math component of several college and graduate school entrance exams.
• Oxford University Mathematics OpenCourseWare: This site, hosted by Oxford University, offers several massively open online courses (MOOCs) across many areas of mathematics that any sort of student can study for free. While many of these courses probably shouldn’t be taken by beginners, the courses available, such as Introduction to Pure Mathematics, offer great refresher materials for college or grad school students.
• S.O.S. Math: Helpful to both beginning and advanced math enthusiasts, this site is a boon for many of us who need to brush up on our math skills across several popular areas of mathematics. In addition to several areas of math outlined earlier in this guide, S.O.S. Math also provides helpful information about books and other math-related sites you can learn from.
• King of Math: This game app for iOS devices provides people with a fun way to refresh their skills across several areas of mathematics. The game starts you off as a farmer who must level up by answering several fast-paced math exercises across areas such as statistics, arithmetic and geometry.

Math Makes the World Go Round

Resources we use to refresh our skills across various areas of mathematics are not only helpful when promoting our ability to think quantitatively, but could prepare you for a real world situation where such knowledge might come in handy. Even though your current major or profession may not require a strong knowledge of math to get by, taking some time to refresh yourself on many of the topics outlined above could end up helping you in more ways than you think.

Answers to Questions Above:

• Pre-Algebra: 2; 0
• Geometry: 156; 156.86
• Trigonometry: 0.9
• Applied Math: (See Guide)

The post College Math Refresher appeared first on OEDB.org.

]]> http://oedb.org/library/beginning-online-learning/college-math-refresher/feed/ 0 http://oedb.org/library/features/african-americans-in-the-sciences/ http://oedb.org/library/features/african-americans-in-the-sciences/#comments Fri, 03 May 2013 19:45:47 +0000 Staff Writers http://oedb.org/?p=27967 Several of the scientific breakthroughs that shape our world today have come from the brilliant minds of African-American scientists.

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From Galileo Galilei to Neil deGrasse Tyson, great individuals who have advanced the cause of science throughout history have belonged to all backgrounds, races and creeds. So as you might expect, several of the scientific breakthroughs that shape our world today have come from the brilliant minds of African-American scientists.

Great African-American Scientists in History

Mainstream history books do not tend to go into much detail about scientists, other than those whose breakthroughs were able to achieve a significant amount of individual fame. African-American scientists, in particular, have had trouble earning recognition in the United States due to the many civil rights challenges they faced prior to and during the 20th century. Below is a list of some of the greatest African-American scientists and the scientific fields they helped to progress.

Biochemistry: George C. Royal

Born in 1921 in Williamson, S.C., George C. Royal is widely considered one of the greatest historical figures in the field of biochemistry. In fact, he belongs to the first generation of African-Americans to obtain their Ph.D.s from an Ivy League institution in the United States. Together with his wife, Gladys Geraldine Williams, Royal went on to make significant advances in the field of biochemistry, which include breakthroughs in treating radiation overdoses with bone marrow transplants.

Biology: Harold Amos

A microbiologist and medical doctor from Pennsauken, N.J., Harold Amos led a celebrated career in the sciences throughout his life. Born in 1917, Amos’s incredible intellect and brilliance in the field of biology led to his achievement of a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1952. Two years later, Amos joined the Harvard Medical School faculty, and became the university’s first African-American department chair (Bacteriology) in 1968.

Chemistry: Percy Lavon Julian

This important figure in the history of chemistry should definitely be better known. Percy Julian was born in Montgomery, Ala., in 1899. In addition to being one of the first African-Americans to receive a doctorate in the field of chemistry, Julian worked his entire life to submit more than 130 chemical patents. Julian is perhaps best known for successfully synthesizing the natural product physostigmine, which is now used as an antidote to treat certain intoxicating effects.

Physics: Neil deGrasse Tyson

These days, it seems there is no astrophysicist more revered by the public-at-large than Neil deGrasse Tyson. Born in 1958, Tyson’s early talent in the sciences was noticed by famed astrophysicist, Carl Sagan, who acted as a mentor for the younger student until his untimely death in 1996. Since then, Tyson’s great work in the field of astrophysics continues to amaze and astound; he is considered by many to be the rightful heir to Carl Sagan’s legacy in the field.

Engineering: Lonnie George Johnson

Lonnie George Johnson is an inventor and engineer from Mobile, Ala., who is perhaps best known for inventing the ubiquitous children’s toy, the Super Soaker. His invention went on to earn $200 million in retail sales for the Larami Corporation. In addition, Johnson has established two companies that are committed to renewable energy research. One of his most notable inventions in this field is the Johnson Thermo-Electrochemical Converter System (JTEC), which creates electrical energy from thermal energy.

Entomology: Charles Henry Turner

Born in 1867, Charles Henry Turner became the first African-American to receive a graduate degree from the University of Cincinnati, and later, the first to receive a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Johnson was a very prolific academic writer who published 49 papers on the habits and psychology of invertebrates. He is perhaps best known for discovering that insects can hear and recognize sound.

Genetics: Rick Antonius Kittles

After earning his Ph.D. from George Washington University in 1998, Rick Kittles focused his attention on teaching at several different high schools throughout Washington, D.C. and New York. Kittles later began research on a federally funded project known as the New York African Burial Ground Project. During this time, Kittles made the discovery that DNA testing could be used to determine the genetic ancestry of African-Americans. This has proven to be a tremendous breakthrough in African-American ancestry research.

African Americans in the Sciences Today

Today, little stands in the way of an American’s aspirations to earn a graduate degree. It should not be discounted, however, that many of the great African-American scientists discussed above faced great adversity in their quest to become educated — much of this adversity is still felt today. Yet, the number of African-Americans who currently work in the sciences is growing at an accelerated pace. In fact, between the years 2000 and 2009, the number of African-Americans who earned a Ph.D. in the sciences grew tremendously.

In addition to the several important African-American scientists who continue their work today, such as Neil deGrasse Tyson and Lonnie George Johnson, several more African-American scientists are making waves in the field today. Of these many great people in the sciences, African American women are accounting for a larger percentage than ever before. Dr. Meredith Groudine, who successfully converted natural gas into electricity, and Valerie Thomas, the inventor of the illusion transmitter for NASA, stand as two prominent contemporary examples.

The Future of African Americans in the Sciences

As we progress toward equality for all races, backgrounds and creeds, the future remains bright for minorities still facing roadblocks on their path toward higher education. It is unfortunate that so many continue to struggle to achieve the same access and education as many of their fellow citizens. The good news is that this gap is closing faster than ever before.

While there is much to be optimistic about, there is, of course, work to do. This great collection of data compiled by Paul J. Laybourn at Colorado State University illustrates why everyone should care about equality in the sciences. Not only does Laybourn’s study show the tremendous need for educated scientists, it also shows how underrepresented minorities (URMs), such as African-Americans, still account for a very small percentage of students in actual programs.

Recently, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education initiatives have been doing much to improve the quality of education received by underrepresented minorities. Not only do STEM programs in high schools and universities around the country have a positive effect on an increased number of skilled workers and professionals, they give many people an opportunity to learn valuable skills in the sciences. This informative article from The Chronicle of Higher Education lays out why promoting the track to a STEM education is in the national interest.

Science Should Never Go Unnoticed

Today, we take pride in the many African Americans whose great work has advanced the cause of science in the United States and beyond. Our world would not be the same without the breakthroughs and achievements of these brilliant men and women. As more and more underrepresented minorities continue to choose an education in the sciences, it is all but certain that the United States will retain its status as the world’s leading scientific power.

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]]> http://oedb.org/library/features/african-americans-in-the-sciences/feed/ 0 http://oedb.org/library/choosing-a-program/what-do-the-social-sciences-actually-encompass/ http://oedb.org/library/choosing-a-program/what-do-the-social-sciences-actually-encompass/#comments Thu, 02 May 2013 19:43:39 +0000 Staff Writers http://oedb.org/?p=27963 By studying the way social science first emerged, we can pinpoint how it has influenced human interaction over the years and informed our understanding of society as a whole.

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The Economic and Social Research Council defines the social sciences as “the study of society and the manner in which people behave and influence the world around us”– a pretty broad canvas to understand and articulate. By studying the way this field first emerged, we can pinpoint how it has influenced human interaction over the years and informed our understanding of society as a whole.

Generally speaking, social science is believed to have emerged during the intellectual movement of the 1650s, otherwise known as the Age of Enlightenment, according to author Richard Olson. The demand for new information and ideas during this period created a greater need to better understand human interaction and the institutions we create. Thus the social sciences emerged as a way to better understand issues of morality, ethics, organizational psychology, and cultural patterns. These studies began to serve a variety of social and political interests, from government and the economy to health and philosophy.

The context of the Enlightenment created the need for fields like philosophy, psychology, and sociology — a few of the earliest social science foundations. Over the course of a few centuries, the field has expanded tremendously. Today, the main disciplines of social science include:

• Anthropology
• Economics
• Linguistics
• Communication
• Criminology
• Cultural Studies
• Geography
• Law
• Political Science

Though all deal to some extent with people, institutions, and interactions, each of these disciplines has a distinct approach to society; some use surveys and statistics, while others rely on interviews and case studies.

As a member of the overarching science category, the social sciences have their own theories that are tested and refuted with evidence, according to the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). This list compiled by the ESRC provides a searchable collection of social science research studies, topics, and other resources.

Major fields of study in the social sciences often coincide with higher education majors; liberal arts, law, lab science, and business all have a place in the social sciences. College-level courses will vary according to the precise degree, but students can generally expect to take a similar and often overlapping range of courses across the various social science disciplines. At Cornell University, for example, social sciences courses cover everything from economics and business management to psychology and industrial and labor relations.

Sub-Disciplines of Social Science

Anthropology, the study of human beings, often includes courses in biology, human anatomy, history, culture, economics, social relations, and even the environment. In order to study humans, one must possess a holistic view of the world and understand the functionality of the society in which they operate. Sociology students have many choices when it comes to choosing a degree concentration; these include social inequalities, law and society, economics, or science and medicine.

Sociology requires both a macro-level perspective of the way people and institutions function, and also micro-level examination and study of small groups in order to inform a bigger picture.

The field of communications encompasses the study of symbols and meaning, which are inherently tied to geographic location, culture, economics, and psychology, among other facets of human life and interaction. Fields like geography inform professions and disciplines like urban planning, which is geared towards creating more environmentally, and economically viable communities. To be effective, urban planners will draw on a number of social science research principles and theories.

Certain social science disciplines are classified as “hard” or “soft” — a term that some academics find misleading. Since the social sciences emphasize theory, mathematics, methods, and replicability, authors Loren Graham and Jean-Michel Kantor believe disciplines based more in culture and history have come to be known as “soft” because they tend to be less rigorous or scientific. On the other hand, a field such as economics — based more fundamentally in math and numbers — may be termed as “hard,” or more scientific since it tends to be more rule-bound than others.

While these labels have been disputed throughout the academic community, there is no refuting the challenging nature of the social sciences on the whole; Kevin Drum of Mother Jones examined this point in a recent article.A field so complex and adaptive can be hard to understand and study — after all, “human communities don’t obey simple mathematical laws.”

Fundamental to daily life, many of the greatest inventions and societal developments are undergirded by the social sciences. For example, doctors are currently studying social behavior, cultural beliefs, and traditions of African communities in order to effectively fight malaria among pregnant women. Social sciences also help business leaders understand and make predictions about market-based economies by focusing on human preferences and interactions. Many large, macro-level matters of government can be studied from a social science perspective in order to understand the impact on individuals, families and communities — from taxation to the state’s role in criminal justice.

The social sciences enable us to create and develop communities that understand and reflect human needs and preferences. A study in any one of the social sciences paints a more representative picture of the world in which we operate, and illustrates the interconnected nature of the systems, peoples, and interactions that one encounters on a daily basis.

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]]> http://oedb.org/library/choosing-a-program/what-do-the-social-sciences-actually-encompass/feed/ 0 http://oedb.org/ilibrarian/socialmedia/social-networking/10-tips-to-cultivate-a-strong-twitter-following/ http://oedb.org/ilibrarian/socialmedia/social-networking/10-tips-to-cultivate-a-strong-twitter-following/#comments Thu, 02 May 2013 16:18:16 +0000 Ellyssa Kroski http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/?p=16015 Are you new to Twitter or just want to build a substantial following on this popular social network? Here are 11 tips that I’ve found helpful. Follow Influential People in Your Niche Follow the most followed people in your genre, niche or area of specialization. This will keep you in the loop of all the [...]

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Are you new to Twitter or just want to build a substantial following on this popular social network? Here are 11 tips that I’ve found helpful.

1. Follow Influential People in Your Niche

   Follow the most followed people in your genre, niche or area of specialization. This will keep you in the loop of all the breaking news and opinions that are in your field. It will also give you a chance to be retweeted by well-followed personalities which will put you in front of all of their followers!

   Sure, you could follow people who are unrelated to your topic area that are guaranteed to follow you back such as those listed in compilations such as these lists hereand here, but that won’t make for a strong or relevant network of followers or conversations.

2. Retweet Interesting Posts

   Retweet posts that you like – pass along helpful articles, news items, and conference tweets, and be sure to credit the original tweeter by using the RT@Username expression.  Be a curator on Twitter! How do you know what to retweet?  If you found it interesting odds are that those that are following you will also find it interesting. I use the clickthrough test – if a post made me click through the link I found it intriguing enough to share with others.

3. Organize or Participate in Tweetchats

   Browse a list of regularly scheduled Twitter chats here on Google Docs, and you can find hashtags that interest you on a site like Hashtags.org or by following Twitter Hashtags. Here’s some additional info:

   • How to Participate in a Tweet Chat
   • Twubs: Follow Hashtags, Discover Conversations
   • TweetChat – Twitter Chats
   • Best Practices Guide For Tweet Chats

4. Organize or Participate in Tweet-Ups

   Meet up with your online Twitter friends at one of these popular events called Tweet-ups or Twitter meetups. This can be a great way to promote a new project you’re working on, discover new opportunities, or just meet new people. For more on Tweet-ups see HOW TO: Organize a Successful Tweetup

5. Use Restraint When Posting

   The best Twitterers use discipline when it comes to frivolous sharing. You don’t want to bombard your followers (or would-be followers) with irrelevant or uninteresting tweets such as reporting on what you’re eating for breakfast/lunch/dinner, gossip, political or religious rants, or anything at all negative about your job or the people you work with.

6. Tweet Photos to Keep Things Interesting.

   If you’re on a vacation, at a conference, or event that you’re tweeting about, why not include some photos to keep people engaged. Use third-party services such as TwitPic to post images that accompany your tweets!

7. Create and Curate Lists

   People love to be included in lists! When I posted about “10,000 Tweeting Librarians…Did You Make the List?“, everyone was excited to see if they’d been included in the lists. And if not, they posted asking to be added. In addition to being wonderful tools that will help you organize your tweets by subject area, they’re a great resource for others to follow/subscribe to.

8. Promote your Handle

   Promote and post about your Twitter username, or handle (e.g. @ellyssa) absolutely everywhere – on your PowerPoint presentations, your blog, your email signature, etc. 

9. Don’t Follow Many More People Than Follow You

   If you have 200 Twitter followers but subscribe to 1,200 users you will look like a spammer or someone only interested in using Twitter for marketing and self-promotion. You really want to keep the numbers close.

10. Manage Your Friends/Followers Lists Regularly

    I recently discovered that there were 490 people that I was following who weren’t following me back in return. I used Friend or Follow to determine who was on that list and to instantly un-follow all of them. Why? No one wants a one-way conversation. This frees me up to concentrate on taking part in the conversations that people who are following me are starting and taking part in. Correspondingly, I also will be following an additional 1,483 people who have been following me but that I haven’t been following. 

11. Welcome New Followers

    It’s always nice to receive a note after Following someone on Twitter, it really personalizes the social network. You can set your Twitter “Settings” to notify you when someone new follows you so that you can send them a Direct Message. You can even automate the process by having a service such as Social Oomph send an automated “Welcome” message from you whenever someone new follows you. 

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]]> http://oedb.org/ilibrarian/socialmedia/social-networking/10-tips-to-cultivate-a-strong-twitter-following/feed/ 0 http://oedb.org/ilibrarian/books/how-to-write-an-amazon-kindle-single/ http://oedb.org/ilibrarian/books/how-to-write-an-amazon-kindle-single/#comments Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:58:33 +0000 Ellyssa Kroski http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/?p=16005 Want to try your hand at writing? How about authoring an Amazon Kindle Single? The Amazon Singles store offers essays, memoirs, narratives, short stories, and reports in both fiction and non-fiction genres. But these eBooks are short – ranging from 5,000 to 30,000 words and priced accordingly at 99 cents to $4.99 each. This new [...]

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Want to try your hand at writing? How about authoring an Amazon Kindle Single? The Amazon Singles store offers essays, memoirs, narratives, short stories, and reports in both fiction and non-fiction genres. But these eBooks are short – ranging from 5,000 to 30,000 words and priced accordingly at 99 cents to $4.99 each. This new shorter format has been quite successful and Amazon has sold close to five million copies since the Singles store opened in January 2011.

Author Criteria

Anyone can submit their original work for publication in the Kindle Singles store. Amazon has “showcased writing from both new and established voices–from bestselling novelists to previously unpublished writers.”

Submission Process

• Prospective authors interested in having their works published in the Kindle Singles store can submit a manuscript or a detailed pitch for your Kindle Single. Send as much material as you have available to kindle-singles@amazon.com and include your name and a writing sample.
• They will also consider works that are self-published in the Kindle Store. In that case, send an email to kindle-singles@amazon.com and include the title, ASIN, and a brief summary.
• All submissions need to be accompanied by a cover letter with a detailed summary of the submission.
• If you simply want to propose an idea for a Single, you can write the editors at kindle-singles@amazon.com.
• The editors will read all submissions and respond within four weeks.

Details to Know

• Writers retain all rights to their work
• Authors earn 70% royalties on sales
• They are currently not accepting how-to manuals, public domain works, reference books, travel guides, or children’s books.

Further Resources

• Kindle Singles Submissions
• Amazon Broadens Its Terrain
• Amazon’s Kindle Singles a Win for Readers, Authors
• Review: My Amazon Kindle Single publishing experiment
• Exclusive: How Much Do Kindle Singles Authors Make?
• After Selling 4 Million Kindle Singles Across The Pond, Amazon’s Short eBook Format Debuts In The UK

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