Learning and teaching resources in Engineering, Mathematics and Computing
This webpage has been archived. Its content will not be updated.
The following resources have been funded by JISC through the Learning
and Teaching programme. The aim of the programme was to develop a wide
range of electronic content and to adapt it directly for use in learning
and teaching.
The programme has now been completed and has created a wealth of resources,
most of which are freely available to further and higher education
institutions. Most of the resources can be accessed through the web.
Biz/ed Virtual Learning Arcade
The Biz/ed Virtual Learning Arcade is an exciting section on Biz/ed that
provides interactive online models and simulations for economics and
business teachers, lecturers and students. Each of the 15 simulations
enables the user to carry out a series of experiments exploring such
diverse topics as ways to relieve traffic congestion in London, simulating
behaviour in the housing market, and even running an arable farm. The
simulations have support materials that have been written to enhance their
educational value. These include explanations of relevant theories,
interactive worksheets, definitions and guidelines on using the models.
Access conditions: Freely available
Contact details: Kate Sharp Tel: 0117 928 7189 kate.sharp@bristol.ac.uk
http://www.bized.co.uk
Click and Go Video
Imagine using a technology that could capture students' attention,
engage them and leave them with a richer, more meaningful and vivid
learning experience. The use of streaming digital video and audio to
support web-based learning resources is rapidly becoming an attractive
option for many educators. This technology not only provides on-demand
access and opportunities for student interaction, but can also enhance
teaching practice to open up new ways of representing, delivering and
sharing a subject discipline. Through its use, teachers can visualise a
process or show how something works, moves or performs live, without the
need to rely on purely text-based forms. They can enable their students to
"be there", without the constraints of time, space and safety.
Video Streaming: A Guide for Educational Development, developed by the
Click and Go Video team, is the ideal beginners' guide to this exciting
new area.
Access conditions: Freely available
Contact details: Clive Young Tel: 0141 331 8434 clive.young@gcal.ac.uk
http://www.clickandgovideo.ac.uk/
FAILTE - Facilitating Access to Information on Learning Technology for
Engineers
FAILTE provides engineering lecturers with a resource (database and related
services) that allows them to identify computer-based materials appropriate
for their courses. These materials are independently reviewed to help
select the most suitable.
Access conditions: Freely available
Contact details: Roger Rist Tel: 0131 451 3278 roger@icbl.hw.ac.uk
FILTER - Focusing Images for Learning and Teaching, an Enriched Resource
The FILTER project has produced a web site and database containing useful
examples and resources for anyone wishing to use digital images in learning
and teaching. The primary resource is a database containing more than two
dozen examples of image-based learning and teaching resources and hundreds
of digital images. The exemplars range from PowerPoint presentations and
web sites to multimedia and interactive tutorials. These have all been
created by practising lecturers, designed for use in their own contexts
with the intention that they be re-used and adapted for use in other
contexts and subject areas. To enable and support materials creation, each
exemplar is accompanied by a case study and 'how-to' guide. The
database is fully searchable by image, subject area and tutorial type so
if, for example, the user wishes to see how images are used to teach
geography, he or she could keyword search on 'geography', by type
of image (eg 'aerial maps'), or by delivery method (eg 'web
tutorial'). The database is also browsable. The images, like all
materials in the FILTER database, are free for educational use and come
with complete metadata records and creation history.
Access conditions: Freely available
Contact details: Jill Evans Tel: 0117 928 7164 filter-info@bristol.ac.uk
http://www.filter.ac.uk/
HERON
HERON provides a complete copyright-clearance and document-supply service,
including digitisation and paper coursepacks where necessary, to academic
institutions wishing to provide online access to learning materials.
Access conditions: Institutional subscription required
Contact details: Tel: 01865 799133 heron@ingenta.com
http://www.heron.ingenta.com/
INFORMS / INHALE
The INFORMS/INHALE database is a pool of over 400 interactive, bite-sized,
online information skills units for students within all the main subject
areas taught in further and higher education institutions. A unique aspect
of the materials is that they are based on searching LIVE quality
information databases that lecturers now expect their students to use to
gather information for course assignments. Accessible versions for the
visually impaired (that may also be customised) are automatically generated
when a new unit is written. The INFORMS/INHALE database resources have been
used in face-to-face teaching sessions as well as linked into different
VLEs and institutional websites.
Access conditions: Freely available
Contact details: Jennifer Brook j.a.brook@hud.ac.uk
http://inhale.hud.ac.uk/cgi-bin/informs.pl?area=home
Lemur
Lemur is a web-mounted database of c. 3,500 items, each with at least one
image. Material is mainly drawn from the collections of The Marischal
Museum, supplemented by items from other University of Aberdeen
collections.
While the collection is diverse, there are particular strengths in:
Scottish archaeology, north-east Scottish folk life, non-Western
ethnography, Egyptology, Scottish paintings, ancient Greek coins and pots,
scientific instruments, and ethnographic photographs. A virtual version of
the Marischal Museum, showing views of all cases, information about all
objects, QTVR panoramas and active plans, is also available, and is of
particular relevance to museum studies. There are links to the database
entries for all objects on display.
Access conditions: Freely available to all via the web: www.abdn.ac.uk/virtualmuseum
Contact details: Neil Curtis Tel: 01224 274304 neil.curtis@abdn.ac.uk
MIMAS - CrossFire Training (learning and teaching materials for CrossFire)
MIMAS CrossFire Training (MIMAS-XFT) is a web-based, self-paced learning
package designed to teach new users of the CrossFire chemical information
system how to get started, and enable those already familiar with the
system to learn advanced searching and data manipulation techniques. The
package is split into two levels, introductory and advanced, with five
units in each.
CrossFire comprises the Beilstein organic chemistry and Gmelin inorganic
chemistry databases which contain a wealth of chemical and bibliographic
information, including physical and biological properties and detailed
chemical reactions, as well as abstracts and references obtained from the
primary chemical literature. As a result of working through the various
modules, the CrossFire Commander software-user will be able to search
effectively by both text and chemical structure diagrams in order to
retrieve detailed information. This can be downloaded and exported into
other packages such as spreadsheet or reference-management software.
Access conditions: Available via Athens authentication free of
charge.
(Note that access to the CrossFire databases is only available to members
of subscribing institutions.)
MIMAS-XFT can be accessed at
http://xft.mimas.ac.uk/
Macromedia Flash Player version 6.0.79 or higher is required to run
MIMAS-XFT
Contact details: Tel: 0161 275 6109 crossfire@mimas.ac.uk
http://xft.mimas.ac.uk/
RDN Virtual Training Suite
The RDN Virtual Training Suite offers free Internet training via a set of
61 interactive tutorials on the web. There is a tutorial for most of the
subjects taught in UK higher and further education, each offering a guide
to key Internet resources for the subject and tips for Internet searching
and critical evaluation of web sites. Tutorials are being used in taught
courses, student induction and information, and research skills classes.
They are easy to link to from VLEs and departmental web pages.
Supplementary "Resources for Teachers" are available with ideas
for use with students.
The Virtual Training Suite is just one of the resources offered by the
Resource Discovery Network (RDN), a national web service pointing to
thousands of high-quality Internet resources that can support learning,
teaching and research. Tutorials include:
-
Internet Aviator
-
Internet Civil Engineer
-
Internet Electrical, Electronic and Communications Engineer
-
Internet for Health and Safety
-
Internet Materials Engineer
-
Internet Mathematician
-
Internet Mechanical Engineer
-
Internet Offshore Engineer
Access conditions: Freely available
Contact details: Emma Place Tel: 0117 928 7183 emma.place@bristol.ac.uk
http://www.vts.rdn.ac.uk/
TimeWeb - Time Series Data on the Web
The TimeWeb resource offers extensive learning and teaching materials
designed to a range of data handling, processing and presentation skills
required for analysing time series data. The TimeWeb Explorer was an
advanced web-based application that made it easier for users to access the
OECD Main Economic Indicators, a database containing thousands of
comparative statistics for the major economies of the world. It allowed the
user to easily aggregate and interact with time series data.
This has now been superseded by a new interface, the ESDS International
Data Service
http://www.esds.ac.uk/international/ which provides web-based access to
a range of databanks that collectively chart over 50 years of global social
and economic change.
Access conditions: The TimeWeb learning and teaching materials are on
open access:
http://www.bized.ac.uk/timeweb/
The International macro datasets are freely available to further and higher
education, subject to online registration:
http://www.esds.ac.uk/international/access/
Contact details: Andy Hargrave andy.hargrave@bristol.ac.uk (for information
about the learning and teaching resource)
http://www.bized.co.uk/timeweb/
Email: international@esds.ac.uk(for information about the ESDS
International Data Service)
http://www.esds.ac.uk/international/
TRILT - Television and Radio Index for Learning and Teaching
The BUFVC's Television and Radio Index for Learning and Teaching
(TRILT) is an online database of UK broadcasts, covering over 300 channels,
including terrestrial, cable, and satellite television (with regional
variations), all national and many local radio stations.
TRILT facilitates the use of audio-visual material in learning, teaching
and research, allowing staff and students to identify television and radio
material relevant to their area of study. In many cases, TRILT indicates
sources of post-transmission copies, including the BUFVC's Off-Air
Recording Back-Up Service and online copies of radio programmes.
Transmission details for forthcoming programmes are available at least ten
days in advance, allowing users to plan their viewing and recording. TRILT
has a personalisation service enabling users to set auto-alerts to email
them when programmes relevant to their interests are coming up. In
addition, programmes selected for their value to the educational community
are enhanced with further information, such as improved descriptions,
additional keywords, bibliographies and web links.
TRILT grows by over a million records every year and, with the
incorporation of the BUFVC's Television Index database into TRILT last
year, the data span covers nine years of UK broadcasting (1995-2004:
selective 1995-2001, comprehensive 2001 onwards).
Access conditions: Available to BUFVC members using Athens
Authentication
Contact details: Marianne Open Tel: 020 7393 1501 asktrilt@bufvc.ac.uk
http://www.bufvc.ac.uk/TRILT