Thursday, June 5, 2014

A Few of My Favorite Resources

Here's a quick rundown of the resources I use on a regular basis:

CK-12: CK-12 is a nonprofit organization that creates and curates academic content. While they focus primarily on STEM content, they do have some Language Arts and history content. CK-12 offers text files, quizzes, videos, study guides, and other content resources at a wide range of levels. I love two things about the CK-12 texts - first, most topics are offered at basic/at grade/advanced level options, and second, all text is completely editable. You can download complete textbooks, put your own text together from individual sections, or create a book from scratch. I created my own textbook from section files that matched my course content, then edited them for content and age-appropriateness. Also cool - texts can be linked to online or downloaded as pdfs, files for Kindles, or files for tablets. I especially like those last two options - they not only save students the cost of a text, but the cost of printing a digital text.

My Open Math: Another great, versatile site with a wealth of resources. My Open Math can function on its own as a course management site, or can be connected to Moodle. Instructors can build entire courses (import pre-build courses, start completely from scratch, or somewhere in between) that include textbooks, videos, assessments, links, etc. I primarily use My Open Math for two things - to create online practice assessments (drawn from MOM's algorithmically generated question banks) for my students to complete during lab sessions, and to create problem sets for use in class - there is an option to generate paper versions of exercises created within the system. Despite the occasional glitch, the system is generally reliable and provides a decent variety of question types for most subjects. Arithmetic and geometry content is scant, but there are many algebra, college algebra, calculus, etc. options. As with CK-12, instructors can edit questions and use MOM tools to create questions. Highly recommended.

Tyler Wallace's Beginning and Intermediate Algebra textbook: An open textbook with student solutions manual and workbooks. An editable version of all files is also available for download.

Kuta Software free worksheets: Kuta Software sells a program for generating customized math worksheets, but also provides a rather extensive bank of sample worksheets free on its website. Topics range from PreAlgebra to Calculus.

Khan Academy: I use Khan's videos for homework assignments (previewing the next day's lesson) and additional help outside of class; I've also used the practice exercises as additional review for students.

Braingenie: A component of CK-12, Braingenie is a gamified tutorial/practice site for math and science. Students can complete practice quizzes for various topics and units; they can also join "multiplayer" quizzes with other students using the site.

Blendspace: This website allows teachers to "bundle" resources found on the web - media files, pdfs, links, etc. - and share lessons with students and other teachers. I've been using Blendspace to create sets of practice/review materials for the various topics I cover in class. The site is extremely easy to use, and blended lessons are easy to embed into Moodle.

Dr. John Rasp's Statistics Website: A collection of diverse data sets that can be downloaded as Excel spreadsheets. Great for real-life stats practice, linear modeling, etc.

NBC Learn: Again, mainly a paid service of the NBC network, but provides a section of educational videos that are accessible for free. Lots of STEM videos related to sports (my fave is on the science and math of hockey).

The Math Dude: Quick and Dirty Tips: Short, readable explanations of various math topics. Some interesting and fun seasonal/cultural math topics.

Math-Drills.com: Free, printable pdf worksheets on a variety of basic math topics. Good for review.

Math-Aids.com: Another free worksheet generator. Basic math - geometry.




Wrapping Up!


I put the finishing touches on my OER course this week, and I feel pretty good about what I've put together. While I consider this a work in progress, I feel like I can roll into fall term with my Math 4 course ready to go for my students.

I've really enjoyed this project, because it's prompted me to do things that I've intended to do for a long time. My students now have a text book customized to our curriculum, practice materials for every lesson, and a bank of resources to help them outside of class. It took some time to put all of this together - I knew that would be the case, but it took more time than I anticipated - but I consider it time well spent.

Given that I teach students at the developmental level, I'm always challenged to find materials that meet them at both their academic level and level of maturity. My students are adults - while they may need to learn skills that are generally taught in middle or high school, they don't want to solve problems about a kid saving his allowance for a video game. I had to wade through a lot of that type of material to find what I wanted, but I'm pleased to say that I was able to find resources that appeal to a more universal audience, or can be edited to make them more age-appropriate for my students.

My wrap-up video covers a few of the main OER resources that I used in constructing my class; for a more complete list, check out my next blog post.