Capella Posts 25,000 Free Tutorials Through Sophia

April 26, 2012 - 3:00am

Sophia, an online learning platform recently acquired by Capella Education Co., on Wednesday released 25,000 free tutorials aimed at college and high school students. The for-profit Capella plans this summer to introduce "Sophia Pathways for College Credit," a souped-up version through which students' competency in subject areas, beginning with college algebra, will be assessed for the granting of Capella credits, company officials said. "It's a low-cost path to getting college credit," said Steve Anastasi, Sophia's interim CEO.
Anastasi describes the open platform as a "social teaching and learning environment" in which teachers, most of them not affiliated with Sophia or Capella, create online tutorials on a variety of subjects that will soon be organized by the learning preferences of students. The crowdsourced content is ranked and given an "academic seal" by self-identified academic experts, who themselves are rated by students. A Capella spokesman said Sophia would be a "sandbox" for experiments on open course content, as well as a resource for Capella students and professors.
Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/04/26/capella-posts-25000-free-tutorials-through-sophia#ixzz1tH4DlR1J Inside Higher Ed

30 Things Every Woman Should Have and Should Know By the Time She's 30

Turning 30: What You Put On Your List Of Things Women Should Have And Know By 30?

Posted: 04/25/2012 6:54 pm Updated: 04/26/2012 12:39 pm on the HuffingtonPost.com
Yesterday we published a list of "30 Things Every Woman Should Have and Should Know By The Time She's 30" that originally appeared in Glamour in 1997. We published it on HuffPost Women because we loved reading it so much and hoped that our readers would as well.
We're happy to report that the response was tremendous, but obviously no list of things women should have or know is going to be exhaustive, or apply to all women everywhere. As Pamela Redmond Satran, the list's original author, notes in Glamour's new book based on the list, "Why stop with these thirty things? We're always changing and growing, after all; mightn't The List reach in new directions too?" Glamour even got author and poet Maya Angelou, to whom the List was misattributed a few times, to contribute her own "30 Things." They include "A popcorn popper," "A comfortable robe in which to lounge," and "A book stand."
So readers, it's your turn. We want to hear what you would put on your own "30 Before 30" list. What should every women have and know before the big 3-0? Tweet your answers to @HuffPostWomen using the hashtag #30By30. We'll compile them all into our own list here on The Huffington Post.
LOOK: Women Share What's On Their #30By30 List

Apply early to nail down a summer job

Summer time, summer jobs . . . . 
April 08, 2012, By Marcia Heroux Pounds, Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

High school and college kids: It's not too early to look for a summer job.
Lifeguard, retail clerk, camp counselor and park employee are some of the jobs teenagers and young adults are most likely to get.
Florida Atlantic University student Jenna Damiano, 19, recently took a job at a store at Town Center in Boca Raton with the plan that she would be employed this summer. "It's easy to find a job," said Damiano, who said she has had two jobs during the school year.
But Denisse Perez, 22, of West Palm Beach said that with no job experience, she's finding it difficult to find even a retail job. The FAU student also hasn't had classes yet in her chosen field of computer design, so she doesn't think she would qualify for an internship, either.
Jobs have been difficult to find in the past few years, with unemployment at 32 percent for 16- to-19-year-olds in the Fort Lauderdale metro area in 2010, the most recent data available from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nationally, the rate remains about 24 percent for 16-to-19-year-olds, but fell to 14 percent for 20-to-24-year-olds in February, compared to 15 percent a year ago.

Find guides on writing resumes
and cover letters at the library

Some students are looking for summer income, while others are seeking the hands-on experience that comes with working in their potential field through an internship. To lend a hand, South Florida's workforce agencies are gearing up for summer by matching college students and recent graduates with employers online.
Palm Beach County's "Success" listing service at http://www.pbcalliance.com is designed to match students and recent college graduates with summer internships.
"At least one study shows that up to half of employers would like to see an internship on a student's resume," said Ike Powell, director of youth services for Workforce Alliance, the county's employment center.
Broward County doesn't have a matching program for college students, but county employers list internships with EmployFlorida.com, as well as part-time jobs, said Mason Jackson, president of Workforce One.
Currently, 22 internships are listed within 10 miles and 514 part-time positions within 25 miles. Jobs as pool attendants, lifeguards and summer camp counselors are listed, as well as internships at Wells Fargo and Enterprise Rent-a-Car, CBSSports.com and Motorola.
Young people can find summer jobs through online sites, including Snagajob.com, groovejob.com and teens4hire. Local student jobs also can be found at broward.org/careers.
                                   Read the complete article at the Sun Sentinel.com
And be sure to check the resources of the TCC Career Center and TCC Internship Office !
The TCC Career Center has local job listing sources, and can help with your resume and cover letters.
Students interested in participating in the TCC Internship Program should complete and submit proper paperwork and schedule an interview with an internship coordinator. For more information, visit the students’ area.

Earth Day 2012

Earth Day: The History of A Movement

Each year, Earth Day -- April 22 -- marks the anniversary of what many consider the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.
The height of hippie and flower-child culture in the United States, 1970 brought the death of Jimi Hendrix, the last Beatles album, and Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. Protest was the order of the day, but saving the planet was not the cause. War raged in Vietnam, and students nationwide increasingly opposed it.

At the time, Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. “Environment” was a word that appeared more often in spelling bees than on the evening news.  Although mainstream America remained oblivious to environmental concerns, the stage had been set for change by the publication of Rachel Carson's New York Times bestseller Silent Spring in 1962.  The book represented a watershed moment for the modern environmental movement, selling more than 500,000 copies in 24 countries and, up until that moment, more than any other person, Ms. Carson raised public awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and public health.
Earth Day 1970 capitalized on the emerging consciousness, channeling the energy of the anti-war protest movement and putting environmental concerns front and center.

and check our collection for resources on these topics:
earth - history
endangered ecosystems
environmentalism
global warming
renewable energy sources
water resources

Global Invasive Species Database

The Global Invasive Species Database is a free, online database managed by the Invasive Species Specialist Group of the Species Survival Commission of the International Union for Conservation of Nature http://www.iucn.org/ . The site emphasizes "invasive alien species that threaten native biodiversity and covers all taxonomic groups from micro-organisms to animals and plants in all ecosystems." The goal is to increase public awareness and to facilitate prevention and management activities of invasive species for a broad audience. The database covers 800-plus species in over 250 countries, with content continually added by expert contributors.

Each record contains ecology, distribution, management, and impact information with references, links, and expert contacts for further information. A Standard Search option allows users to search by Species Name, Country or Location, and, via drop-down menus, Habitat, and Organism. The species name field also searches the common name and synonym fields. Taxonomic search allows users to search by Taxonomic Level and Taxonomic Name. The site features browsable alphabetic lists of species and countries. There are other online resources for obtaining invasive species information, for example, the website of the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health http://www.bugwood.org/ (CH, Dec'10, 48-2053) and its Invasive.org database http://www.invasive.org/ (CH, Aug'09, 46-6787) and the USDA's National Invasive Species Information Center http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/ (CH, Jan'12, 49-2649). But this site is noteworthy for its global focus and simple interface with basic credible information that leads to additional content, offering a useful starting point for undergraduates as well as anyone doing research on invasive species. ACRL Choice, Feb 2012:  Summing Up: Recommended. Academic and general audiences, all levels. -- B. M. Weston, formerly, University of Idaho


And be sure to check the TCC Library collection for books, ebooks, dvds and online videos:
Alien Plants - United States
Biological Invasions
Introduced Organisms
Invasive Plants - United States
Invasive Species

Previous post:  Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health

The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls

"Currently, five of the 950 Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) in the Israel Museum of Jerusalem have been digitized in a cooperative historical project with Google. Users may search and read high-resolution online versions of these texts (dating from 200 BCE to 68 CE). The online texts are the Great Isaiah Scroll, the best preserved and most complete extant biblical text; the War Scroll, which describes the cataclysmic battle between the sons of light and the sons of darkness; the Commentary on Habakkuk Scroll, which interprets the first two chapters of this prophetic biblical text; the Temple Scroll, which provides details of God's instructions for the Temple in Jerusalem; and the Community Rule, which sheds light on the community's way of life, admission of new members, conduct at communal meals, prayer, fasting, cleansing rituals, and theological doctrines. The DSS provide deeper knowledge of Judaism's diversity in the Second Temple period; insight into the development of the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic texts; insight into daily life in ancient Israel; a historical context for the sects of Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes up to the birth of Jesus; and a window into rabbinic legal traditions and related material. Along with searchable, quick-loading, high-resolution images of the scrolls, viewers will find short videos and explanatory background. Users may navigate through the scrolls on the screen and--in the case of the Isaiah Scroll--even view translations in pop-up text and boxes. All five digitized scrolls may be magnified, allowing users to see material missing from the edges and crusted lines. Future uploads are planned, with 2016 as a target date for putting most of the Israel Museum's scrolls online. Summing Up: Recommended." -- ACRL's Choice, February 2012, D. B. Levy, Touro College, Lander College for Women

And look for these titles in our collection
The complete World of the Dead Sea Scrolls	Dead Sea Scrolls: the Untold Story	The Hidden Scrolls: Christianity, Judaism, & the War for the Dead Sea Scrolls
A Common Heritage. 33 min online video	Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls? The Search for the Secret of Qumran	The Dead Sea Scrolls:  a very short introduction

Forum Network: Free Online Lectures from PBS and NPR

Forum Network provides free access to a variety of video and audio presentations / lectures from WGBH (Boston) and its various partners (e.g., bookstores, scholarly / professional associations, and colleges/universities).

Topics range from career presentations for high school students to environmental discussions among leading thinkers/writers to local issues for New England and other areas. Issues in religion, science, social policy, politics/political theory, literature, business, philanthropy, education, and foreign affairs are just some of the topics this wide-ranging resource presents. The website is arranged so users may access lectures by Topics, Speakers, or Series; also available are tabs for popular, new, and featured lectures, along with keyword searching. Videos load quickly, and although the blue-and-white print on black background isn't visually pleasing while searching, it does provide a better viewing experience for users who do not choose to watch videos in full-screen mode. . . .  Links to several social media sites are provided. Subscriptions to Forum Network's podcasts, its YouTube channel, and its Facebook or Twitter accounts are available. The site provides comments and ratings from registered users, and registration is free. Summing Up: ACRL Choice, April 2012, Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general audiences. -- E. M. Bentsen, Baylor University Libraries