Future of Online Education is Free

This year I am going to test some online education resources to see which ones are better, while also learning something new.

The first of these free online services that I am going to work with is Codecademy. It is a free educational platform that focuses on teaching users programming. It is a community based website that teaches programing in an entertaining, almost game-like way. There are several programs designed that teach everything from Java Script, CSS, HTML and other programing languages. The exercises are simple and easy to follow.

www.codecademy.com

The next one I am working on is a free only course that is provided by Stanford University on their Class2Go system. This is designed more like an online college course and is free for anyone to use. The free classes vary with the newest one being “Introduction to Databases”.

class2go.stanford.edu

The last free online class service I am trying is edX. This one is interesting as it is supported by many schools but was first started by MIT and Harvard. Like Stanfords system the courses are University level, but because many schools are involved with edX, they offer many classes. The class I am most interested in is the Artificial Intelligence class offered by Berkley.

www.edx.org

 

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Welcome Back

Welcome back everyone. New year, new semester, and new interesting things to learn here on the site for the Open Computer Center.

First up a post on my experiment with online learning systems.

That will be followed up shortly with a series of posts on tools that can help you be more productive and organized as you tackle the new semester.

Later I will be writing about new technology products that can complement your school education.

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OCC Closed for the holidays

The labs will be closed for the holidays from December 18th until school reopens on January 14th. Have a happy holiday and happy new year.

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Join Us on Facebook

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Photoshop Workshop

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FREE Online Training Course

Take a FREE Online Training Course to find out what online  e-learning is all about and how it works. We are currently offering several complete FREE courses

http://www.e-learningcenter.com/free.htm

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November Training Technology

FLOWCHART BASICS – Teba Aljumaili

Room AE206: Tuesday, September 20th (11AM – 12PM)

Learn basic planning for programs using Raptor to make flowcharts

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November Technology Training

MAKE A WEBSITE – Aimen Aberra

Room AA426: Tuesday, November 6th (10AM – 11AM)

This session covers the fundamental concepts necessary for the construction of web pages using the basic building blocks of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). HTML and XHTML are covered in detail for building web pages using a web page development environment. The use of styling using CSS is introduced.

HOW TO SECURE YOUR WIRELESS NETWORK – Mohammad Zaheer

Room AA426: Tuesday, November 20th (5PM)

Learn why WLAN security important and learn about SSID: The most basic security applied, WEP: Requires to use a key and EAP: A key is produced dynamically

POWER POINT BASICS – Aimen Aberra

Room AA426: Thursday, November 8th, (10AM – 12PM)

This session will provide an introduction to the presentation program, Microsoft PowerPoint. Learn how to create a simple presentation, create and edit slides, insert clipart, apply designs, work with views, and run the slide show. Session will also cover how to save, print, and open presentations

BYQ – Bring Your Questions – Teba Aljumaili and Aimen Aberra

Room AE206: Friday, November  9th (10AM – 12PM)

Room AE206: Friday, November  16th (10AM – 12PM)

Open to Students and Faculty. Take advantage of this time to get those difficult homework assignments done or come in with questions to learn something. Bring your questions to AE206A located in the engineering building.

SPREADSHEET SOFTWARE I (EXCEL) – Teba Aljumaili

Room AE206: Tuesday, November 13th (10AM – 11AM)

Learn the essentials of Microsoft Excel and spreadsheets to create and save workbooks, format text and numbers, select ranges and move or copy data. Learn how to use formulas and basic functions, explore printing options for worksheets and how to insert pictures. Saving worksheets as PDF files, formatting rows and columns and inserting SmartArt will also be covered Learn to create and use spreadsheet; and cell formatting using Microsoft Excel.  Cell ranges, control pages, multiple sheets, charts, and macros.

JAVA PROGRAMING – Aimen Aberra

Room AA426: Monday, November 12th (10AM – 11AM)

The course teaches fundamentals of OOP “Object Oriented Programming” using Java programming. The course emphasizes how to construct a program, algorithm, debugging and coding.

DATABASE MANAGEMENT – Teba Aljumaili

Room AE206: Monday, November 15th (10AM – 11AM)

The course focuses on database fundamentals, and handling database computing tasks and database design.    Course content includes an introduction to concepts of advanced data warehousing and database configuration.

 

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September Technology Training


MYNOVA (NOVA CONNECT)
 - Mengistu Assebe and Aimen Aberra
Room AA156: September 12th, 17th, 19th, 25th (2PM – 3PM)

Learn to login and navigate MyNOVA. Learn how to access your school email and Blackboard system.

MAKE A WEBSITE – Aimen Aberra
Room AA426: Monday, September 10th (10AM – 11AM)

Learn some website designing fundamentals using. Also learn how to add lists, links, tables, and images to an HTML file.

INTRO. TO COMPUTER APPLICATION & CONCEPTS – Teba Aljumaili
Room AE206: Tuesday, September 11th (11AM – 12PM)

Learn about computers, applications, and the Internet. Lesson also covers introduction to word processing, spreadsheet, database, and presentation software to demonstrate skills required for computer literacy.

LOCAL AREA NETWORKS (LANs) - Mohammad Zaheer
Room AA426: Thursday, September 13th (3PM)

Learn why are we using a LAN and what are its components. Learn about NIC (Network Interface Card).

POWER POINT BASICS – Aimen Aberra
Room AA426: Friday, September 14th, (10AM – 12PM)

Learn how to use Power Point, how to start, plan and setup your slides to assist with your presentations.

FLOWCHART BASICS - Teba Aljumaili
Room AE206: Thursday, September 20th (11AM – 12PM)

Learn basic planning for programs using Raptor to make flowcharts.

BYQ – Bring Your Questions – Teba Aljumaili and Aimen Aberra
Room AE206: Friday, September 21st (10AM – 12PM)

Open to Students and Faculty Bring your questions to AE206A located in the engineering building.

SPREADSHEET SOFTWARE I (EXCEL) – Teba Aljumaili
Room AE206: Thursday, September 27th (10AM – 11AM)

Learn to create and use spreadsheet; and cell formatting using Microsoft Excel.  Cell ranges, control pages, multiple sheets, charts, and macros.

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Evernote

Evernote is a note taking software/app/service that is accessible various ways. It is a little bit difficult to describe. Evernote’s Tagline explains it the best “Remember Everything” and I think that fits well.

It uses Cloud technology to save your notes, allowing you to have your notes sync between devices, computers and even accessible on there website.

Evernote can be used on your computer, phone, tablet or the web. It works on PC and Mac as well as on iOS and Android devices. I have even installed it on several computers at work and home.

First, to use Evernote, you need to sign up on there website here. Once you have made an account you can begin using it.

You understand the full power of Evernote service when you install the software or download the app. I have this windows program installed on work PC’s I frequent, my laptop, my home PC, on my tablet and phone. So now when I take a note on any device, it will sync to all other devices as long as I log into my account on each device I want to use. Or if you need to quickly access a note on a computer that you do not use, you can access it thorough Evernotes website.

Evernote also has browser addons that allows users to clip websites, images and other notes quickly from a browser.

Some apps like Penultimate also support the feature to clip to Evernote. (I will talk about note taking apps for tablets and phones in a future post.)

The following videos are some examples of how people are using Evernote:

How is it useful to a Student or Teacher?

Using Evernote Web Clipper

How is it useful at Work?

They have other products as well available on there site the work to enhance Evernote like ClearlySkitch and Evernote Peek.

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