OERs Summary September 2014

A selection of the open educational resources that have been released from the School of Science and Technology at the University of Northampton. This post shows the number of views and downloads of these resources.

Pollution And Pollutants

Authors: Paul Cox and Nigel Freestone

http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/18529

Details

Pollution is the undesirable introduction of pollutants (contaminants) into the natural environment (land, air and water) and can have an adverse affect on human health. This resource provides an introduction to pollution and pollutants. The classification and distribution of pollutants is also considered. A number of self-assessment questions are provided to allow you to check your new knowledge. The material comes in Word format and its HTML equivalent. The pollutants.htm file includes two images (poll.gif and ld50.gif) and an answers page (SAQ_Answers.htm) related to it that need to be put in the same folder as the pollutants.htm file.

Keywords: UKOER, Environmental Science, Waste Management, Pollution, Pollutants, Environment, Air Pollution, Water Pollution, Pollution Pathways, Toxicity 

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported

The resource found on Jorum at: http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/18529 

Properties of Ultrasonic Waves

Author: Phil Picton 

http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/18755

Details

This material gives the description of the physical processes involved in the propagation of ultrasonic pressure waves as they pass through a material. It includes a mathematical derivation of the amplitude of the transmitted and reflected pressure waves, and an explanation is given for the differences between the near and far zones. This material has been used in the Advanced Inspection Methods and Techniques module as part of the BSc programme in Non-Destructive Testing at the University of Northampton.

Published:  School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton

Keywords: UKOER, Ultrasonic waves, Inspection and testing, Non-destructive testing 

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International

Summary of Evolutionary Algorithms

Click here for the resource: http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19204

Author: Dr Scott Turner 

These slides are intended for undergraduate computing students, providing an overview of Genetic Algorithms, a concept of in artificial intelligence. As well providing an overview the material also include links to applications via web resources. The slides are taken from an undergraduate artificial intelligence module on the BSc Computing Programme at the University of Northampton. Possible uses of these including support material for second year, third year or masters level course on artificial intelligence.

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Click here for the resource: http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19204

C Programming

Click here for the resource: http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19192

Author: Dr Scott Turner
In this material you will be introduced to some of the principles of programming, and specifically learn to write fairly simple programs using a programming language called C. An idea central to this material is that programming is about problem solving; you write a program to solve a particular problem. It is hoped that at the end of the material you should see that there is nothing magical or mysterious about programming. One of the features some people like about programming is you are making the computer do what you want. During the programming exercises, do not worry about making mistakes. In this material you will be expected to try out programs and eventually write your own. The target audience is anyone who wants to learn a programming language or is looking for some assessment questions around programming. The material was originally aimed at second year engineering students at the University of Northampton.

Click here for the resource: http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19192

Problem-Solving

Author: Dr Scott Turner

http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19001

These mini lectures are intended for undergraduate computing students, for providing simple steps in problem solving before the students learn a programming language. Problem-Solving and Programming is a common first year undergraduate module on the BSc Computing Programme at the University of Northampton. This material was taken from the problem solving part of the module and provides an introduction to five topics in problem-solving.

The resource can be found at: http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19001

Sustainability: Environmental Business Imperatives

http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19120

Author: Professor Margaret Bates
Created: 7 July 2014, by School of Science & Technology and Northampton Business School, The University of Northampton

This video outlines the drivers for resource efficiency for business including raw materials scarcity and economic imperatives. The savings that can be made by more efficient use of raw materials, energy and waste are highlighted. Case study examples are given to show how different sectors have achieved resource efficiency and moved towards a circular model of resource use.

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

All views are the authors, and may not reflect the views of any organisation the author is connected with in any way.

update: Learning across contexts – mobile for fieldwork

An update of the use of the mobile technologies for field work is available at http://blogs.northampton.ac.uk/learntech/files/2012/09/Npton-Case-Study-EnvSci-Julie-Usher-and-Janet-Jackson-2011-2012.pdf


Intended outcomes

 To enable students to quickly and easily document 
findings and ideas in the field 
 To enable the student to access resources electronically
and re-use data in other learning contexts



Process

Trial use of mobile technology on two field trips, to Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve in December 2011 and to Stonehenge in February 2012. For both trips, the tutor set up a group blog in NILE, and asked the students to record their findings on site using mobile devices, and post them to the blog for 
discussion.

The Wicken Fen field trip formed part of a second year module on Habitat Ecology and Management. Students were asked to observe and record details of the wetland habitat and share their observations with the group. They also planned to use GPS to tag the exact locations of their images and notes, to share with the wider community via Flickr, an image sharing site.



Benefits and Challenges

A feedback survey revealed that students enjoyed using the devices, particularly for photography and video, which 
helped them to record a lot of data very easily. 80% of the students said that the app was ‘easy’ or ‘very easy’ to use. 

Connectivity was a real challenge, particularly for the Wicken Fen trip where there was very little mobile signal. This was challenging  partly because of student expectations – when handed an internet enabled device, they expected to be able to connect and start accessing information. The purpose of the trip though was for them to record their own data, and be creators rather than consumers, so expectations needed to be clearly set!

Connectivity was also an issue for the GPS tagging of resources, and for some apps, like Dragon Dictation, which relied on data connection or stored information in the cloud. The weather on the Wicken Fen trip was also a challenge, particularly for those using touch screen devices!


Key points

 Framing the device is crucial – explain why you want students 
to use it and what value it can add for their learning.
 Allow students to experiment – some even recorded their 
stakeholder roleplays on site!
 Inclusion is important. Make sure you have loan devices for 
those that don’t have their own.

mobile for fieldwork

Taken from  http://blogs.northampton.ac.uk/learntech/2012/09/07/learning-across-contexts-mobile-for-fieldwork/  by Adel Gordon

This case study talks about a pilot run by Janet Jackson and her students in Environmental Sciences from the School of Science & Technology, whilst on two field trips to Wicken Fen and Stonehenge.

The main aims of this pilot were to allow the students to document and reflect on their findings whilst in the context (in this case the field trips), and then to access and re-use that information outside of the context.

Students enjoyed using the devices, particularly for photography and video, which helped them to record a lot of data very easily. 80% of the students said that the app was ‘easy’ or ‘very easy’ to use.

More details can be found at Leaning across contexts – mobile for fieldwork (case study, PDF 581KB)

 

Technology for Transition

Re-blogged from: http://blogs.northampton.ac.uk/learntech/2012/02/28/technology-for-transition/ by Julie Usher

Staff in the School of Science and technology have been looking at ways in which technology can help to widen participation and ’increase support and retention on non-full-time programmes’. This began with a project to develop online introductory materials, for applicants to Waste Management courses to use before their taught course started.

The team used a range of tools, including NILE and Wimba Create, to build an informative, interactive site for incoming students to use. The resources were based on the team’s previous research into induction of distance learners. These materials can be seen in the guest access NILE site for the course.


The project was a success and led to the project team – Ruth Copeland-Phillips, Paul Cox and Louise Maxwell  – gaining a Teaching Fellowship award. It has also led to the development of further online materials, aimed at helping distance learning overseas students ‘make a successful transtion to the University of Northampton academically, socially and culturally’.


Read the full project report for more information.