From Collegedegree.com: Universities house an enormous amount of information and their libraries are often the center of it all. You don’t have to be affiliated with any university to take advantage of some of what they have to offer. From digital archives, to religious studies, to national libraries, these university libraries from around the world have plenty of information for you.”
Go Green: 23 Steps Toward Better Energy Efficiency
August 27, 2008
Check out this list of tips from Co-op America that you can implement in your home today and save up to 66 percent of the energy you currently use – saving you money on your electricity bill, and helping you live more lightly on the Earth.
http://www.coopamerica.org/pubs/caq/articles/summer2008/LevelOne.cfm
Perspectv On The US Presidential Elections
August 26, 2008
Perspectv is an exploration of internet activity in reference to mainstream media. All the chatter on the Internet, all the traditional news media coverage, and all the pollsters — Perspctv brings it all together in a simple and elegant manner. Explore the similarities and the disparities, hear the many voices that have emerged and choose which view, if any, makes the most sense to you. What we think vs. what they say we think — — and gives a unique “dashboard” picture of the elections at any one given moment in time, totally un-biased.
FastWeb: Free Personalized Scholarship Matches
August 24, 2008
If you’re looking to get some extra financial help with college–and who isn’t these days–FastWeb is a terrific free tool to help you find scholarships that match your unique profile.
Firefox Extensions
August 22, 2008
Ellyssa Kroski has culled the 2,000 extensions for Firefox and provided three lists that can be helpful for librarians and within libraries but they can be useful to normal people too. There are 40 extensions in each list and they run the gamut — have fun!
http://libtechtexas.wordpress.com/2008/01/07/firefox-extensions-for-libraries/
In case you want to go through all 2,000 add-ons to select for yourself, here’s the official Firefox add-on website:
Special Analysis 2008: Community Colleges
August 21, 2008
From the National Center For Education Statistics comes a report on the condition of education which takes a closer look at community colleges.
“Drawing upon a wide range of data sources collected by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the 2008 special analysis provides a descriptive profile of community colleges in the United States, examines the characteristics of community college students who entered directly from high school, and looks at rates of postsecondary persistence and attainment among community college students in general. It also compares the characteristics of these institutions and of the students who enroll in them with those of public and private 4-year colleges and universities.”
One of the selected findings includes: “One-third of 2004 [high school] seniors who enrolled immediately in a community college did so with no intention of pursuing any education higher than an associate’s degree; however, by 2006, almost 47 percent of this group had raised their educational expectations to start or complete a bachelor’s degree.”
See the study at: http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2008/analysis/
The Beloit College Mindset List
August 20, 2008
Each August, for the past 11 years, Beloit College, in Beloit, Wisconsin, has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college. It is the creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief. The List is shared with faculty and with thousands who request it each year as the school year begins, as a reminder of the rapidly changing frame of reference for this new generation.
Check out the list and the text generalizing what this year’s students have and haven’t experienced at:
Can You Guess Where My Accent Is From?
August 19, 2008
Play this game from the Language Trainers Group and see if you can guess where the international speakers are from based on their accents. The speakers are shown reciting two lines from Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “If”. Once you’ve heard each speak you’ll be offered six choices. You get three points for each correct answer with bonus points if you can identify the person’s city of origin as well.
Free Credit Reports
August 15, 2008
Consumers are entitled to a free credit report once a year from each of the major credit reporting bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. To get a credit report go to the official ordering site at:
www.annualcreditreport.com
Watch Your Favorites On Hulu
August 13, 2008
Hulu is an online video service that offers hit TV shows, movies and clips at Hulu.com and other online destination sites — all for free, anytime in the U.S. Hulu brings together a large selection of videos from more than 50 content providers, including FOX, NBC Universal, MGM, Sony Pictures Television, Warner Bros. and more. Users can watch current primetime TV such as The Simpsons and The Office the morning after they air, classics like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Married…with Children, movies like The Usual Suspects and The Big Lebowski, and clips from Saturday Night Live and other popular TV shows and movies.
Hulu was founded in March 2007 by NBC Universal and News Corp and its mission is to help people find and enjoy the world’s premium video content when, where and how they want it.
