April 2009 Archives

This past Monday I went to the Teaching and Learning Conference. The Digital Media Center gave an interesting presentation highlighting emerging technologies that may impact teaching, learning, and research. I thought I'd highlight some technologies that were new to me.

Co-ment is a free, online text annotation tool. You upload your document and you can either send it to a limited amount of collaborators or open your text to the public for comments and evaluation. A new collaboration tool.

SplashUp is a free online photo editor. It was described as an easier version of Photoshop--and it's online and free! SplashUp is compatible with a lot of social media like Flickr, Picasa and Facebook

There are some size limitations...Files sizes must be less than around 6.25 MB and image size is limited to 1250 x 1250 p.

Visual Understanding Environment (or VUE) is an open source software developed by Tufts that allows you to create mind maps and then create a presentation from the mind map. VUE is a little different from the other tools because you have to download the software onto your computer and you can only watch VUE presentations if you have VUE downloaded onto your computer.

But they showed the final project and it looked mighty nice.

Ustream is an online tool that allows you to create broadcasts and your own broadcast channel. All you need is an Internet connection and a web camera. Ustream is compatible with a lot of social media like YouTube and Facebook.

The Digital Media Center also talked about Google Documents, Zotero and Flickr. The library offers workshops on Google Docs and Zotero...I'll post more info on this blog the next time these classes are held. Or you can check out our Workshops Website.

The Science and Engineering Library will be hosting its annual showcase of University teaching, learning and research in the physical sciences and engineering.

This year our presenters will be from the student Solar Decathlon Team who will be competing in an international competition this fall in Washington D.C.

Come and learn about their innovations in constructing a house that is completely powered by the sun!

SCImagine! 2009: Solar House on the Prairie
Walter Library, Room 101
Friday, May 8
3:00-4:30
Open to the public (spread the word!)

Light refreshments will be served.

The University Libraries have won a national "Excellence in Academic Libraries" Award sponsored by the Association of College and Research Libraries and Blackwell’s Book Services.

To celebrate the award we're having a reception in the Great Hall of Walter Library (on the second floor, where the reference and circulation desk is located) on Wednesday, April 22 @ 3pm.

Members of campus and the community are welcome to attend. The celebration will start at 3:00 pm and the award will be presented to Provost Tom Sullivan and University Librarian Wendy Pradt Lougee at 3:15. Refreshments will be served.

You can learn more about the award and reception here.

Here's a list of some new e-books available that may be of interest to Biomedical Engineering students, faculty and staff. For a full list of new books available at Walter Library visit our website.

Biomechanics: Principles and Applications
Edited by Daniel J. Schneck and Joseph D. Bronzino
Link to Full Text

Medical Modelling: The Application of Advanced Design and Development Techniques in Medicine
By Richard Bibb
Link to Full Text

Nanoparticle Drug Delivery Systems
Edited by Deepak Thassu, Michel Deleers, and Yashwant Pathak
Link to Full Text

Here are the new titles that we've recently purchased in print:

Modern Genome Annotation: the BioSapiens Network
Edited by D. Frishman and Alfonso Valencia
QH447 .M63 2009

Computational Methods in Systems Biology : 6th International Conference
Edited by Monika Heiner and Adelinde M. Uhrmacher
QH506 .I525 2008

MATLAB for Neuroscientists : An Introduction to Scientific Computing in MATLAB
By Pascal Wallisch, Michael Lusignan, Marc Benayoun, Tanya I. Baker, Adam Seth Dickey, and Nicho Hatsopoulos
QP357.5 .M38 2009

(Image from Steve_Wampler via Flickr. CC.)

Do you need helping locating funding for your research project? Let the libraries connect you to tools that will help you grab some of that money being offered by different agencies and groups and get your research funded!

Next week we'll be offering Grant Funding for Graduate Students

Here's the description we've posted on our website:

Find out more about funding opportunities available to graduate students. Learn how to use IRIS, SPIN, and Community of Science and the Foundation Directory to search for grant opportunities. Setting up e-mail updates on specific subjects will also be covered, as well as how to find internal U of M funding sources.

Resources for the course are listed on the Web site of the Office of the VP for Research, http://www.collaborate.umn.edu/explore/searching.html

Here are the details:
Grant Funding for Graduate Students
Tuesday, April 14
Walter 310
3:00-4:15 p.m.
Register Here

If you have problems using the form here on the blog, here's a link to the web version.

We have two workshops coming up next week in Walter 310 that may be of interest...

This workshop will be a very basic introduction to using EndNote...we'll cover setting up your EndNote Library, importing citations, basic customizations, and generating bibliographies and using Cite While You Write with Word.

EndNote for Engineers and Physical Scientists
Wednesday, April 8
3:30-4:30
Register Here

If you're unable to attend, I've also put together a self-directed online version of the class. If you have any questions feel free to send me an email.

This class is new to me, but it sounds interesting--all about Creative Commons licensing. Both discussing using the Creative Commons license for your own work and using Creative Commons-licensed material to enhance your work.

Some Rights Reserved: An Introduction to Creative Commons
Wednesday, April 8
1:00-2:00
Register Here

Here's some more information on Creative Commons if you want to learn more.