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Additional Helpful Resources
- South Carolina Emergency Prep Guide: 2018The 2018 Hurricane Season is here. Our state has issued this preparation guide to help minimize the impact of severe weather, and it is strongly advised that everyone take the time to read the SC recommendations and take whatever actions are needed to be fully prepared for any potential disaster.
- Life Hacks for StudentsSome cool ideas for students, although most of them are useful for everyone! I especially enjoy the "treat incentive" study method.
- KeyRingKeyring is an App which helps keep track of rewards, membership, and Id cards. It automatically sorts the items added, and it is extremely self-explanatory and easy to use. One has the option of either taking pictures of the front and back of a card, or manually entering a title and number. Keyring is available in both Android and iOS formats.
- PinterestAvailable across an array of platforms, Pinterest is a way of sharing images associated with pretty much anything. By simply typing in a keyword (or several) one will find an array of posted images associated with the search. It's the ultimate resource for Do-It-Yourself arts/crafts, hobby sharing, and so much more.
- WazeAvailable for both iOS and Android, this is a GPS app that integrates user feedback- you receive notifications on accidents, speed traps, traffic, etc.
- GasBuddyFind gas stations and prices based on your location. Available for Android and iOS.
- Yahoo! WeatherIn general Yahoo! tends to feel a bit outdated, but this is honestly one of the best free weather apps around- it has excellent graphics, and the user interface is easy to understand.
- The Wire CutterAn interesting website that provides full transparency in the items they test and testing methods. This is a good resource when purchasing an item if you want to find reviews that are not compromised through financial backing by the producers of the product being reviewed.
- Bright ToDoAnother excellent to-do app for smartphones and tablets. Super intuitive, easy to set daily, weekly, and monthly tasks and goals.
- Just WatchJust Watch is accessible by website, as well as Android app, which is strongly recommended. This is an excellent resource which allows you to select which streaming services you have access to (including Hoopla!), and then browse not only the currently available content, but it will update daily with any new additions as they arrive to your selected streaming services. It's easy to bookmark materials you want to watch at a later date.
English as a Second Language
Use the tabs below to find resources for working on your English language skills.
Try these databases if you are not sure where to start
- Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new windowProvides information in nearly every area of academic study, including arts, biology, chemistry, computer sciences, ethnic studies, engineering, language and linguistics, literature, medical sciences, philosophy, physics, psychology, religion, social sciences, and more.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new windowProvides access to full text of hundreds of highly regarded and popular titles. And Credo brings the facts alive with images, sound files, animations, and much more. Find speedy, simple answers and authoritative, in-depth articles.
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new windowStreaming service providing academic, career-related, and educational videos. Contains a large collection of videos covering a wide range of academic topics.
- Funk & Wagnall's New World Encyclopedia This link opens in a new windowA database that has over 25,000 easy-to-read encyclopedia articles geared towards children covering an array of topics.
- Hoopla This link opens in a new windowHoopla is allows you to borrow movies, music, audiobooks, eBooks, comics and TV shows to enjoy on your computer, tablet, or phone – and even your TV!
- Opposing Viewpoints This link opens in a new windowA resource which covers current controversial social subjects, with articles that offer informed, differing views on both sides of each issue. Includes, reference articles, infographics, news articles, images, video, audio, and more.
- SIRS (Social Issues Resources) This link opens in a new windowUse SIRS Issues Researcher to locate articles about controversial issues selected from newspapers, magazines, journals, and government publications. It features information about a variety of social, scientific, health, historic, economic, business, and political issues from around the world.
- TumbleBooksLibrary This link opens in a new windowAnimated talking picture books, chapter books, videos, non-fiction titles, playlists, non-English books, graphic novels and math stories. There is also a rich collection of resources for educators.
Use these resources to find print books at OCtech and libraries across South Carolina.
- Online Catalog (Books)Find books, ebooks, dvds, and videos to stream
- PASCAL DeliversRequest print books from any academic library in South Carolina and receive them in just a few days.
As an OCtech student, you can also visit any academic library in south carolina and check out a book.
Use these databases to find ebooks. You can search, save, or email, or print out any information from our ebooks. They will also provide the APA or MLA citation for you.
- Ebook Central This link opens in a new windowA collection of eBooks ranging across all academic subjects. eBook Central gives students and faculty seamless and immediate access to the eBooks they need.
- EBSCO Academic Collection This link opens in a new windowA collection of multidisciplinary eBooks representing a wide range of academic subjects.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new windowProvides access to full text of hundreds of highly regarded and popular titles. And Credo brings the facts alive with images, sound files, animations, and much more. Find speedy, simple answers and authoritative, in-depth articles.
- Oxford UPSO Psychology This link opens in a new window335 scholarly quality scholarly ebooks on the subject of psychology.
- Salem Press This link opens in a new windowReference books covering health, literature, and history.
- TumbleBooksLibrary This link opens in a new windowAnimated talking picture books, chapter books, videos, non-fiction titles, playlists, non-English books, graphic novels and math stories. There is also a rich collection of resources for educators.
Top rated language apps and websites:
- Advanced English Dictionary and ThesaurusA large lexical database of English with up to 140,000 entries and more than 1.4 million words, developed by the Cognitive Science Laboratory at Princeton University.
- BeelinguaBeelingua is consistently ranked in the top five of language learning apps. It blends audiobooks into the learning process and provides options such as side-by-side comparison, karaoke reading, sentence highlighting and repeating and more.
- CoerllOpen Education Resource for learning languages.
- Dictionary: Merriam-WebsterA well renowned dictionary and thesaurus that requires no internet connection.
- DuolingoWith more than 22 languages to choose from, Duolingo a free and fun way to learn languages. Available as an app and a website.
- ELSA Speak: English Accent CoachTraining in various English accents. Helps ESL students to perfect their English, or native speakers to practice their annunciation.
- English Grammar TestThis app is great for Intermediate and Upper-Intermediate levels and contains 30 tests with 20 exercises.
- Google TranslateGoogle Translate is an excellent app that lets you take a picture of a language you are trying to decipher and find the appropriate translation. A must-have for everyone, not just language students.
- Improve English: Word GamesThis app helps you learn and improve English as well as practice Math in an easy and interesting way.
- Learn English with Johnny Grammar's Word ChallengeThis app features 3 difficulty levels, 3 different categories, and 10 topics to challenge yourself with learning english.
- LyrebirdLyrebird offers multiple languages, although one needs to download each language app individually. That said, it's a solidly made, intuitive app and free. The above link is to their English app.
- Oxford IdiomsContains over 6,000 idioms from all over the English-speaking world
Hundreds of illustrative quotations. Draws on the latest findings of Oxford's language monitoring - the largest dictionary research program in the world - QuickdicDictionary with multiple languages available to download for immediate access, even when unable to connect to a network.
- SayIt!SayIt! will read any text selection, article or website in the language of your choosing.
- Sentence MasterSentence Master is the first game of its kind designed and developed completely by educators to help students eliminate the most common mistake among English language learners, correct word order. The Proverbs and Sayings level is a great way to learn and remember popular English idioms and expressions.
Open Education Resources
- VOA Learn English"What is Learning English?
Learning English is VOA’s multimedia source of news and information for millions of English learners worldwide.
Our Let's Learn English programs are designed for beginning English learners by certified American English teachers. Our audio programs and captioned videos are written using vocabulary at the intermediate and upper-beginner level. The programs are read one-third slower than normal English speed. Online texts, MP3s and podcasts let people read, listen and learn American English and much more.
Learning English began as Special English, which Voice of America launched in 1959. Special English newscasts and features were a primary fixture of VOA’s international shortwave broadcasts for more than half a century. In 2014, our line of products was expanded to include more English teaching materials, and the service became known as Learning English.
Some language teaching methods are dull and disconnected from real life. People soon forget what they learn, or focus on words and phrases without context. VOA Learning English maintains a loyal following among learners, teachers and educational publishers worldwide by using journalism to engage people's interests. Learners absorb American English through content drawn from world news, business, science, U.S. life, popular culture and other topics. People build their vocabulary, strengthen their speaking skills and improve their ability to communicate for work, school and everyday life.
Learning English programs are also broadcast on radio and satellite TV and posted at youtube.com/voalearningenglish, facebook.com/voalearningenglish and twitter.com/voalearnenglish." - Wikipedia Page: "English as a second or foreign language"If you follow the resources cited, there are many useful links provided, along with interesting insight into teaching and learning English.
- ESL: English as a second languageWhile the website isn't the most visually pleasing, this seems to provide some pretty basic information and resources.
- Certification Map- TESOLA resource with information about certification and career opportunities for ESL instructors.
- EdX: ESL CoursesEdX is rapidly gaining a solid reputation among the OER community. This is a link to their ESL courses, and it's worth noting that EdX also has a smooth and intuitive smartphone/tablet app.
- RICE University Online ProgramRICE has already been at the forefront of the Open Education Movement, so although this appears to be a cost-based course of study, it's worth keeping an eye out for if they decide to transition this to an OER PLATFORM. As things stand, this is an online course of study so it may be ideal for some people.
- Georgetown University Open Access ESLLinks and articles recommended by Georgetown University.
- Open Education Resources for English Language InstructionA list of resources that are free and highly recommended for ESL instruction.
- University of Hawaii Recommendations for ESLMore resources as listed by U of H.
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Interesting Articles
- Scientific American: New AI Tech Can Mimic Any VoiceEmerging technologies in speech generation raise ethics and security concerns
By Bahar Gholipour on May 2, 2017