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Extra-Curricular Resources for Students?

Posted by Cliff on from the going-that-extra-mile dept.

rende asks: "With school soon starting or having already started for many, this seems like a timely question. The MIT OpenCourseWare project is looking like a great resource for additional information to supplement my own coursework this year. I was very delighted to find this information freely available online, and wish I would have known about it previously. I would like to ask Slashdot: Are there any other resources, offered by other schools or independent sites, that offer such a robust selection of information that would fit in nicely, with the standard classes of a science related major?"

4 of 15 comments (clear)

  1. the library by Goldsmith · · Score: 3, Informative

    My favorite source of information has always been the library. Not only do you find books on what you might be looking for, but you'll often find the original research paper on a topic.

    You might scoff, but librarians will show you where you can find those books and articles online as well.

  2. Additional Material by bulldog2260 · · Score: 4, Informative

    At the college I go to school, North Lake College in Irving, TX, the head of our UNIX department made this site: http://snap.nlc.dcccd.edu which is material and courses for UNIX. My college has a UNIX Systems Administration degree, and this is the site in which all of the material that we use is posted. I am also looking for projects/ learning experiances to further my education.

  3. ACM Digital Library by InfiniterX · · Score: 4, Informative

    The ACM Digital Library saved my ass several times during my undergrad for sure. It was nice being able to look at the actual paper published describing an algorithm or data structure, for example, when trying to complete a programming assignment that involved it.

    Call me a nerd, but journal articles are still interesting reading just so you can keep up on what's the state of the art, as well as being able to look back on some of the more famous pieces of published work... take Dijkstra's "Goto Considered Harmful," for instance.

    Granted, the ACM library may not be free, but I know that my university's entire /16 worth of IP address space was covered under a site license, so your school might also have such an arrangement.

    1. Re:ACM Digital Library by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      ACM membership isn't very expensive for students and full access to the DL used to be available for a very small additional cost. IIRC, they changed this about three years ago so that all student members now have full DL access (no additional fee). It's something like $45/year I believe. Even professional membership isn't outrageous, but it's certainly affordable for students. If you really are poor enough that $45/year is a problem, they have provisions for subsidizing membership through a "hardship" program.