SCHOLARLY JOURNALS - NEW FREE JOURNALS TABLE OF CONTENTS: ticTOCs

Keeping up-to-date with the scholarly literature just became much easier, thanks to a new service called ticTOCs - Journal Tables of Contents Service.

What it is?
ticTOCs is a new scholarly journal Tables of Contents (TOCs) service.

It’s FREE, its easy to use, and it provides access to the most recent tables of contents of over 11,000 scholarly journals from more than 400 publishers.

It helps scholars, researchers, academics and anyone else keep up-to-date with what’s being published in the most recent issues of journals on almost any subject.

How to find Journal Titles

Using ticTOCs, you can:

* Find journals of interest by TITLE, SUBJECT or PUBLISHER;
* View the latest TOC;
* Link through to the full text of over 250,000 articles (where institutional or personal subscriptions, or Open Access, allow)
* Save selected journals to MyTOCs so that you can view future TOCs (free registration is required if you want to permanently save your MyTOCs).
* ticTOCs also makes it easy to export selected TOC' RSS feeds to popular feed readers such as Google Reader and Bloglines, and in addition you can import article citations into RefWorks (available through the UJ Library web page. Contact your librarian for assistance and training where necessary ).
* You can select TOCs by ticking those of interest - thousands of TOCs, within a tick or two (hence the name ticTOCs).

I have searched for journals per SUBJECT. The following number of journals are available (24/01/2009) for:

Zoology - 87 titles

Botany 125 titles

Biology - 291 titles

Microbiology - 110 titles

Biochemistry - 223 titles

Chemistry - 170 titles

Analytical Chemistry - 51 titles

Inorganic Chemistry - 22 titles

Organic Chemistry - 70 titles

Physical Chemistry - 72 titles

Mathematics - 363 titles

Statistics - 31 titles

Astronomy - 48 titles

Physics - 255 titles

Biophysics - 34 titles

Geophysics - 49 titles

Nuclear Physics - 39 titles

Geology - 89 titles

Geography - 70 titles

Earth Sciences - 58 titles

Computers - 81 titles

Computer Security - 23 titles

and many more.....

For help use the available HELP menu or ask your librarian for assistance!

ticTOCs has been funded under the JISC Users & Innovations programme and has been developed by an international consortium consisting of the University of Liverpool Library (lead), Heriot-Watt University, CrossRef, ProQuest, Emerald, RefWorks, MIMAS, Cranfield University, Institute of Physics, SAGE Publishers, Inderscience Publishers, DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), Open J-Gate, and Intute.

For the full press release, click HERE.

Since the launch, several hundred more journal Tables of Contents have been added to ticTOCs: over 60 titles from Palgrave, over 185 former Haworth Press titles, 82 open access titles from Libertas Academica, 27 Edinburgh University Press journals, and titles from Longwoods Publishing, Living Reviews, IM Publications and others.

Journals from 431 publishers are currently included in ticTOCs. Read more about the latest news HERE!

Academia.edu for Reserchers

This is a message from Dr. Richard Price:

With a team of people from Stanford and Cambridge, I've just launched a website Academia.edu, which does two things:

- It shows academics around the world structured in a 'tree' format, displayed according to their departmental and institutional affiliations.

- It enables academics to see news on the latest research in their area - the latest people, papers and talks.

We are hoping that Academia.edu will eventually list every academic in the world:

- Faculty Members, Post-Docs, Graduate Students, and Independent Researchers.

Academics can add their departments, and themselves, to the tree by clicking on the boxes.

Academics are joining the tree rapidly. More than 15,000 academics have added themselves in the last two months.

Some professors on the site include:

- Richard Dawkins (Zoology)

- Stephen Hawking (Mathematics & Physics)

- Paul Krugman

- Noam Chomsky

- Steven Pinker

We're trying to spread the word about Academia.edu as much as possible. It would be terrific if you could visit the site, and add yourself to your department on the tree.

If your university is not there, you can add it by clicking on the arrows coming out of the university boxes.

Independent researchers - if you are a researcher that is not associated with university, I encourage you to add yourself to the "Independent Researchers"portion of the tree at http://independent.academia.edu/.

And do spread the word to your friends and colleagues if you can.

This information was distributed through list-serve by: Ingrid Thomson, UCT Library

Online Lectures vs Traditional Classes: Study results

What do today’s undergraduate students expect from their educational experience? Online lectures are moving to the top of the list, according to a new study released by the University of Wisconsin E-Business Institute and Sonic Foundry, Inc. Set against the backdrop of a national trend for webcasting college lectures, the study was designed to understand student attitudes regarding the addition of lecture capture to existing courses. One key finding shows an overwhelming 82 percent of the undergraduates in the sample would prefer a course that records and streams lecture content online vs. courses that only feature in-room instruction. One respondent said, "I would love to have online lectures in addition to normal lectures - focusing on listening and comprehension during class is very important to me and extremely difficult if I am also simultaneously scribbling notes" (Webwire.com )

This study suggests not only a willingness but a “clear preference” among undergraduates for “lecture capture,” the technology that records, streams and stores what happens in the classroom for concurrent or later viewing. Both Campus Technology and Inside Higher Ed discuss this new study. (iLibrarian blog)

Collaboration, Sharing, Knowledge @ VUMA Portal

I have attended a workshop, where we had been introduced to the latest project from FOTIM (Foundation of Tertiary Institutions of the Northern Metropolis) - the VUMA! Portal. The purpose of the workshop was also for FOTIM to learn more on: How to enhance this Portal, how to promote, etc. Below I'm giving you a short explanation about this initiative and how can be used by students and academics.

VUMA is an initiative of FOTIM. The members of FOTIM are: University of Limpopo, North-West University, University of Johannesburg, Tshawane University of Technology, University of Witwatersrand, Vaal University of Technology, University of Venda, University of Pretoria and University of South Africa. The first phase of the Vuma! Portal was launched in October 2007.

To succeed at university, students are expected to show proficiency in many skills, including language and literacy, thinking skills, numeracy, communication and presentation skills, study skills, computer skills and others.

The Vuma! Portal is FOTIM’s attempt to pool the information and resources of its member institutions to support students in their university lives. Through partnerships formed with students, universities, funders and other providers, FOTIM aims to support the VUMA! Community growth as open, free environment, that gives students the opportunity to explore responsibly the many issues relating to university life and entering the workplace.

The Portal is intended to serve the collaborative needs of tertiary institutions, enabling them to enhance the learning experience of current and prospective students while creating a platform for academic collaboration and support. The Vuma! Portal space can be used by students to meet other students, seek peer advice, talk to experts and share university experiences, upload resources and contribute to a growing body of knowledge.

Build on the Web 2.0 platform, the Vuma! Portal relies on the contribution of users to grow the online space. The many tools available on the Portal are:
- blogs
- discussion forums
- polls
- wikis, aimed at encouraging collaboration and sharing

Through VUMA! students will have the unique opportunity to collaborate with students from other universities, share their views, submit content, and become active contributors in building this community.

The VUMA! Portal will be a source of advice and support to teachers and parents on the challenges and pressures facing university students, and the roles that they can play in supporting students.

The VUMA! Portal university staff facility aims to become the premier location for online collaboration amongst university staff in their professional pursuits. Its core purpose will be to create a formal and informal space focused on stimulating collaborative efforts in curriculum design, materials development, resource sharing and student support.

The VUMA! Portal space for prospective students will provide a mechanism for supporting students in making the right choices as they consider their options in higher education and future careers.

How to join the Vuma! Portal?

* From the main VUMA web page, Click on the preferred option: Students, Parents & Teachers, Prospective Students, University Staff
* Create your own account
* You can access through the Navigation option: available blogs, discussion forums, polls, etc.
* You can participate with your ideas and inputs that can help students to enhance their learning, research & thinking styles by using the various wikis.

What I like most is the option : WIKIS
There are three wikis options:

* The Study Center gives an opportunity for:

- Students to collaborate with other students on topics relevant to their studies and university life.

- Academics to add useful information under the different entries. Vuma! Portal can be used to TUTOR students.

- Librarians to add their knowledge of literacy instructions

There is already information available in this space to help students with their:
- Study Skills (learning styles, critical thinking, problem-solving, mind mapping, self-confidence, reading confidence, handling lectures, etc.)

- Exam Skills (essay style, open book exam, exam preparation, etc.)
* Life Hub ( enhance your university life)
* Writing Center (basics of good writing, avoiding Plagiarism, Writing Scientific Essay, etc.)

Many LINKS are available to useful website, under each of the entries.

P.S. You can EDIT these articles & ADD NEW CONTENT!

What should the Libraries and the Academics do?

* Participate actively in this project to enhance the quality of their students' knowledge
* Promote this initiative as widely as possible
* Make sure that LINKS to the VUMA! Portal are easy to access ( EduLink, Departments web pages, Library web page, etc.)
* The Library should provide additional trainings to students on “How to use VUMA! Portal", " Web 2.0 technological tools", etc.

This PORTAL is about: Collaboration, Sharing, building Relationships, creation of new Knowledge. There are already over 1000 subscribed users. The vision of Vuma! Portal is embedded in three year strategy.

A number of issues were raised at the workshop:

- If students contribute Lectures notes, what are the implications - Intellectual property issues?

- There will be standartisation of Information literacy materials. All participating University libraries will be involved.

- It were raised questions about links to Career Information, so students can easily find jobs after their university degree is completed

This project is open to changes and will adapt to the needs of its users.

Go and have a look at this portal, get the feel of it, test it and then give us your opinion. The initiators behind this Portal (FOTIM) will greatly appreciate your comments (mail@fotim.ac.za).

Lulu: Web-based self-publishing service

I was reading through "ILibrarian" blog and found there a post named "7 Things You Should Know About Lulu". I was curious to read through the post and then to look at the web site. This is what I found and what you should know and eventually use ( maybe in the near future?):

* What is it? Lulu is an web-based self-publishing service. It provides online access to the tools an individual needs to design, publish, and print original material, including books, brochures, reports, yearbooks, annual reports, training manuals, and posters. Writers can obtain an ISBN through the site, allowing them to sell their books through online or traditional retailers.
* Who is doing it? Some faculty use Lulu to create textbooks or course packs for the classes they teach, sending students to the site to either download a digital copy (often for free) or buy a printed copy. In some cases, faculty at other institutions use these learning materials in their own courses. Students can use dissertation templates to self-publish doctoral or master’s theses.
* How does it work? Lulu provides templates for each product category and applications to format text, images, or other material into a final product. For example, authors select the size of the book and the type of binding, choose color or black and white, and select a copyright license.
* Why is significant? Self-publishing offers an alternative to traditional publishing by allowing authors and creators of content to decide what gets published and in what form.
* What are the downsides? Allowing authors to make all publishing decisions does little to assure readers that a self-published work will justify the cost to buy it or the time to read it.
* Where this going? Self-publishing is part of the movement toward user-generated content, and services such as Lulu have the potential to extend that movement to creators and consumers of content who are more comfortable with traditional media.
* What are the implications for teaching and learning? Self-publishing offers several advantages to Faculty and students. Having more texts to choose from, or being able to easily prepare their own textbooks, instructors gain considerable flexibility in selecting materials for a course and in updating syllabi more frequently. The Lulu model offers opportunities for students to save significant amounts of money on course texts—a large and growing concern at many institutions.
Visit LULU website: http://www.lulu.com/ and have a look.

Plagiarism, Education, and Information Security

Plagiarism is becoming widespread especially in academic environment. The acccess to Internet documents makes it easy to accomplish. Julie Ryan, from George Washington University in article available in IEEE Security & Privicy, proposes a model of curbing the Plagiarism. Click on the TITLE to read the article.

MIT lecture Search Engine Aids Students

ScienceDaily (Nov. 16, 2007) — Imagine you are taking an introductory biology course. You're studying for an exam and realize it would be helpful to revisit the professor's explanation of RNA interference. Fortunately for you, a digital recording of the lecture is online, but the 10-minute explanation you want is buried in a 90-minute lecture you don't have time to watch.

Click on the title for full-text article