Examples of Open Education Resources (OER) for hazards content

No university course should be without sources. For eosc114, DE content is self-contained but f2f content currently (2017) consists of notes and images and the occasional link or pointer to videos or websites. Notes are not always provided with anything more than the slides shown, and the “look and feel” is varies between modules because different instructors teach each module.

How should sources be used? Is external content “examinable”? If optional, how to motivate students to learn from sources? For example, external source are used during homework tasks, so perhaps homework results should examinable.

Here are just a few external sources that could be considered for this course.

• For all modules and instructors:
  1. Well-curated “teacher’s resources”, compiled by the Mineral Resources Education Program of BC. http://www.mineralsed.ca/s/TeacherResources.asp and see their home page at http://www.mineralsed.ca
  2. https://serc.carleton.edu/serc/site_guides/hazards.html, especially “Related Site Guides” at end of that page.
  3. EOSC114 DE has extensive written content. Some are beginning to look dated, but fundamentals and many images are excellent. Should we deploy some of these for f2f? Convert into an open text? Any ideas welcome.
• Is Earth a “fragile” system?
  1. Canadian Disaster Database, starting https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/cndn-dsstr-dtbs/index-en.aspx.
  2. Canadian Emergency Management Framework, https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/mrgnc-mngmnt-frmwrk/index-en.aspx .
  3. Open Source and Open Access Software Packages Available to Quantify Risk from Natural Hazards https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/20677.
  4. NEEDS something on risk, judgement of risk, human vs planetary “disasters” etc. Try starting at “Ideas for instructors” above.
• Quakes, Volcanoes and Landslides:
  1. https://opentextbc.ca/geology/ Open source textbook on physical geology at BCCampus.
  2. https://geo.libretexts.org/ The LibreTexts geosciences library, a multi-institutional collaborative venture to develop open-access texts for STEM education.
  3. https://education.usgs.gov/index.html Education resources at USGS.
  4. Many others – these three are the “easiest” for which solid, appropriate open access resources can be found.
• Storms:
  1. https://www.eoas.ubc.ca/books/Practical_Meteorology/ open source textbook on meteorology; © R. Stull, licensed under Creative Commons, Attribution, NonCommercial, ShareAlike
  2. hurricanescience.org seems good, and one page (Hurricane Structure) is used in the homework.
• Waves/coastlines: not explored – just ideas so far.
  1. https://serc.carleton.edu/serc/site_guides/tsunamis.html points to six “vetted” tsunami related resources.
  2. https://www.e-education.psu.edu/earth107/ Coastal Processes, Hazards and Society; © Penn State U., licensed under Creative Commons, Attribution, NonCommercial, ShareAlike.
  3. http://www.conscience-eu.net/index.htm
• Extinctions & Impacts:
  1. https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/ is both a database and an information source about near earth objects.
  2. Also http://www.passc.net/EarthImpactDatabase/ database and info. about known impacts on Earth.
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_event – Yes – I know it’s Wikipedia, but this page seems OK.