Ever wonder how elements are discovered? Alen Hadzovic, Associate Professor in the Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences, can help answer this question.
With the help of a student from the Emerging Professionals Program from the U of T Scarborough Library, Hadzovic put together A Short Story of Germanium that walks the reader through a timeline of the discovery and isolation of the element germanium. The project is to produce a series of open educational resources about the discovery of elements (argon and radium are coming soon!) for those who are curious. Links to digital copies of original articles are provided for those who would like to explore more and see how science works while learning some history of chemistry.
Open educational resources (OER) come in all shapes and sizes, but they all share one thing in common: they're free and open for everyone to use. Our library is a treasure trove for anyone looking to create or find OER. We even have our own collection in the Learn directory. You can also read more about the way U of T Scarborough Library supports OER in the open pressbook “Open Educational Resources at UTSC.”
The library is proud to have played a part in the production of Professor Hadzovic’s work through the Emerging Professionals Program, and to promote it as part of our engagement with Open Educational Week.
Curious about how you can publish or discover open resources for teaching and learning? Just set up a meeting with your liaison librarian, and they'll guide you through the wonderful world of open digital resources and OER publishing at U of T Scarborough Library.