Open Source Textbook For Computer Literacy? 95
dcollins writes "The college where I work has decided to forego ordering a textbook for the computer class that I teach this fall. Does anyone know of a free, open-source textbook for basic computer literacy concepts (overview of hardware, software, operating systems, and file systems)?"
You could always write one... (Score:5, Interesting)
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Here's your whole job done already:
MIT OpenCourseWare - Intro to Computer Science [mit.edu]
If you need some more advanced concepts:
Full Course list [mit.edu]
Now how can I get a cake college teaching job where someone who is supposed to know all about information systems can't find stuff like this in the two seconds with google it took me? I suppose they just don't pay enough for employees...
Re:You could always write one... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:You could always write one... (Score:5, Informative)
The idea is that there are plenty of retired professors who would love to write chapter seven of the official (say) thermodynamics textbook. There are worse things you could do today than e-mailing your congressman and telling them you support this..
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As much as I like the idea of free textbooks, there are two things that bother me:
1. Why are we calling them "open source"? All books are open source, by definition. They may not be free-as-in-freedom, and probably not even in digital form, but all the valuable parts are open source.
2. I don't really think free-as-in-freedom digital textbooks are that high of a priority. The analog versions are quite free. You can share them with a friend legally, and many people do. There are even institutions dedicated fo
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I love the troll, but you're trying to start off by redefining the usual meaning of Open Source.
Open Source doesn't mean you can steal it if you have to. It means you're Free (As In Freedom) to use, modify, and share it.
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http://www.cs.princeton.edu/introcs/home/ [princeton.edu]
sedgewick has some stuff there.
you can also look through a place like lulu.com - a lot of authors who print there also have free copies of their books online.
Re:You could always write one... (Score:5, Informative)
Considering this is an introductory class, writing a whole book might be a little much when it's unlikely the students are familiar with the subject. I'm not saying the students can't contribute their notes to an existing project, but making the whole class be just writing the book....
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I would have recommended this link instead:
Wikibooks:Featured books [wikibooks.org]
.
The problem with Wikibooks is much the same problem with open source in general. While finding a books related to the subject you are interested in is easy, finding one that was completed to a usable state before being abandoned is a different matter.
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These two look like they might be a good starting point for the author:
Basic Computing Using Windows [wikibooks.org]
How To Assemble A Desktop PC [wikibooks.org]
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There's also the much overlooked:
http://en.wikiversity.org/ [wikiversity.org]
And Wikiversity Featured resources [wikiversity.org]
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This one might also be useful as well:
Introduction to Computers [wikiversity.org]
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This is the most useful post I've seen in the last day -- The last link looks like something I could definitely use. Thanks so much. (And, wish I had mod points.)
No need (Score:1, Insightful)
If you are going to teach, then a text book is redundant. Students only need to study from their notes, otherwise a library should suffice for extra curricular learning.
Re:No need (Score:5, Interesting)
Lecture notes are no substitute for a well-written textbook. Lecture notes are for when you learn in class, and then remind yourself for the test. But you really should be learning from your coursework and using lecture time to just try to absorb as much insight as possible from the masters..
I've had professors who expect us to learn from the course materials. They don't repeat the same thing that's in the textbook because that's a total waste of time. They do what a professor should: provide insights not in the book, share real-world experience (if applicable), and answer questions.
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That really all depends on your own definition of "teach" and probably on some teaching paradigms that have been used on you. Everything can be taught via a text book (it would save money on hiring teachers). Or everything could be taught through a teacher, or a school could use your hybrid method. There is no "best" way to learn, though my option at least saves the expense of a text book while helping to ensure that the teacher is actually capable of teaching instead of just regurgitating. And the reality
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If you are talking facts and figures you are correct. Some teaching requires a back and forth 'conversation' with a teacher. For instance, try teaching writing using only books. Without a teacher pointing out flaws and showing the student where they are going wrong the student doesn't know if they get it. Some subjects are not so cut in stone enough for a student to just read a textbook and know if they truly understand it. Tests administered through a book can't even prove you know it because as many t
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Some teaching requires a back and forth 'conversation' with a teacher
That's called the Socratic method. It is not required but can be very useful if both the teacher and the student have the intelligence to exploit it. Unfortunately it is like debating committees; most people cannot perceive an ad hominem when it slaps them in the face (teachers or students). This approach also assumes that the average teacher is both intelligent and enthusiastic. Try arguing with a PhD in Mathematics; he will claim that he is more logical than you because he knows advanced calculus. Not so
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Yes, I'll admit that there most of education is mostly regurgitation... or frankly even more important a bunch of diploma mills that go through the motions of delivering information (not the same thing as teaching) and hoping that some of it sticks when they graduate. Or even worse, it is a windowing process that gives a variation of trade guild journeyman status upon its graduates, but deliberately tries to cull out as much cruft as they can to maintain higher wages for the respective professions that ear
Likewise... (Score:2)
He can just have good notes and ideas of what he wants to teach, then print copies of those for each class. Add in a few projects or assignments to drill specifics into the students, and viola, you're good to go! It's a lot more work, but if you're willing to save the kids the money on books, it's a possibility.
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He can just have good notes and ideas of what he wants to teach, then print copies of those for each class. Add in a few projects or assignments to drill specifics into the students, and viola, you're good to go! It's a lot more work, but if you're willing to save the kids the money on books, it's a possibility.
That's something that I was thinking as well (as a substitute for a textbook). To add to my previous comment; there will never be enough time to truly learn what is in a textbook because school curricula will always outpace the amount of information that are in these text books.
Your method of course is not particularly good either, because a large part of the learning process is in taking notes, organizing information in your own notes, etc. I hope things have changed since I was a kid, but nobody ever taug
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Bravo, to me you are making a whole lot more sense than most of the posters here. You are not alone.
I remember getting a lot of C's too, the fallacy here is that it was not because I was lazy, but because the material was boring or lacking strong practical applicability, and I was frankly not interested. The C's were a result of proving I understood the minimum required to get to something more interesting, or of doing something more interesting instead of the work the teacher actually proposed, or expected
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In my experience, these computer literacy classes are a waste of time for 95% of the people taking them. I proctored a couple of these classes and had a hard time staying awake and would have skipped the classes if it had been an option. "Teaching" these classes is very hard (I'm not even sure it's possible). These classes cover such exciting things as "opening files" and then finish with advanced topics like "Excel funct
Free and easy (Score:3, Informative)
First, there's Wikibooks http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page [wikibooks.org] which includes a large number of references, but the quality isn't always superb.
Then, there's Flat World http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/ [flatworldknowledge.com] (A relatively new, growing site) that contains not as numerous titles as Wikibooks, but the writing is thorough and usually better than the textbooks themselves. The big downside to Flat World is that in your case (since it's still developing), it doesn't contain a computer science section, but it's being worked on and is expected to be released soon.
Though I have not personally used Wikibooks and Flat World extensively, I've heard from others that they're amazing resources.
WIKIBOOKS (Score:1)
"Open Source" (Score:2, Insightful)
I guess free/open concept has been hijacked into becoming free/cheap. I don't think that was the point at all.
Anyway, if you want "cheap" option, cobbling together various Wikipedia pages may be a feasible option?
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The new "open source" - free.
The old "open source" - you can look at the source of the work - revision history, contributors, etc.
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I fail to see the college's angle on this. They are refusing to order a textbook (we are told) that will be required for the class, a class they approved to be taught for which they are happy to collect tuition money from students. But they won't order textbooks? Which are (in every college I have ever seen) ordered by the school bookstore and sold to students taking the courses for a profit? What the hell? There is something more to this story that we aren't being told because it makes absolutely no sense
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The timing of this question one month before classes start suggests that the department or instructor missed the bookstore's deadline to order sufficient copies for sale in September, due to unexpected increases in enrollment, recently discovered issues with the old text, or to lack of administrative support/orientation to a new or sessional instructor who would be expected to adhere to bookstore or publisher/distributor deadlines.
Also, university bookstores are increasingly encouraged to operate as profita
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Yeah, the idea that a professor might actually want to save his students money just doesn't pass the sniff test. There must be a conspiracy afoot.
This is college level stuff?? (Score:2, Interesting)
I have a hard time reconciling that this should be college level course material. What kinds of students actually need to be given this information in 2009?
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"overview of hardware, software, operating systems, and file systems"
I have a hard time reconciling that this should be college level course material. What kinds of students actually need to be given this information in 2009?
That sounds incredibly arrogant (and quite stupid IMHO). One could always wonder why people would need to review the different functions of various parts of the brain for an introductory psychology course, because well, everybody has a brain so they should know how it works. Unfortunately this line of thinking has very little to do with reality.
Re:This is college level stuff?? (Score:5, Informative)
"overview of hardware, software, operating systems, and file systems"
I have a hard time reconciling that this should be college level course material. What kinds of students actually need to be given this information in 2009?
I have a hard time reconciling that an educated person would be unaware there are college students enrolled in majors other than Computer Science.
If you've been to college, you almost certainly have been required to take courses outside of your major - usually known as survey courses. You're usually given a range of classes that meet the basic requirement. A CS survey course would likely satisfy a general science requirement for, say, a history major or an art major. You might even see students from other science programs (e.g. geology, chemistry).
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Well done sir, I believe you have check-mate.
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Well, I could've made the same point without the snarky phrasing in the first paragraph... my apologies to Krakadoom for that.
Obvious innit (Score:4, Funny)
Cringely (Score:1)
It's not open source, but for $0.01, you can buy Robert X. Cringely's wonderful though dated Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can't Get a Date [amazon.com]. Not only does Bob give you first-hand accounts of the people who pioneered computer hardware, software, and operating systems, he's also pretty damn funny. You could also point your students to his free sites: the current site [cringely.com] or the old site [pbs.org].
He's not always right, but he's usually
You're asking the wrong question (Score:3, Informative)
"Does anyone know of a free, open-source textbook for basic computer literacy concepts (overview of hardware, software, operating systems, and file systems)?"
Physical books don't have source code. :D It sounds like you are looking for a "creative commons license" for a text that covers the aforementioned. However, those licenses are "free as in beer, not free as in freedom", to quote an old adage. There are write-ups on the various topics, but I haven't seen a book published under any kind of open license available in print. You may have to do what many instructors do -- which is create a workbook instead with various works. If you're looking to create a curriculum, I'd look past just text books. Take this for example; It's a short video with some of these concepts covered.
Google has an option for searching by "Usage rights". Consider using it to find some of these works.
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Achem. Cough. Anchor tag eaten. I mean this [oedb.org].
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Physical books don't have source code
Ofcourse they do. It's a lot easier to work with the (in almost all cases) original electronic text than the printed form. It's why word processors are so popular. Personally I'd prefer Vim and (La)TeX -- but the fact remains that most written works from the 90s onwards has something that could very well be described as source text (I agree, it's not really code, not even if it's in plan TeX).
I haven't seen a book published under any kind of open license available in print.
How about: http://diveintopython.org/ [diveintopython.org] ? And depending on your definition of "available in print": http://www.lulu.co [lulu.com]
man.... (Score:2)
Not to be too obvious, but...
man man
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no, not just one page about how to read a book, a book!
ls /bin/ /usr/bin/ |xargs man
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How does that saying go? Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he'll open a fish market. Or something like that, I can't be sure. Maybe that was the capitalist spin, before capitalism was outlawed.
Wikipedia? (Score:2)
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Verifiability overlaps haphazardly with intractability. See explicitly:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:NOTGUIDE#Wikipedia_is_not_a_manual.2C_guidebook.2C_textbook.2C_or_scientific_journal [wikipedia.org]
"Wikipedia is an encyclopedic reference, not a textbook. The purpose of Wikipedia is to present facts, not to teach subject matter. It"
Open Source Textbook For Computer Literacy (Score:4, Funny)
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pdftex builds a pdf, which can easily be distributed to students, or even printed at the copy shop into spiral bound books. What's the link?
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Insightful, I will have to remember that link.
MIT OpenCourseWare (Score:1)
Open source textbook (Score:3, Insightful)
Source? (Score:3, Insightful)
What does "source" mean when you say open source? If you mean creative commons or some other open licensing scheme, don't refer to it as "source", which specifically refers to software.
If you want a really high level overview from a source with an open licensing scheme, Wikipedia is probably good enough. Wikipedia actually has very good coverage of basic computing concepts. I realize that is a bit unprofessional though, but any open source will potentially have the same issues that Wikipedia does.
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What does "source" mean when you say open source? If you mean creative commons or some other open licensing scheme, don't refer to it as "source", which specifically refers to software.
There are plenty of extensions of the phrase "open source" that have nothing to do with software. See Terms based on open source [wikipedia.org] for examples, which include "Open source political campaign", "Open source record label", and "Open source religion".
I realize that technical people are the last people to criticize for being nitpicky about their terms, but, for the rest of the world, language changes. You should be glad that people have picked up on the ethos instead of jumping on them for inaccuracy.
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The problem is the term "open source" in this case is vague. Does it mean several people can work on it, like a wiki? Or just that it's free, as in beer?
I would normally assume the first, but in this case he probably would be fine with the latter. That is why the misapplication of "open source" troubles me - most consumers of information don't care about the libre aspect of free, i.e. the part that actually makes it open.
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Open source doesn't really mean either of those things, but I understand the confusion. The term seems to be getting looser as it makes its way into popular culture, and it's being applied to things where the official OSI definition doesn't really apply (textbooks, pictures, movies, etc.)
If the discussion were about software, we'd be best to adhere to the OSI definition. None of this "Microsoft Shared Source" crap. But for a textbook, here's what "open source" means to me:
* It is available to the user in
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"What does 'source' mean when you say open source? If you mean creative commons or some other open licensing scheme, don't refer to it as 'source', which specifically refers to software."
No, the use has expanded in publishing and academia.
See here in California -- http://www.opensourcetext.org/ [opensourcetext.org]
See here in the Federal government -- http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-1464&tab=summary [govtrack.us]
Free Java Lectures (Score:2)
Connexions (Score:1)
Adult Life Training, Inc. (Score:1)
Poor Students (Score:3, Insightful)
You will never be able to get for free what you can get in a textbook. What book were you using before?
Good computer concepts textbooks are updated yearly or every other year to incorporate the latest technology. For example, 2 years ago you could buy an up-to-date book that included floppy drives, but no USB flash drive coverage. But today, a modern book would not include floppies but include flash drives. One example of hundreds.
A purchased textbook includes exercises, marginal elements that challenge students in a number of ways, copious instructor materials, supporting Web sites, and assessment software. You will NEVER find such a complete, up-to-date replacement for free. Good luck trying, though. Your school is doing both its instructors and students a disservice.
These days, textbook companies do quite a bit of work for instructors. Modern instructors of such computer concepts courses do not want to do grading, write exercises, and, god forbid, create their own lecture. They want it spoon fed, and textbook companies do that if you want it.
Just because students (and young instructors) have gotten "free" digital entertainment does not mean that this concept translates to educational material. I see so many young instructors who grew up on Napster now trying to transfer that experience to almost all published material. I'm not saying they want to steal content, just get high-quality for free. How sad. Do you next expect your students to ask you to lecture for free as well?
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I need more info (Score:3, Insightful)
Do you have a syllabus?
A description of where these people are going to be starting and what standard you want to bring them up to would be handy.
Do they need a description of how to use a mouse?
How many classes are going to be devoted to this?
How long are the classes?
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Given the number of links to various introductions to computer science, or even -- omilord -- beginning Java, I don't see how this lack of information is an impediment to answering.
Seriously, though. If you have a resource that you think might fit the bill, post it. The dude will have to figure out for himself whether the book is right for his needs in any event.
Secret Guide? (Score:3, Interesting)
Many years ago, I purchased an edition of The Seecret Guide to Computers [wikipedia.org]. I am not sure if it is still available in its entirety online, but it might be a good starting point for novice computer users.
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky
Solution (Score:1)
Quick answer and research links (Score:5, Informative)
Quick answer:
Introduction to Information & Communication Technology - Using Free Software and Open Technologies
Edited By: Will Brady
http://openbookproject.net/courses/intro2ict/index.xhtml [openbookproject.net]
The Non-nerds Guide to Computers
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Non-nerds_Guide_to_Computers [wikibooks.org]
But seriously spend half an hour going through results of Google search on these terms: open textbooks computing
You will have to go through the texts yourself but there are many out there at many different levels.
Here are the main resources.
Wikibooks
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Subject:Computing [wikibooks.org]
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Non-nerds_Guide_to_Computers [wikibooks.org]
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Computers_for_Beginners [wikibooks.org]
Flat World Knowledge
http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/ [flatworldknowledge.com]
MIT Open Courseware
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_OpenCourseWare [wikipedia.org]
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Electrical-Engineering-and-Computer-Science/index.htm [mit.edu]
Make Textbooks Affordable open textbooks
http://www.maketextbooksaffordable.org/statement.asp?id2=37833 [maketextbo...rdable.org]
Student PIRGs
http://www.studentpirgs.org/open-textbooks-catalog#computersci [studentpirgs.org]
List at Walla Walla Community College
http://www.wwcc.edu/CMS/index.php?id=2835 [wwcc.edu]
The Assayer free books list
http://theassayer.org/ [theassayer.org]
http://www.theassayer.org/cgi-bin/asbrowsesubject.cgi?class=Q#freeclassQAc [theassayer.org]
California Learning Resource Network (only math and science)
http://clrn.org/FDTI/index.cfm [clrn.org]
OER Consortium
http://oerconsortium.org/discipline-specific/#Computer [oerconsortium.org]
Open Book Project
http://openbookproject.net/ [openbookproject.net]
http://www.openbookproject.net/courses/ [openbookproject.net]
Introduction to Information & Communication Technology - Using Free Software and Open Technologies
Edited By: Will Brady
http://openbookproject.net/courses/intro2ict/index.xhtml [openbookproject.net]
O'Reilly Open Books
http://oreilly.com/openbook/ [oreilly.com]
Textbook Revolution
http://www.textbookrevolution.org/index.php/Book:Lists/Subjects/Computer_Science [textbookrevolution.org]
http://www.opentextbook.org/ [opentextbook.org]
http://freelearning.bccampus.ca/openTextbook.php?page_id=221&bookmark=Computing [bccampus.ca]
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A handy and useful list. But did you actually read the "non-nerd's guide to computers?" I'm astonished that so much misinformation, bad writing, and inappropriate advertising for Intel could be squeezed into... the whole "book" must weigh in at less than 1000 words, and I'm sure 200 of them are devoted to a really confused explanation of hyperthreading.
Plus, it doesn't look like it's been updated since late 2007.
The book needs either vast quantities of TLC, or a merciful death.
The first link, though, seem
Linux: Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition (Score:1)
Linux: Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition by Paul Sheer [2038bug.com] is what I used when I was first getting started using Linux. The first few chapters are about computers in general, and the rest of the book is about Linux. Approximately one third is about being a user, and the rest is about administration. The entire book would be a bit heavy for an introductory computer course, but you would have no difficulty finding in-depth explanations of the things you described (file systems, what the operating system does,
Yes, there is a source of knowledge for your class (Score:2)
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