March 6-10 is Open Education Week! Open Educational Resources (OER) are high-quality educational materials that are available for free in the public domain and can be retained, reused, revised, remixed, and redistributed under Creative Commons licensing. These materials can be textbooks, research documents, or instructional tools, among other things. https://youtu.be/gLWTbIt8l3U Durham Tech has already awarded stipends for OER adoption to almost 20 instructors, and the OER Task Force is pleased

Tuesday through Saturday of next week (March 7-11) are Durham Tech's Inclement Weather Make-Up Days (aka "Not Spring Break"), and since we haven't had inclement weather, there will be a break in classes. March is National Reading Month and this year, Thursday, March 2 (today!) has been designated Read Across America Day. We get that sometimes when you're in school or teaching that it can be hard to budget time, energy, and attention for reading if it's not your go-to, but we believe that

We may be reaching the end of February and American Heart Month, but we can pump out a month-end blog post. (That pun was weak. I know. Let's not talk about it, okay?) This year's theme is "Live to the Beat," which aims to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in Black adults ages 35 to 54 by taking small steps to address key risk factors such as hypertension, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar. Some tips? Get moving! Just 10 minutes a day to get started can have a positive impact!

It's nearing the end of Black History Month, so while our blog post topics may broaden, we'd like to leave you with some books by Black Americans that have made an impact on the Durham Tech community to read beyond just February because Black history is American history all year long. Keep reading for Durham Tech's favorite reads by Black American authors--fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, environmental justice, social justice, criminal justice, economics, fantasy, and finance--, and for a

This week's Black History Month post highlights contemporary activist and advocates and their works, but also highlights some folks closer to home. North Carolina has a history of Black advocates and activists--in no particular chronological order--from Pauli Murray to Ann Atwater to James Shepard to Ella Baker to the Greensboro Four (Franklin McCain, Jibreel Khazan, Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond) to Nina Simone to the Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II. Two time Durham university graduate

In a place that was once the center of the voting rights movement, another struggle faces Lowndes County, Alabama--basic sanitation. Catherine Coleman Flowers examines the class, racial, and geographic conditions that lead to many people not having an affordable way of disposing of sewage. --paraphrased from publisher's summary Title: Waste: One Woman’s Fight Against America’s Dirty Secret Author: Catherine Coleman Flowers Genre: Memoir; Nonfiction Read Great Things 2023 Categories: A book about

So far we've highlighted Black History Month on the blog with Black Visual Artists, Black History, and Black Musicians and Poets. We've got one left in queue for next week--Activists and Advocates--, but we'd like to finish the month by sharing a list of your favorite books by Black authors. Share your favorite 1-2 books by Black American authors. They can be fiction or nonfiction, classic or contemporary, any reading level (kids, middle grades, YA, or adult), any topic or genre, and they do not

Instructional Technologies is busily preparing for the upcoming transition from Sakai to Canvas. In this post, we provide some quick updates on where we are in the process and a heads up about more information that will be coming your way soon. What’s happened so far Here’s a quick summary of what Instructional Technologies has been doing in January and February… Setting up and configuring Canvas for Durham Tech. Integrating Canvas with Durham Tech’s student information system (Colleague) to

This week's Black History Month post highlights Black creators in poetry and music, including pop, hip hop, rap, punk, and rock. This is only a small selection of our collection, so stop by and browse our digital collections from your own computer or stop in and browse our shelves. Updated 2/15/2023: Want some poetry bookmarks? Go to the end of the post! Interested in learning how to make your own music using only a laptop? Check out this awesome event through the Wake County Public Libraries

This week for Black History Month, we're highlighting the actual history of the month itself and resources available to work towards Dr. Woodson's goals when he envisioned a month highlighting Black contributions to American history. https://youtu.be/WMfWGc5kyBg Dr. Carter G. Woodson is the "father of Black History Month." Starting as a week in February in 1926 (selected as the same month as the birthday of Abraham Lincoln and the chosen birthday of Frederick Douglass) and expanded to a month by