Tuesday, July 21, 2009

SlideWorld--FREE slides for your A&P course


I've stumbled across yet another source of FREE slides you can use in your A&P course!

The website SlideWorld.org has a collection of nearly 8 million PowerPoint-compatible slide presentations, many of which cover topics in human anatomy and physiology. The site focuses on "medical" content, but there's quite a bit that's geared toward undergraduate anatomy and physiology education. But even some of the professional-level material can be mined for content useful in your secondary or undergrad course.

Each presentation has a number of slides--sometimes a hundred or more--any one or more of which could be added to your presentation.

Once you're there . . . and signed up (membership is FREE) . . . then you search or browse for the topic you are interested in.

Once you find a presentation that you want to borrow from, you can . . .
  • preview it in an embedded slide show viewer (see the embedded viewers below)

  • copy the code (provided on the page) to embed the slide show (with viewer) into your webpage (such as a course syllabus, outline, or module page in you online platform)

  • download the slide presentation file (which you can then edit, borrow selected slides, add your own slides, etc.)

  • save your favorite slides in your personal Myworld collection
Of course, you can also upload and share your own A&P slide presentations for others to use.

Here's the link to get started:
SlideWorld.org

One of two issues that I have with the site is that it's kinda quirky. For example, links sometimes take you to a totally unexpected (and unrelated) presentation. And there seem to be a lot of hiccups where the server is down or returns bizarre error messages that are readable only by a network programmer. But for a FREE collection of a bazillion or so slides . . . I think I can put up with the quirks.

The other issue is a bit more serious (meaning possible fines or disciplinary actions) . . .

While, as some of you already know, I'm a huge fan of sharing and "open access" teaching material, there is one very troubling aspect to this collection. Some of the slide shows that I found use COPYRIGHTED images that CANNOT BE USED LEGALLY in your classroom.

To make your use legal, you'd have to get permission from the copyright owner to use it in your course. Since many of the images do not have their sources listed, well, good luck with that.

Wait! Doesn't teaching/education constitute "fair use" under copyright law? NO . . . you have NO RIGHT to use copyrighted images in teaching without the permission of the copyright holder.

I don't want to make this article about copyright issues, so I'll save that for another time. But if you upload any of your own presentations, make sure that they do not contain copyrighted images unless you are certain you have permission to do so.

All the FREE slides for A&P that I share are copyrighted by me . . . but I've given blanket permission to use them in your course. For more information, or to browse my slides, go to:


Here are some samples from SlideWorld.org . . .

Heart Anatomy and Physiology (contains copyright images!)



Hypertension:
New Concepts, Guidelines, and Clinical Management




And now for something silly . . .
Why women live longer than men




[The video players embedded here may not appear in your news feed or emailed newsletter. Go to The A&P Professor blog to access the video viewer. Go to The A&P Professor website to learn how to embed the video players in your PowerPoint or webpage . . . or how to simply link to it from your own email or webpage.]


Want
more FREE slides for your A&P course?

See my FREE slide page at The A&P Professor website!

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