I work in a TTI and i understand the so many frustrations lecturers and students alike have to endure to get a hold of learning materials and eBooks , especially in Engineering courses.The main reason being that they are expensive and mostly they are not available locally in our libraries for purchase
I had to grapple with this problem for awhile, so i had to find a way to get myself this learning materials and eBooks. As I always say to many people the internet is your best friend. I want to share some of my many ways i use to acquire this resources online.
This is far the most resourceful online learning platform with all manner of courses, it is subscription based platform, but it sure does offer value for the money. This site could be so very useful and inexpensive if a school or institution can create account for everybody to use. What i like most about this site is the use of video tutorials in particular modules geared towards developing gainful skills especially to all of you who like to develop skills for freelancing and others. I particularly encourage those guys in ICT to check out this site.
Note that there are other ways(illegal) to get hold of there video tutorials on various courses.
This by far my favorite free eBooks repository to get all manner of eBooks in pdf, djvu, docx format. From this site you can actually get any eBooks so long as you know the Title or Author. It offers 10 Free eBooks downloads per day without even signing up, 25 eBooks downloads in 24 hrs when you sign up(Free), which to me is no hindrance if i need 1000 eBooks per day?(Using multiple accounts or spoofing my ip address).
Most people do not know that the best way and probably the most popular means to get multimedia video resources is You Tube. There is a lot you can learn from this website, there are so many educational channels where you can view/play or download videos . One thing i could also pass across is this, its not viable to always be online to view a video to learn, so what i do is to download the media i want to my laptop local drive to play in the future and possibly share to my students. So it calls that you should have a good you tube download manager. I prefer to use Internet Download Manager (IDM) or You Tube Downloader Pro(YTD)- of course this software are paid, but i have found a way or means to use them for free, i hope you do too.
Scribd
This is an online library and publishing platform. It is free to join and in fact you can sign up using your social network like Face book, this website allows you to read and download electronic books or eBooks, you can also upload or publish your materials on this website for free or for sale. You can find some of my uploaded materials on this site if you search by author criteria by the way. I want to encourage all those tutors who have quality learning notes and materials and would wish to make money out of them to publish them in this site for free.
Slideshare
This is the place to get quality power point slides and so many other materials. this site also allows you to upload and share your slides. You can sign up using your social networks like Facebook for free.
This is a free website, as the website say its free for ever. You can sign up for free using your social networks like Facebook. The website has a range of subjects including math, Science and Engineering, Computing, Arts and humanities, Economics and finance. As a student, as a parent, as a teacher you will find this website very interesting and valuable.
This is also a great website to download eBooks and Textbooks. It has a huge repository of eBooks and Textbooks in almost every subject and area you are interested in. Check it out and thank me later
Torrent Websites
A torrent network is a Peer to Peer(P2P) sharing platform, whereby users share files from there hard drives through this protocol(BitTorrent) , i want to say this; sharing is not illegal, but this torrent networks has been used to share copyrighted materials illegally. So i want to state from the onset, that this article is only for information purposes, and i don’t condone the use and distribution of illegal materials.
But most people prefer to mask there online activity from snooping infrastructure of rogue agents, ISPs and governments. So if you must download torrents, in countries whereby by doing so is illegal, then i strongly suggest you get a good VPN (Virtual Private Network) software.
How you choose to use this information of course will be bounded by the laws that exist about the use of torrent networks in your country. Now since my disclosure is now open.
I want to say that, torrent network is by far the most resourceful place you can get all manner of learning materials, Educational Textbooks, eBooks, Novels, Video Tutorials, Software and all manner and tons of stuff.
For you to be able to access this websites and actually download stuff from this sites, this is what you need;
- Fast Internet Connectivity
- Computer
- Torrent Client; this a torrent downloader that grab magnet links from the P2P network, common clients include; utorrent, BitTorrent, Vuze, transmission(for linux users) and others.
- Unlimited Storage Space
- Good Antivirus Software
Now since we now have those, let me share my common and popular sites i use(to share my legal files)
- Extratorrent
- Pirate Bay
- Demonoid(This one you register by invitation, but there often a window for free registration op you get lucky)
That is enough for now.
Now let me point out a few things, all this websites almost function the same. You browse the site, they have a search function, so type in anything you want and hit go. You will get a list of files, but don’t be clicking every file you see, this websites are mostly laden with malware and phishing scripts. So be aware and take necessary precautions.
Now to the matter at hand, i normally like clicking on the browse button and find my area of interest, in this case Ebooks /Textbooks/Novels/Video Tutorials, another way is to browse in ‘other’ Category. (If i get encouragement i may prepare a short video media on how to go about this-using Camtasia Studio(Great Software to create video tutorials)).
Once you find a file you want click on download button or the magnet link and your downloader(Utorrent e.t.c) will automatically take over, and depending on the size of your file or ‘seeds'(the more the faster the download) or leechers(the less and more the seeds the better) you will get your file in your downloads folder in no time.
I hope this article was helpful.
Add more ways on how you acquire resources on reply threads.
SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE SHOULD BE UNIVERSALLY ACCESSIBLE TO ALL
