IRVINE, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—The University of California, Irvine today announced the availability of its Science Information Tutorial as a part of the University’s OpenCourseWare (OCW) initiative. The Science Information Tutorial, comprised of three sections—“Creating, Sharing and Finding Science Information,” “Science and Engineering Sources and Resources” and “Reading, Evaluating and Citing Information”—will offer participants an understanding of the fundamental processes of knowledge creation and scholarly communication in the basic and applied sciences. The resources are currently available to learners nationwide through the Web, free of charge at http://ocw.uci.edu/.

“Students who feel like they could use a boost with their science coursework will greatly benefit from our new OCW offering,” shared Larry Cooperman, director of UC Irvine’s OCW. “As other education resources are being reduced, we are proud to find innovative ways to help learners further their knowledge.”

The self-paced tutorial uses a series of interactive exercises to illustrate concepts such as the scientific method, peer review, scholarly communication, and methods of locating and evaluating scientific literature and information sources. Each of the three sections will highlight tactics for improving general science understanding and boosting overall comprehension.

• Creating, Sharing and Finding Science Information—Designed to help students understand the unique characteristics of information and knowledge production and dissemination in science and engineering, this tutorial explores tools for utilizing library resources to find science information effectively and efficiently.
• Science and Engineering Sources and Resources—This segment of the tutorial discusses matching information needs with the best format, introduces vocabulary used in describing resources, and provides suggestions for subject specific resources.
• Reading, Evaluating and Citing Information—Information comes in various shapes, sizes and formats—often making it difficult to know what kind of information is better and why. This section provides an introduction to evaluation criteria and the importance of citing sources.

Upon conclusion of the tutorial, participants will be able to understand the scientific method, describe scholarly communication methods and know when to use different kinds of information sources. To learn about UC Irvine’s Science Information Tutorial, visit http://ocw.uci.edu/courses/course.aspx?id=50.

About UC Irvine’s OpenCourseWare Initiative: The University of California, Irvine was the first University of California campus—and West Coast University—to join the OCW Consortium. UC Irvine’s membership in the OCW Consortium is consistent with its public- and land-grant missions and its desire to play a significant role in contributing to the social welfare of the state, the nation and the world. Open educational resources (OER) showcase the University’s high quality education and makes courses and course materials free for everyone in the world. UC Irvine’s OCW is a large-scale, Web-based resource that houses educational assets that are discoverable, searchable, modifiable, and, best of all, free and easily available. Through the OCW movement, UC Irvine provides University-quality courses and learning assets to populations of self-learners that are underserved and in many cases, unable to participate in formal education at a university. This site also offers access to UC Irvine’s online continuing education offerings. For more information about UC Irvine’s OCW initiative, visit http://ocw.uci.edu/ or e-mail ocw@unx.uci.edu.

About the University of California, Irvine: The University of California, Irvine is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Founded in 1965, UCI is among the fastest-growing University of California campuses, with more than 27,000 undergraduate and graduate students and about 1,400 faculty members. The second-largest employer in dynamic Orange County, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $3.3 billion. For more UCI news, visit www.today.uci.edu.