Open Educational Resources | Pao Yue-kong Library, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Video

Summary Writing (Screencast)

In this screencast, students demonstrate an understanding of summary writing by reading step-by-step instructions and then summarizing short paragraphs. Examples of summaries that are poorly written, as well as those that are written well, are included.

Subjects:: English language
Keywords:: Abstracting
Resource Type:: Video

Video

"Jabberwocky": One of Literature's Best Bits of Nonsense

As Alice wanders through the dreamscape of Looking-Glass Land in Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There," she happens across a book written in an unintelligible language. Inside, she discovers an epic poem filled with nonsense, fearsome creatures, and whimsical language. Dive into Carroll's legendary poem, "Jabberwocky" and see if you can make sense of the nonsense.

Subjects:: English literature
Keywords:: Nonsense verse Jabberwocky (Carroll Lewis)
Resource Type:: Video

Video

How Literature Can Help Us Develop Empathy

Reading fiction can educate us emotionally, intellectually and spiritually, says Beth Ann Fennelly, creative writing professor and poet laureate of Mississippi. She makes the case for why we humans — and the world — continue to need literature.

Subjects:: English literature
Keywords:: Social psychology literature Empathy
Resource Type:: Video

Video

Our Unhealthy Obsession with Choice

We face an endless string of choices, which leads us to feel anxiety, guilt and pangs of inadequacy that we are perhaps making the wrong ones. But philosopher Renata Salecl asks: Could individual choices be distracting us from something bigger—our power as social thinkers? A bold call for us to stop taking personal choice so seriously and focus on the choices we're making collectively.

Subjects:: Psychology and Philosophy
Keywords:: Medical care Choice (Psychology)
Resource Type:: Video

Video

Talk About Your Death While You're Still Healthy

Do you know what you want when you die? Do you know how you want to be remembered? In a candid, heartfelt talk about a subject most of us would rather not discuss, Michelle Knox asks each of us to reflect on our core values around death and share them with our loved ones, so they can make informed decisions without fear of having failed to honor our legacies. "Life would be a lot easier to live if we talked about death now," Knox says. "We need to discuss these issues when we are fit and healthy so we can take the emotion out of it -- and then we can learn not just what is important, but why it's important."

Keywords:: Death
Resource Type:: Video

Video

A Day in the Life of an Ancient Babylonian Business Mogul

It's 1762 BCE. As dawn breaks in the Babylonian city of Sippar, Beltani— a priestess and businesswoman— receives an urgent visit from her brother. He makes a troubling accusation: her tavern keeper has been undermining the business Beltani relies on in her old age. Now she has just a few short hours to find out the truth. Soraya Field Fiorio details a day in the life of a Babylonian naditu.

Subjects:: Area Studies
Keywords:: Middle East -- Babylonia Social conditions Women
Resource Type:: Video

Video

Anatomy of a New Yorker Cartoon

The New Yorker receives around 1,000 cartoons each week; it only publishes about 17 of them. In this hilarious, fast-paced, and insightful talk, the magazine's longstanding cartoon editor and self-proclaimed "humor analyst" Bob Mankoff dissects the comedy within just some of the "idea drawings" featured in the magazine, explaining what works, what doesn't, and why.

Subjects:: Visual Arts
Keywords:: New Yorker (New York N.Y. : 1925) Wit humor Caricatures cartoons
Resource Type:: Video

Video

The Spellbinding Art of Human Anatomy

Vanessa Ruiz takes us on an illustrated journey of human anatomical art over the centuries, sharing captivating images that bring this visual science -- and the contemporary artists inspired by it -- to life. "Anatomical art has the power to reach far beyond the pages of a medical textbook," she says, "connecting our innermost selves with our bodies through art."