As news of the devistation in Taiwan and China comes in from Typhoon Morakot, our thoughts are with the people in the affected areas and our friends there in the open education community.   The OOPS team in Taiwan has taken open sharing to a new level with the blood drive they’ve undertaken to help the victims of this storm.

As Taiwan and China recover from this disaster and the hurricane season begins in earnest in the Western Hemisphere as well, we are again confronted with the challenges of understanding the causes of these storms, what impact global warming may be having on their frequency and severity, and how best to prepare for and recover from their effects.  In another edition of Current Events in Context, I’ve mined the MIT site for courses that can help address these challenges.  As always, please feel free to add courses and content from your own favorite OER site.

Understanding climate

12.003 Atmosphere, Ocean and Climate Dynamics Fall 2008

12.307 Weather and Climate Laboratory Spring 2009

12.333 Atmospheric and Ocean Circulations Spring 2004

12.811 Tropical Meteorology Spring 2005

Lessons of Hurricane Katrina

4.001J /11.004J CityScope: New Orleans Spring 2007

11.945 Katrina Practicum Spring 2006

Disaster Recovery

11.941 Disaster, Vulnerability and Resilience Spring 2005

NextMap Disaster Management
MAS.965 / 6.976 / SP.716 NextLab I: Designing Mobile Technologies for the Next Billion Users Fall 2008