Digital library
Textbooks, references and open learning resources.
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The History and Culture of the Mni Wakan Oyate (Spirit Lake Nation)
North Dakota Department of Public Instruction · University of North Dakota · 1997
History & Culture of the Mni Wakan Oyate Spirit Lake Nation is a guide to the Spirit Lake nation, past and present. Elders, scholars, and other experts from the nation contributed the content of this book, which was reviewed by Cankdeska Cikana Community College (English: Little Hoop Community College) and published by the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (NDDPI) for use in middle and high school North Dakota Studies classes, as well as in higher education. The Spirit Lake Nation’s name in the Santee Dakota language is “Mni Wakan Oyate” (also transcribed “Mniwakaƞ Oyate”). The nation was formerly called the Devils Lake Sioux Tribe in various English-language materials. It is comprised of the Pabaksa (Iháŋkthuŋwaŋna), Sisseton (Sisíthuŋwaŋ) and Wahpeton (Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ) bands of the Dakota people. The Spirit Lake Dakota Reservation shares geography with eastern North Dakota, beside Devils Lake. Fort Totten is the capital of this sovereign nation.
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North Dakota Native American Essential Understandings
North Dakota Department of Public Instruction · University of North Dakota · 2015
History & Culture of the Mandan Hidatsa & Sahnish (Arikara) is a guide to the Three Affiliated Tribes nation, past and present. The book is divided into three sections: one for each tribe. Elders, scholars, and other experts from the nation contributed the content of this book, which was reviewed by Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College and published by the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (NDDPI) for use in middle and high school North Dakota Studies classes, as well as in higher education. The MHA nation is known as the following in its languages: Mandan: Miiti Naamni, Hidatsa: Awadi Aguraawi, Arikara: ačitaanu' táWIt. The Fort Berthold Indian Reservation shares geography with western North Dakota, with land on either side of the Missouri River basin. New Town is this sovereign nation’s capital.
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A Casebook for Comparative Politics
Mark Johnson; Angela Pashayan; Daniel Pedreira; Matthew Schuster · Opendora · 2025
This book is intended to serve as a companion text for courses in Comparative Politics, Introduction to Political Science, and similar subjects. The target audience is lower-division undergraduates. Each chapter constitutes a single country (case), with material on seven (7) major topics: History, Identity, Culture and Civil Society, Participation, Formal Institutions, Political Economy, and Foreign Relations.
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The Delft Method for System Dynamics
Willem Auping; Floortje d’Hont; Merla Kubli; Jill Slinger · TU Delft Open · 2024
The Delft Method for System Dynamics (SD) is a proven method for learning basic SD. The method focuses on learning by doing: first you try to work through an exercise, and if you do not understand something, then you can look up the theory. The book contains exercises on topics such as causal loop diagrams, delays, and when SD is an appropriate methodology. It also contains modelling exercises that show students how to build low to medium complexity models, and how to use these models for policy analysis. The theory chapters cover all phases of the modelling cycle: problem articulation, conceptualisation, formulation, evaluation (including validation and scenario analysis), and policy analysis. This book is intended for students and teachers in large or small System Dynamics courses, and for motivated students that want to learn SD at their own pace.
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Transportation Land Use Modeling and Policy (TLUMP)
Qisheng Pan; Soheil Sharifi-Asl · Mavs Open Press · 2024
Transportation Land Use Modeling and Policy is an open educational resource (OER) that offers a thorough exploration of various approaches and frameworks for modeling the complex relationship between land use and transportation, with a focus on scenario-based analysis for issues such as equity, environmental impact, and other critical transportation policies. The textbook begins by providing an overview of the current urban transportation landscape, highlighting ongoing challenges like transportation equity. It then introduces foundational theories related to land use and transportation, setting the stage for an in-depth examination of different modeling approaches. Using case studies and real-world examples, primarily from North America, the book demonstrates how these models explain and predict the relationship between land use (residential, economic, industrial activities) and transportation (accessibility). After reviewing existing integrated land use and transportation models and discussing the future direction of integrated land use and transportation planning, the latter part of the book delves deeper into travel demand modeling (TDM) practices. It highlights traditional methods like the four-step model and provides a brief overview of newer techniques such as activity- based and agent-based models. This textbook is part of a six-volume series produced under the grant OERTransport: Enabling Transportation Planning Professional Advancement awarded to the University of Texas-Arlington (UTA) in consortium with California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) and the University of South Florida (USF). It was developed under an Open Textbooks Pilot grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education. However, its contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and no endorsement by the Federal Government should be assumed.
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Green Cities and Transportation
Ariadna Reyes; Soheil Sharif-Asl; Ladan Mozaffarian · Mavs Open Press · 2024
This textbook equips advanced undergraduate and graduate students with the knowledge, skills, and multidisciplinary perspectives needed to understand how sustainable mobility and infrastructure can support climate change mitigation and transportation equity for low-income commuters. The textbook is organized into three sections: Sustainability, Transportation Equity, and Planning. Case Studies and Lessons from the North and South. Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Cities, and Mobility. It includes eleven chapters, each featuring discussion questions, reading materials, and in-class exercises designed to help students develop a research paper on transportation. This textbook is part of a six-volume series produced under the grant OERTransport: Enabling Transportation Planning Professional Advancement awarded to the University of Texas-Arlington (UTA) in consortium with California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) and the University of South Florida (USF). It was developed under an Open Textbooks Pilot grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education. However, its contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and no endorsement by the Federal Government should be assumed.
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The Mass Media Landscape
Dave Bostwick; Alyssa Riley; Dominique Valle · University of Arkansas · 2024
The Mass Media Landscape is a compilation of lessons to help audiences understand the evolution of U.S. mass media and disruptive media technologies. It includes overviews of media law, media ethics and media literacy. Chapters contain interactive exercises, review quizzes, writing assignments, and multimedia content. Following are four points of emphasis: Media literacy extends beyond the ability to identify misinformation and disinformation or follow reliable news sources. A crucial part of media literacy is understanding mass media history. Media literacy skills help both consumers and professionals create and publish reliable content, including on social media, in an ethical manner and with an understanding of long-term effects and potential consequences. All students, not just those who seek careers in the industry, benefit from learning about media history, media law, media ethics, and media literacy.
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Lifespan Development
Diana Riser; Rose Spielman; David Biek · OpenStax · 2024
Lifespan Development aligns to the topics and objectives of most introductory developmental psychology courses taught across departments. Grounded in foundational theories and scientific research, the text teaches students about core aspects of human development—physical, cognitive, social, emotional—across the lifespan. A primary goal of the book is to incorporate content, scholarship, and activities that explore a variety of perspectives that encourage all students to feel seen and included. Lifespan Development strives to openly address complex topics with scholarly responsibility and an effort to increase equity and inclusion in the research presented, as well as to foster student engagement in the classroom through relevant examples and applications. Focused on driving meaningful and memorable learning experiences, the narrative places concepts in contexts that give students the means to understand human development and how that knowledge can be applied to and improve their own lives and the lives of others.
![Shared Voices: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology [Revised Edition]](/api/files/covers/otl-1619.webp)
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Shared Voices: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology [Revised Edition]
Demetrios Brellas; Vanessa Martinez · ROTEL · 2024
Shared Voices is a student-centered cultural anthropology mini textbook built with an equity lens. We are excited to share this with you all. This book attempts to address the lack of current, reliable, and relevant resources for introductory anthropology courses that center equity and anti-racism. We set out to create a culturally responsive and inclusive textbook with an anti-racist and global citizenry perspective. We center marginalized voices, stories, and community. This text is a starting point for any introductory anthropology course recognizing that cultural change is constant and the familiar is cousin to the weird and unusual. A work in progress, this text aims to provide students an opportunity to build content as they explore the topics within.
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Introduction to Statistics in the Psychological Sciences
Linda Cote; Rupa Gordon; Chrislyn Randell; Judy Schmitt · University of Missouri - St. Louis · 2021
Introduction to Statistics in the Psychological Sciences provides an accessible introduction to the fundamentals of statistics, and hypothesis testing as need for psychology students. The textbook introduces the fundamentals of statistics, an introduction to hypothesis testing, and t Tests. Related samples, independent samples, analysis of variance, correlations, linear regressions and chi-squares are all covered along with expanded appendices with z, t, F correlation, and a Chi-Square table. The text includes key terms and exercises with answers to odd-numbered exercises. Psychology students often find statistics courses to be different from their other psychology classes. There are some distinct differences, especially involving study strategies for class success. The first difference is learning a new vocabulary—it is similar to learning a new language. Knowing the meaning of certain words will help as you are reading the material and working through the problems. Secondly, practice is critical for success; reading over the material is not enough. Statistics is a subject learned by doing, so make sure you work through any homework questions, chapter questions, and practice problems available. Statistical knowledge gives you a set of skills employable in graduate school and the workplace. Data science is a burgeoning field, and there is practical significance in learning this material. The statistics presented in this book are some of the most common ones used in research articles, and we hope by the end of this OER you’ll feel comfortable reading (and not skipping!) the results section of an article. This work is broken into 14 chapters, covering the fundamentals of statistics, and hypothesis testing.
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Psychology of Language
Dinesh Ramoo; Marie Bartlett · BCcampus · 2021
In this textbook, students are introduced to the fundamental principles of linguistics and psycholinguistics. Students will explore theories and models of language development, comprehension and production as well as bilingualism and reading. All of these topics are approached from a Canadian perspective and include ideas from indigenous cultures and languages of Canada.
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Research Methods for the Social Sciences: An Introduction
Valerie Sheppard · BCcampus · 2020
This textbook provides a broad overview of research methods utilized in sociology. It will be of particular value for students who are new to research methods.
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Natural Resources Sustainability: An introductory synthesis
Christopher Lant · Utah Education Network Digital Press with Pressbooks · 2023
This text has evolved from 20 semesters teaching the undergraduate courses Geography, People, and the Environment and Environment and Society. It is designed for freshmen through junior-level courses at community, junior and four-year colleges and universities in the United States. Focused upon the dilemma of environmental sustainability, geography and the emergent field of ecological economics are emphasized in a trans-disciplinary framework. It provides—in a one semester or one quarter undergraduate course that requires no prerequisites—a fundamental background in the essentials students need to deal with natural resource and environmental issues as an informed citizen while building a foundation for further study.
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Power, Profit, and Privilege: Problematizing Scholarly Publishing
Amanda Makula · University of Kansas Libraries · 2022
This open course introduces students to the scholarly communications system — with particular emphasis on the scholarly journal publishing mechanism — wherein new information is created, evaluated, disseminated, and preserved.
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International Libraries: An Open Textbook
Amanda Reed; Sarah Johnson; Heather Severson; Michael Green · The University at Buffalo · 2019
International Libraries: An Open Textbook is a reference sourcebook about the libraries and the field of librarianship in non-North American countries around the world. Each chapter in this volume includes a profile of a featured country’s variety of libraries, its library histories, its systems of library education, and its library practices, laws, and professional associations. Graduate students in the University at Buffalo’s Department of Information Science authored these chapters for the LIS 503: International Librarianship course during the summer term of 2019. The text was developed under the a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) as an open educational resource that can be adapted for future sections of the International Librarianship course or for similar courses offered in library and information programs at other institutions.
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Lost Without It: How GPS is more than just navigation
Chris McAlister; Deborah King; Samara Hoffmann · University of Southern Queensland · 2023
The navigation that we get from GPS is just a tiny component of how it impacts our lives - from banking to mapping to just knowing where stuff is, it's now a critical part of how humanity functions. This book takes you through all the basics of how GPS works, kind of like a how-to, just in case zombies take out all those smart scientists that keep it all running!
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ReCentering Psych Stats
Lynette Bikos · Seattle Pacific University Library · 2023
To center a variable in regression means to set its value at zero and interpret all other values in relation to this reference point. Regarding race and gender, researchers often center male and White at zero. Further, it is typical that research vignettes in statistics textbooks are similarly seated in a White, Western (frequently U.S.), heteronormative, framework. ReCentering Psych Stats seeks provide statistics training for psychology students (undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral) in a socially and culturally responsive way. All lessons use the open-source statistics program, R (and its associated packages). Each lesson includes a chapter and screencasted lesson, features a workflow for statistical decision-making, and includes all R code necessary to conduct the statistic. Research vignettes are drawn from the published psychology literature. When possible, these articles are authored by individuals who hold identities that have, been marginalized in the scientific literature; correctly use the statistic that is being taught in the lesson; and focus on issues of justice, equity, inclusion, or and diversity. When possible, lessons include interviews with researchers from the featured vignettes. Each chapter includes suggestions for practice that are graded in complexity, such that learners can choose the degree of challenge. ReCentering Psych Stats is perpetually-in-progress; suggestions for corrections or chapters are welcomed: ReCenteringPsychStats@spu.edu
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Fundamentals of Psychological Disorders
Alexis Bridley; Lee Daffin Jr. · Washington State University · 2022
Fundamentals of Psychological Disorders (formerly Abnormal Psychology) is an Open Education Resource written by Alexis Bridley, Ph.D. and Lee W. Daffin Jr., Ph.D. through Washington State University. The book tackles the difficult topic of mental disorders in 15 modules and is updated through the DSM-5-TR. This journey starts by discussing what abnormal behavior is by attempting to understand what normal behavior is. Models of abnormal psychology and clinical assessment, diagnosis, and treatment are then discussed. With these three modules completed, the authors next explore several classes of mental disorders in 5 blocks. Block 1 covers mood, trauma and stressor related, and dissociative disorders. Block 2 covers anxiety, somatic symptom, and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Block 3 covers eating and substance-related and addictive disorders. Block 4 tackles schizophrenia spectrum and personality disorders. Finally, Block 5 investigates neurocognitive disorders and then ends with a discussion of contemporary issues in psychopathology. Disorders are covered by discussing their clinical presentation and DSM Criteria, epidemiology, comorbidity, etiology, and treatment options.
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Sexuality, the Self, and Society
Susan Rahman; Nathan Bowman; Dahmitra Jackson · Susan Rahman · 2022
Content included in Sexuality, the Self, and Society is aligned with the typical scope for an introductory, interdisciplinary Human Sexuality Textbook. It is written to be a complete text for a semester length course but could be used, in part, reorganized, or edited in true OER fashion. It is meant to be accessible, relevant, and inclusive. It also will not remain static meaning that the author will continue to update periodically and those who adopt may do so as they see fit.
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Research Methods for Criminal Justice Students
Monica Williams · Monica Williams · 2022
This book is based on two open-access textbooks: Bhattacherjee’s (2012) Social science research: Principles, methods, and practices and Blackstone’s (2012) Principles of sociological inquiry: Qualitative and quantitative methods. I first used Bhattacherjee’s book in a graduate-level criminal justice research methods course. I chose the book because it was an open educational resource that covered the major topics of my course. While I found the book adequate for my purposes, the business school perspective did not always fit with my criminal justice focus. I decided to rewrite the textbook for undergraduate and graduate students in my criminal justice research methods courses. As I researched other open- educational resources for teaching social science research methods, I found Blackstone’s book, which covered more of the social science and qualitative methods perspectives that I wanted to incorporate into my book. As a result, this open-access textbook includes some content from both previous works along with my own additions based on my extensive experience and expertise in conducting qualitative and quantitative research in social science settings and in mentoring students through the research process. My Ph.D. is in Sociology, and I currently teach undergraduates and graduate students in a criminal justice program at Weber State University. Throughout my career, I have conducted and published the results of research projects using a variety of methods, including surveys, case studies, in-depth interviews, participant observation, content analysis, and secondary analysis of quantitative data. I have also mentored undergraduates in conducting community-based research projects using many of these same methods with the addition of focus groups and program evaluations.