Digital library
Textbooks, references and open learning resources.
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Transitions to Professional Nursing Practice
Jamie Murphy · Open SUNY · 2020
Transitions to Professional Nursing Practice provides a pivotal learning experience for students transitioning from an associate degree education to a baccalaureate degree. Content includes a broad overview of the nursing profession, the role of accrediting and professional organizations with a strong focus on the American Nurses Association’s foundational documents. The competencies of the Standards of Professional Practice and the Code of Ethics are weaved throughout the text. Topics covered in this text include professional nursing practice, baccalaureate education, healthcare in the 21st century, autonomy and accountability, nursing philosophy, professional development, communication, interprofessional collaboration, critical thinking, introduction to evidence-based practice, and nursing leadership and theory.
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Literature Reviews for Education and Nursing Graduate Students
Linda Frederiksen; Sue Phelps · Rebus Community · 2017
Literature Reviews for Education and Nursing Graduate Students is an open textbook designed for students in graduate-level nursing and education programs. Its intent is to recognize the significant role the literature review plays in the research process and to prepare students for the work that goes into writing one. Developed for new graduate students and novice researchers just entering into the work of a chosen discipline, each of the eight chapters covers a component of the literature review process. Students will learn how to form a research question, search existing literature, synthesize results and write the review. The book contains examples, checklists, supplementary materials, and additional resources. Literature Reviews for Education and Nursing Graduate Students is written by two librarians with expertise guiding students through research and writing assignments, and is openly licensed.
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Health Case Studies
Glynda Rees; Rob Kruger; Janet Morrison · BCcampus · 2017
Health Case Studies is composed of eight separate health case studies. Each case study includes the patient narrative or story that models the best practice (at the time of publishing) in healthcare settings. Associated with each case is a set of specific learning objectives to support learning and facilitate educational strategies and evaluation. The case studies can be used online in a learning management system, in a classroom discussion, in a printed course pack or as part of a textbook created by the instructor. This flexibility is intentional and allows the educator to choose how best to convey the concepts presented in each case to the learner. Because these case studies were primarily developed for an electronic healthcare system, they are based predominantly in an acute healthcare setting. Educators can augment each case study to include primary healthcare settings, outpatient clinics, assisted living environments, and other contexts as relevant.
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Creative Clinical Teaching In The Health Professions
Sherri Melrose; Caroline Park; Beth Perry · Athabasca University Press · 2015
This peer reviewed e-book is a must-read for nurses and other health professionals who strive to teach with creativity and excellence in clinical settings. Each chapter presents current evidence informed educational practice knowledge. Each topic is also presented with text boxes describing ‘Creative Strategies' that clinical teachers from across Canada have successfully implemented. For those who are interested in background knowledge, the authors provided a comprehensive literature base. And, for those interested mainly in 'what to do,' the text box summaries offer step-by-step directions for creative, challenging activities that both new and experienced instructors can begin using immediately.
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Nursing Care at the End of Life: What Every Clinician Should Know
Susan Lowey · Open SUNY · 2015
Nursing Care at the End of Life: What Every Clinician Should Know should be an essential component of basic educational preparation for the professional registered nurse student. Recent studies show that only one in four nurses feel confident in caring for dying patients and their families and less than 2% of overall content in nursing textbooks is related to end-of-life care, despite the tremendous growth in palliative and end-of-life care programs across the country. The purpose of this textbook is to provide an indepth look at death and dying in this country, including the vital role of the nurse in assisting patients and families along the journey towards the end of life. There is an emphasis throughout the book on the simple, yet understated value of effective interpersonal communication between the patient and clinician. The text provides a basic foundation of understanding death and dying, including a brief historical examination of some main conceptual models associated with how patients cope with impending loss. An overview of illness trajectories and models of care, such as hospice and palliative care are discussed. Lastly, the latest evidence-based approaches for pain and symptom management, ethical concerns, cultural considerations, care at the time of death, and grief/bereavement are examined. The goal of this text is to foster the necessary skills for nurses to provide compassionate care to individuals who are nearing the end of life and their families. Every chapter contains a “What You Should Know” section which highlights and reinforces foundational concepts.
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Big Data for Epidemiology: Applied Data Analysis Using National Health Surveys
Tiffany Kindratt · Mavs Open Press · 2022
National data sets provide an avenue for students to practice data analytic skills while also answering meaningful research questions. This open education resource was developed to train future public health professionals how to conduct secondary data analysis of national health surveys using SAS statistical software. SAS software was selected because it is one of the most commonly used software programs used among public health departments and academia. The book includes details on how to analyze public-use data from five common national health surveys, including the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS), Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and National Health and Nutrition and Examination Survey (NHANES). All datasets and corresponding syntax files are available from the Open ICPSR Data Repository.
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Teaching Mathematics at Secondary Level
Tony Gardiner · Open Book Publishers · 2016
Teaching Mathematics is nothing less than a mathematical manifesto. Arising in response to a limited National Curriculum, and engaged with secondary schooling for those aged 11 ̶ 14 (Key Stage 3) in particular, this handbook for teachers will help them broaden and enrich their students’ mathematical education. It avoids specifying how to teach, and focuses instead on the central principles and concepts that need to be borne in mind by all teachers and textbook authors—but which are little appreciated in the UK at present. This study is aimed at anyone who would like to think more deeply about the discipline of ‘elementary mathematics’, in England and Wales and anywhere else. By analysing and supplementing the current curriculum, Teaching Mathematics provides food for thought for all those involved in school mathematics, whether as aspiring teachers or as experienced professionals. It challenges us all to reflect upon what it is that makes secondary school mathematics educationally, culturally, and socially important.
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Integral Calculus with Applications to Life Sciences
Paul Tsopméné · University of British Columbia Library · 2025
Integral Calculus with Applications to Life Sciences is an open educational resource (OER) that covers an unusually broad range of topics—including integration, infinite series, differential equations, linear algebra, probability, and statistics—rarely found in a single textbook. Each section begins with clear learning outcomes and a motivational paragraph, often tied to applications in the life sciences, helping students see the immediate relevance of what they learn. Examples are worked out in full detail. Every time a calculus or algebraic rule is applied, it is explicitly stated at the point of use. Rather than isolating algebra review in a preliminary chapter, this text integrates algebra throughout, allowing students to reinforce foundational skills while learning new material. This approach is especially supportive for students who may struggle with algebra. Practice problems with complete solutions follow each example, and most sections end with an application to biology, medicine, or related fields. The exercise sections include not only standard questions but also critical thinking problems such as finding errors in worked solutions, constructing counterexamples, and solving real-world problems. The text includes final answers for all exercises at the back. Hyperlinks allow students to jump seamlessly between exercises and final answers. By combining clarity, rigor, accessibility, and real-world relevance, one of the main goals of this OER is to help students not only to succeed in calculus but also to appreciate its power in understanding the living world.
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A Contemporary Approach to Research and Statistics in Psychology
Klaire Somoray · Council of Australian University Librarians · 2023
This book is designed as a short and introductory resource specifically aimed to help students grasp key concepts typically found in undergraduate psychology statistics subjects. It was initially developed for online and intensive programs, which are becoming increasingly popular in psychology education. The book utilises jamovi, a free and open-source statistical software. This peer reviewed book is completely free to download, use, and adapt and it is released using the CC BY-NC 4.0 licence.
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Statistics Minus The Math
Nathan Favero · Nathan Favero · 2024
This book was largely adapted from the public domain resource Online Statistics Education: A Multimedia Course of Study (https://onlinestatbook.com Project Leader: David M. Lane, Rice University). A huge thanks to David Lane and his colleagues at Rice University for their creation of this wonderful resource. I use footnotes throughout to indicate precisely where the various sections of each chapter came from. Chapters 11-13 (as well as Section 3.5, Section 4.2.2, most of Section 4.2.3, and Section 9.3.1) were written by me (Nathan). This book is meant to be a free resource and is licensed under CC BY 4.0. You’re welcome to share or adapt it, as long as you provide attribution to any work of mine that you use. This book was made using Quarto and is hosted using GitHub Pages. There are still formatting inconsistencies, and this is ever a work in progress. If you find errors, feel free to reach out (find updated contact info here: https://nathanfavero.com) so I can correct them for the next version I publish.
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A Cool Brisk Walk Through Discrete Mathematics
Stephen Davies · University of Mary Washington · 2023
A Cool Brisk Walk Through Discrete Mathematics - and its companion site "allthemath" - are completely-and-forever-free-and-open-source educational materials dedicated to the mathematics that budding computer science practitioners actually need to know. They feature the fun and addictive teaching of award-winning lecturer Dr. Stephen Davies of the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia!
![Statistics Through an Equity Lens [Revised Edition]](/api/files/covers/otl-1625.webp)
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Statistics Through an Equity Lens [Revised Edition]
Yvonne Anthony · ROTEL · 2023
This Open Educational Resource (OER) carries a significant responsibility by presenting statistics through an equity lens. The metaphor of a lens is used intentionally–as the glasses one wears can have a profound effect on what one sees. The book encourages further inspection of the ways in which data is collected, interpreted, and analyzed on a variety of social justice issues, such as health disparities, hunger and food insecurity, homelessness, behavioral health (mental health and substance use), and incarceration of males of color. It also attempts to reveal how the misuse of data can reinforce inequities, for example, by stigmatizing people and labeling neighborhoods as high poverty, violent, and having poor educational opportunities. Whether an intended or unintended consequence, irresponsible data use can contribute to racist impressions of people and communities.
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Polimetrics: A Stata Companion to Introduction to Political Science Research Methods
Josh Franco · Open Political Science (OPoliSci) · 2021
Polimetrics: A Stata Companion, authored by Dr. Josh Franco, is an Open Education Resource workbook licensed CC BY-NC and designed as a Stata companion to Introduction to Political Science Research Methods. This workbook provides a tour of the Stata software, an introduction to cross-sectional, time series, and panel data, and an introduction to a variety of models. I review models where the outcome is linear, binary, ordinal, categorical, and count. Additionally, I have an interpretation chapter on survival models. Each “Models” chapter has a similar organizational structure: about, estimated time, what is the model, how are models run in Stata, how do we interpret the model results, and a real-world example of model results in a Creative Commons licensed, peer-reviewed journal article. Additionally, mini-assignment instructions and a rubric are included so students can practice their interpretation skills.
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Numerical Methods for Ordinary Differential Equations
Kees Vuik; Fred Vermolen; Martin van Gijzen · TU Delft Open · 2023
In this book we discuss several numerical methods for solving ordinary differential equations. We emphasize the aspects that play an important role in practical problems. We confine ourselves to ordinary differential equations with the exception of the last chapter in which we discuss the heat equation, a parabolic partial differential equation. The techniques discussed in the intro-ductory chapters, for instance interpolation, numerical quadrature and the solution to nonlinear equations, may also be used outside the context of differential equations. They have been in-cluded to make the book self-contained as far as the numerical aspects are concerned. Chapters, sections and exercises marked with a * are not part of the Delft Institutional Package. The numerical examples in this book were implemented in Matlab, but also Python or any other programming language could be used. A list of references to background knowledge and related literature can be found at the end of this book. Extra information about this course can be found at http://NMODE.ewi.tudelft.nl, among which old exams, answers to the exercises, and a link to an online education platform. We thank Matthias Moller for his thorough reading of the draft of this book and his helpful suggestions.
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Calculus in Context
James Callahan; David Cox; Kenneth Hoffman · Smith College Open Educational Resources: Textbooks · 1994
Designing the curriculum We believe that calculus can be for students what it was for Euler and the Bernoullis: a language and a tool for exploring the whole fabric of science. We also believe that much of the mathematical depth and vitality of calculus lies in connections to other sciences. The mathematical questions that arise are compelling in part because the answers matter to other disciplines. We began our work with a "clean slate," not by asking what parts of the traditional course to include or discard. Our starting points are thus our summary of what calculus is really about. Our curricular goals are what we aim to convey about the subject in the course. Our functional goals describe the attitudes and behaviors we hope our students will adopt in using calculus to approach scientific and mathematical questions. Starting Points Calculus is fundamentally a way of dealing with functional relationships that occur in scientific and mathematical contexts. The techniques of calculus must be subordinate to an overall view of the questions that give rise to these relationships. Technology radically enlarges the range of questions we can explore and the ways we can answer them. Computers and graphing calculators are much more than tools for teaching the traditional calculus. The concept of a dynamical system is central to science. Therefore, differential equations belong at the center of calculus, and technology makes this possible at the introductory level. The process of successive approximation is a key tool of calculus, even when the outcome of the process--the limit--cannot be explicitly given in closed form. Curricular Goals Develop calculus in the context of scientific and mathematical questions. Treat systems of differential equations as fundamental objects of study. Construct and analyze mathematical models. Use the method of successive approximations to define and solve problems. Develop geometric visualization with hand-drawn and computer graphics. Give num
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Introduction to Applied Statistics for Psychology Students
Gordon Sarty · University of Saskatchewan · 2022
Introduction to Applied Statistics for Psychology Students, by Gordon E. Sarty (Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan) began as a textbook published in PDF format, in various editions between 2014-2017. The book was written to meet the needs of University of Saskatchewan psychology students at the undergraduate (PSY 233, PSY 234) level. In 2019-2020, funding was provided through the Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning, along with technical assistance from the Distance Education Unit, to update and adapt this book, making it more widely available in an easy-to-use and more adaptable digital (Pressbooks) format. The update also made revisions so that the book could be published with a license appropriate for open educational resources (OER). OERs are defined as “teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others” (Hewlett Foundation). This textbook and other OERs like it are openly licensed using a Creative Commons license, and are offered in various digital and e-book formats free of charge. Printed editions of this book can be obtained for a nominal fee through the University of Saskatchewan bookstore.
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Mostly Harmless Elementary Statistics
Rachel Webb · Portland State University Library · 2023
This text is for an introductory level probability and statistics course with an intermediate algebra prerequisite. The focus of the text follows the American Statistical Association’s Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE). Software examples provided for Microsoft Excel, TI-84 & TI-89 calculators. Students new to statistics are sure to benefit from this ADA accessible and relevant textbook. The examples are current and resonate with everyday life. The casual narrative style, has a conversational tone to provide an inclusive and easy to read format for students.
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Euclid's Elements Redux
Daniel Callahan · Sample · 2020
"Euclid's 'Elements' Redux" is an open textbook on mathematical logic and geometry based on Euclid's "Elements" for use in grades 7-12 and in undergraduate college courses on proof writing. Many problem solvers throughout history wrestled with Euclid as part of their early education including Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Sir Isaac Newton, Ada Lovelace, Abraham Lincoln, Bertrand Russell, and Albert Einstein. This edition is part of an effort to ensure that tomorrow's great thinkers will have that same privilege.
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Technical Mathematics
Morgan Chase · Open Oregon Educational Resources · 2024
This developmental-level mathematics textbook is intended for career-technical students.
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Introduction to Statistics
David Lane · David Lane · 2003
Introduction to Statistics is a resource for learning and teaching introductory statistics. This work is in the public domain. Therefore, it can be copied and reproduced without limitation. However, we would appreciate a citation where possible. Please cite as: Online Statistics Education: A Multimedia Course of Study (http://onlinestatbook.com/). Project Leader: David M. Lane, Rice University. Instructor's manual, PowerPoint Slides, and additional questions are available.