Digital library
Textbooks, references and open learning resources.

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Social Determinants of Health in Nursing Education: Integrating Into Curriculum and Practice
Dawn Bowker; Karla Kerkove · Iowa State University Digital Press · 2023
This workbook was established with nurse educators and nursing students in mind to provide knowledge, guidance, and support for integrating SDOH across the nursing education spectrum. Contents from this workbook are applicable to pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing programs, RN-to-BSN programs, and graduate education. A strategic approach for this workbook was purposefully designed to meet the structure of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) Clinical Judgment Measure Model® with a combined focus on the four spheres of care supported by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN®). Our goal with this workbook is to lead educators and students on a directed path of discovering how SDOH is an integral part of nursing practice and how nurses can implement effective interventions to positively impact the health outcomes of individuals, families, communities, and aggregates.

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Introduction to Implant Prosthodontics: A Case-Based Clinical Guide
Stefanos Kourtis; Panagiotis Lampropoulos; Nikolaos Polychronakis · Kallipos Open Academic Editions · 2022
Dental implants have been an established treatment option for partially and completely edentulous patients for decades. In the first years of their clinical use, the theoretical background on osseointegration and implant prosthodontics was covered by textbooks that have been characterized as “classical”, and any further research results were reported in scientific papers. During the years, the continuing introduction of new prosthetic components and treatment options has led to evolution in Implant Prosthodontics. Clinicians are informed on these innovations from research papers but each of them is focused on a specific topic or technique. The purpose of this book is to offer a thorough introduction to current Implant Prosthodontics, combining theory and practice in an easy-to-read manner. In each chapter the needed theoretical background and principles are reported, and the techniques are presented with clinical examples in step-by-step manner. The aim is to guide the dentist in his practice combining the needed knowledge with the clinical application and relevance. For this reason, it can be characterized as “A case-based Clinical Guide”. On the other side, clinicians are always concerned about the stages or steps in each technique and for this reason, emphasis has been given to the detailed description of each case with critical discussion on the selection of each specific treatment option. The content of this book is divided in 9 chapters that cover the whole clinical procedure for an implant restoration, from the presurgical evaluation to the fabrication and delivery. The chapters include the needed diagnostic elements for the treatment planning, the design and fabrication of radiographic and surgical guides, the impression techniques, the use of intra-oral scanning, an overview of cement- and screw retained restorations, the digital workflow in implant restorations and the principles for selection and fabrication of implant overdentures.

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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.
![The Data Renaissance: Analyzing the Disciplinary Effects of Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Beyond [Revised Edition]](/api/files/covers/otl-1718.webp)
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The Data Renaissance: Analyzing the Disciplinary Effects of Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Beyond [Revised Edition]
J.J. Sylvia IV · ROTEL · 2024
The Data Renaissance delves into the complexities of data's role in various industries and its broader impact on society. It highlights the challenges in investigating data practices, citing examples like TikTok, where algorithms and data handling are closely guarded secrets. The content, contributed by students under the guidance of an expert, covers a wide range of topics, including the ethical aspects of generative AI in education and the workplace, and case studies reflecting real-world experiences. This evolving text, intended to be updated with each class, serves as a dynamic resource for educators and students alike, offering insights and discussion guides for an in-depth understanding of the ever-changing landscape of data in our digital age.

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Reading Rhetorical Theory
Atilla Hallsby · University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing · 2022
This is a textbook that was originally designed for a 3000-level large lecture course on “Rhetorical Theory” at the University of Minnesota, Twin-Cities. An interdisciplinary tradition, rhetorical theory describes how speech, representation, and power are managed by techniques and technologies of communication. The plan of this book moves from rhetoric as an art of speech to rhetoric as a technology of power. The early chapters provide definitions and context for rhetoric as speech, middle chapters (e.g., on signs, symbols, visual images, argumentation, and narrative) describe rhetoric as representation, and the concluding chapters (e.g., on settler colonialism, secrecy, and digital rhetoric) elaborate on rhetoric as a technology of power. Of course, there is considerable overlap across these areas: the chapter on “rhetoric and ideology” sets the stage for later understandings of rhetoric as power; the chapter on “the rhetorical situation” hearkens back to the introductory understanding of rhetoric as speech. The book includes (audio and/or video) recordings with each chapter, as well as guidelines for proposed written assignments. Students using this resource should gain a thorough understanding of what rhetoric is, how it was practiced historically and today, and the ways that rhetoric wields an invisible influence over contemporary public and political life. Additionally, this book is designed for use across a variety of modalities, including in-person, online (synchronous/asynchronous), and hybridized formats. Additional resources (PowerPoint slides, quiz/exam questions) are also available to confirmed instructors upon request.

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Slavery to Liberation: The African American Experience
Joshua Farrington; Norman Powell; Gwendolyn Graham; Ogechi Anyanwu · Encompass Digital Archive · 2019
Slavery to Liberation: The African American Experience gives instructors, students, and general readers a comprehensive and up-to-date account of African Americans’ cultural and political history, economic development, artistic expressiveness, and religious and philosophical worldviews in a critical framework. It offers sound interdisciplinary analysis of selected historical and contemporary issues surrounding the origins and manifestations of White supremacy in the United States. By placing race at the center of the work, the book offers significant lessons for understanding the institutional marginalization of Blacks in contemporary America and their historical resistance and perseverance.

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Learning Digital Photography
Eric Demattos · North Idaho College · 2024
This textbook is designed to guide you through the essential skills and techniques needed to become a proficient photographer. Over the course of this book, you will learn how to: Understand Your Camera: Get to know the functions and features of your camera, from basic DSLR models to advanced DSLRs and mirrorless systems. Control Exposure: Learn how to use aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to achieve the perfect exposure in any lighting condition. Harness Light: Explore the different qualities of natural and artificial light, and how to manipulate them to enhance your photographs. Master Composition: Discover the rules and guidelines that can help you create visually compelling images, including the rule of thirds, leading lines, and symmetry. Color Theory: Understand some of the basic color relationships and how to use them effectively in your images. Thinking Creatively: Exercise the creative side of your brain to see the world in a new way and develop creative ways to make your vision into pictures. Develop Your Style: Find your unique photographic voice by experimenting with different genres, from landscape and portrait photography to macro and street photography.

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Unlocking the Digital Age: The Musician's Guide to Research, Copyright, and Publishing
Kathleen DeLaurenti; Andrea Copland · The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University · 2024
Based on coursework developed at the Peabody Conservatory, this book serves as a crucial resource for early career musicians navigating the complexities of the digital era. This guide bridges the gap between creative practice and scholarly research, empowering musicians to confidently share and protect their work as they expand their performing lives beyond the concert stage as citizen artists. It offers a plain language resource that helps early career musicians see where creative practice and creative research intersect and how to traverse information systems to share their work. As professional musicians and researchers, the authors’ experiences on stage and in academia makes this guide an indispensable tool for musicians aiming to thrive in the digital landscape.

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Foundations of Aural Skills
Timothy Chenette · Utah Education Network Digital Press with Pressbooks · 2022
Foundations of Aural Skills is a research-based, accessible, relevant, creative, inclusive, empowering textbook for teaching introductory aural skills. The first seven chapters provide thorough instruction in aural fundamentals, allowing students to build their foundations from a variety of starting points. The following chapters address the traditional tasks of sight-reading and dictation, but also improvisation, mimicking music you hear (“playback”), transcription, and ensemble skills. The final two chapters add some basic form- and chord-listening skills. Every section includes creative activities that learners can try out on their own or do in class. Embedded playlists for practicing listening skills include a diverse range of music that will connect with students’ preferences and allow them to experience music they haven’t worked with before. While the text is primarily designed for a first semester or year of instruction, it also includes some instruction on modulation, chromaticism, and mixed meter, and future additions/development will make these advanced applications more robust.

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Music on the Move
Danielle Fosler-Lussier · University of Michigan Press · 2020
Music is a mobile art. When people move to faraway places, whether by choice or by force, they bring their music along. Music creates a meaningful point of contact for individuals and for groups; it can encourage curiosity and foster understanding; and it can preserve a sense of identity and comfort in an unfamiliar or hostile environment. As music crosses cultural, linguistic, and political boundaries, it continually changes. While human mobility and mediation have always shaped music-making, our current era of digital connectedness introduces new creative opportunities and inspiration even as it extends concerns about issues such as copyright infringement and cultural appropriation. With its innovative multimodal approach, Music on the Move invites readers to listen and engage with many different types of music as they read. The text introduces a variety of concepts related to music's travels—with or without its makers—including colonialism, migration, diaspora, mediation, propaganda, copyright, and hybridity. The case studies represent a variety of musical genres and styles, Western and non-Western, concert music, traditional music, and popular music. Highly accessible, jargon-free, and media-rich, Music on the Move is suitable for students as well as general-interest readers. Citable link: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.9853855

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Documentary Making for Digital Humanists
Darren Reid; Brett Sanders · Open Book Publishers · 2021
This fluent and comprehensive field guide responds to increased interest, across the humanities, in the ways in which digital technologies can disrupt and open up new research and pedagogical avenues. It is designed to help scholars and students engage with their subjects using an audio-visual grammar, and to allow readers to efficiently gain the technical and theoretical skills necessary to create and disseminate their own trans-media projects. Documentary Making for Digital Humanists sets out the fundamentals of filmmaking, explores academic discourse on digital documentaries and online distribution, and considers the place of this discourse in the evolving academic landscape. The book walks its readers through the intellectual and practical processes of creating digital media and documentary projects. It is further equipped with video elements, supplementing specific chapters and providing brief and accessible introductions to the key components of the filmmaking process. This will be a valuable resource to humanist scholars and students seeking to embrace new media production and the digital landscape, and to those researchers interested in using means beyond the written word to disseminate their work. It constitutes a welcome contribution to the burgeoning field of digital humanities, as the first practical guide of its kind designed to facilitate humanist interactions with digital filmmaking, and to empower scholars and students alike to create and distribute new media audio-visual artefacts.

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Introduction to Art: Design, Context, and Meaning
Pamela Sachant; Peggy Blood; Jeffery LeMieux · University of North Georgia Press · 2016
Introduction to Art: Design, Context, and Meaning offers a comprehensive introduction to the world of Art. Authored by four USG faculty members with advance degrees in the arts, this textbooks offers up-to-date original scholarship. It includes over 400 high-quality images illustrating the history of art, its technical applications, and its many uses.Combining the best elements of both a traditional textbook and a reader, it introduces such issues in art as its meaning and purpose; its meaning and purpose; its structure, material, and form; and its diverse effects on our lives. Its digital nature allows students to follow links to applicable sources and videos, expanding the students' educational experiences beyond the textbook. Introduction to Art: Design, Context, and Meaning provides a new and free alternative to traditional textbooks, making it an invaluable resource in our modern age of technology and advancement.

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Digital approaches to building measurement: Standards, tools and techniques
Argaw Gurmu; Nilupa Udawatta; Gayani Karunasena; Reza Taban · Deakin University · 2025
To align the teaching and learning of building measurement with current industry practices and standards in Australia, it is essential to update traditional teaching materials. Existing textbooks predominantly focus on manual measurement methods and provide limited coverage of computer-based techniques that are now widely adopted in professional practice. This handbook addresses this gap by integrating digital measurement tools, particularly RIB CostX software, which reflects contemporary industry workflows. The approach adopted in this book aligns with the principles of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Methods of Measurement (ANZSMM) and supports alignment with industry expectations. This handbook covers key trades, namely groundworks, concrete, formwork, reinforcement, and masonry, which are covered in building measurement and estimating units such as SRE272-Building Measurement, SRE302- Building Measurement and Estimating, and SRQ774-Construction Measurement and Estimating.

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Introduction to Biosystems Engineering
Nicholas M. Holden; Mary Leigh Wolfe; Jactone A. Ogejo; Enda J. Cummins · American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), Virginia Tech Publishing · 2021
The discipline of Biosystems Engineering emerged in the 1990s from the traditional strongholds of agricultural engineering and food engineering. Biosystems engineering integrates engineering science and design with applied biological, environmental, and agricultural sciences. Introduction to Biosystems Engineering is targeted at 1st and 2nd year university-level students with an interest in biosystems engineering but who are not yet familiar with the breadth and depth of the subject. It is designed as a coherent educational resource, also available for download as individual digital chapters. The book can be used as a localized, customizable text for introductory courses in Biosystems Engineering globally. It is written as a series of stand-alone chapters organized under six major topics: Food and Bioprocessing; Environment; Buildings and Infrastructure; Information and Communications Technology and Data; Machinery Systems; and Energy. Each chapter is organized around stated learning outcomes and describes key concepts, applications of the concepts, and worked examples. Instructors adopting or reviewing this text are encouraged to register with the publisher using this form.

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Operational Amplifiers & Linear Integrated Circuits: Theory and Application
James Fiore · dissidents · 2018
The goal of this text, as its name implies, is to allow the reader to become proficient in the analysis and design of circuits utilizing modern linear ICs. It progresses from the fundamental circuit building blocks through to analog/digital conversion systems. The text is intended for use in a second year Operational Amplifiers course at the Associate level, or for a junior level course at the Baccalaureate level. In order to make effective use of this text, students should have already taken a course in basic discrete transistor circuits, and have a solid background in algebra and trigonometry, along with exposure to phasors. Calculus is used in certain sections of the text, but for the most part, its use is kept to a minimum. For students without a calculus background, these sections may be skipped without a loss of continuity. (The sole exception to this being Chapter Ten, Integrators and Differentiators, which hinges upon knowledge of calculus.) There is also a lab manual for this textbook.

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EDUC5272M Module Companion
Chrissi Nerantzi · University of Leeds Open Books · 2025
This module invites people to engage critically with the intersection of digital technologies, learning theories and societal change. Through four thematic units - covering the digital learner and educator, learning frameworks in a digital age, inclusion and accessibility in digital environments, and datafication & generative AI in education - the course fosters reflection, dialogue and creative experimentation in one’s own context. Participants will explore how digital tools shape and are shaped by education, society and development; situate their practice within key debates and theories; and apply these insights to enhance inclusive, thoughtful digital pedagogy. Ultimately, this module supports learners in interrogating, innovating and adapting their digital-educational practices in a rapidly evolving world.

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Designing Learning Experiences for Inclusivity and Diversity: Advice for Learning Designers
Keith Heggart; Mais Fatayer; Camille Dickson-Deane; Puvaneswari Arumugam · UTS ePRESS · 2024
Designing Learning Experiences for Inclusivity and Diversity stands out as a crucial guide for educators and learning designers committed to creating equitable learning environments. Grounded in the Australasian higher education experience, this book delves into the principles of universal design for learning (UDL), offering practical strategies to ensure that every student, regardless of their background or abilities, has the opportunity to succeed. This unique edited text offers a blend of theoretical insights and real-world examples. You can select from a wide range of topics including socially just pedagogy, open educational practices, the role of third-space academics and professionals, Indigenous-led learning design, designing for equity and cultural responsiveness, lived experience of disability, and working with students and staff in inclusive learning design. The book also explores the potential of digital tools and platforms to transform the learning experience. Readers will learn how to leverage technology to create interactive and engaging content that enhances learning outcomes for all students. The authors provide practical advice on integrating these technologies into the curriculum, making learning more accessible and enjoyable. Designing Learning Experiences for Inclusivity and Diversity addresses the critical role of assessment in the learning process. The book offers a comprehensive overview of various assessment methods, from formative assessments that provide ongoing feedback to summative assessments that measure overall achievement. By aligning assessment strategies with learning objectives, educators can create a more coherent and effective learning experience. Readers will find a wealth of resources, including case studies, practical tips, and reflective exercises. Whether you are a seasoned learning designer or a newcomer to the field, Designing Learning Experiences for Inclusivity and Diversity provides the knowledge and inspiration needed

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Strategies for Conducting Literary Research
Barry Mauer; John Venecek · University of Central Florida · 2022
This book, built in PressBooks with financial support from the UCF Digital Learning Course Redesign Initiative, contains 14 chapters, each of which contains two to six pages about the process of literary research. Pages contain learning objectives, infographics, videos, examples, key takeaways, and exercises. The course contains numerous discussion areas and quizzes. It also contains a “Foundational Materials” assignment that provides a platform for student success with whatever research project their instructor assigns. The book is highly flexible and instructors may use all or any part of the book within their own webcourse.

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Intersections of Open Educational Resources and Information Literacy
Mary Ann Cullen; Elizabeth Dill · Association of College and Research Libraries · 2022
"The present volume is timely not only because it models creative and effective strategies to advance both open education and information literacy, but especially because it poses critical questions and urges practitioners to go well beyond questions of access to and the use of information. It demands reflection on what is being accessed (and what is not), who is gaining access (and who is not), who is providing access (and who is not), and what the goal is of this access (and what lies beyond access)."—from the Foreword by Rajiv S. Jhangiani Information literacy skills are key when finding, using, adapting, and producing open educational resources (OER). Educators who wish to include OER for their students need to be able to find these resources and use them according to their permissions. When open pedagogical methods are employed, students need to be able to use information literacy skills as they compile, reuse, and create open resources. Intersections of Open Educational Resources and Information Literacy captures current open education and information literacy theory and practice and provides inspiration for the future. Chapters include practical applications, theoretical musings, literature reviews, and case studies and discuss social justice issues, collaboration, open pedagogy, training, and advocacy. The book is divided into six parts: Foundations Teaching Info Lit with OER Librarian Support of Open Pedagogy/OER Social Justice/Untold Stories Student Advocacy Spreading the Love: Training Future Advocates and Practitioners Chapters cover topics including library-led OER creation; digital cultural heritage and the intersections of primary source literacy and information literacy; situated learning and open pedagogy; critical librarianship and open education; and developing student OER leaders. Intersections of Open Educational Resources and Information Literacy—which went through an open peer review process—informs and inspires on OER, info lit, and their man

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Informed Arguments: A Guide to Writing and Research
Terri Pantuso; Sarah LeMire; Kathy Anders · Texas A&M University · 2023
Informed Arguments: A Guide to Writing and Research(4th Edition) is a premier Open Educational Resource (OER) designed to bridge the gap between critical thinking and rhetorical mastery. This edition refines the art of academic inquiry, offering students a transparent and accessible framework for deconstructing complex claims and constructing evidence-based positions. By prioritizing digital literacy and diverse perspectives, it empowers learners to navigate today’s information-saturated landscape with analytical precision. Comprehensive yet concise, this textbook remains an essential, cost-free solution for fostering scholarly voice and civic engagement in the modern composition classroom.