Digital library
Textbooks, references and open learning resources.
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Sons & Lettres: A pronunciation method for intermediate-level French
Stephen Walton · Portland State University Library · 2018
Sons et lettres provides a set of classroom materials to train students to hear and produce the sounds of French and to recognize the regular spellings used to represent those sounds in print. The materials are inspired by a desire to help students feel more confident about their French pronunciation and more at home saying the many French words, familiar and unfamiliar, which they encounter in their studies, in French media and in their travels. In our experience, students are not given sufficient preparation to successfully decipher and pronounce French words. These materials are intended to fill that gap and to clear away the confusion that English speakers often feel when they see French words with seemingly mysterious combinations of letters.
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Accessible Appalachia: An Open-Access Introduction to Appalachian Studies
Lisa Day; Jacob Johnson · Eastern Kentucky University · 2024
Accessible Appalachia: An Open-Access Introduction to Appalachian Studies is an edited collection of original scholarship. The textbook offers an interdisciplinary perspective and is ideal for introductory classes in Appalachian Studies. Available free to students everywhere, this textbook features coverage of Appalachian artistic, cultural, historical, natural, and social development.
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A People’s History of Structural Racism in Academia: From A(dministration of Justice) to Z(oology)
Susan Rahman; Prateek Sunder; Dahmitra Jackson · Susan Rahman · 2022
The contents of this book were developed under an Open Textbooks Pilot grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
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Oregon’s History: People of the Northwest in the Land of Eden
Athanasios Michaels; Kaitlin Hakanson · Open Oregon Educational Resources · 2020
This “open textbook” is a social and cultural history of the people of Oregon representing powerful figures from the dominant Euro-American culture, the marginalized and oppressed, and social and political reformers who shaped the historical legacy of the state. It is a story of the diverse array of immigrants who helped build the state and strengthen it. The title is a recollection of the racial fantasies that European-American settlers created in their expansionist vision of the West and the state of Oregon. Initially the Oregon Territory was built on intolerance and racial exclusivity, but eventually Oregon embraces its diversity, but not without struggle and heartache. Our journey through the past starts with an essential question, “Who are the people of Oregon?”
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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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American Environmental History
Dan Allosso · Minnesota Libraries Publishing Project · 2019
For too long the environment has been considered little more than a neutral background to history. This text surveys findings of the new field of Environmental History about how the environment of the Americas influenced the actions of people here and how people affected their environments, from prehistory to the present.
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The American Yawp Vol. II: Since 1877
Joseph Locke; Ben Wright · Stanford University Press · 2026
In an increasingly digital world in which pedagogical trends are de-emphasizing rote learning and professors are increasingly turning toward active-learning exercises, scholars are fleeing traditional textbooks. Yet for those that still yearn for the safe tether of a synthetic text, as either narrative backbone or occasional reference material, The American Yawp offers a free and online, collaboratively built, open American history textbook designed for college-level history courses. Unchecked by profit motives or business models, and free from for-profit educational organizations, The American Yawp is by scholars, for scholars. All contributors—experienced college-level instructors—volunteer their expertise to help democratize the American past for twenty-first century classrooms.
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The American Yawp Vol. I: To 1877
Joseph Locke; Ben Wright · Stanford University Press · 2026
In an increasingly digital world in which pedagogical trends are de-emphasizing rote learning and professors are increasingly turning toward active-learning exercises, scholars are fleeing traditional textbooks. Yet for those that still yearn for the safe tether of a synthetic text, as either narrative backbone or occasional reference material, The American Yawp offers a free and online, collaboratively built, open American history textbook designed for college-level history courses. Unchecked by profit motives or business models, and free from for-profit educational organizations, The American Yawp is by scholars, for scholars. All contributors—experienced college-level instructors—volunteer their expertise to help democratize the American past for twenty-first century classrooms.
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Mythology Unbound: An Online Textbook for Classical Mythology
Jessica Mellenthin; Susan Shapiro · Rebus Community · 2017
Mythology Unbound
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Canadian History: Post-Confederation
John Belshaw · BCcampus · 2016
This textbook introduces aspects of the history of Canada since Confederation. “Canada” in this context includes Newfoundland and all the other parts that come to be aggregated into the Dominion after 1867. Much of this text follows thematic lines. Each chapter moves chronologically but with alternative narratives in mind. What Aboriginal accounts must we place in the foreground? Which structures (economic or social) determine the range of choices available to human agents of history? What environmental questions need to be raised to gain a more complete understanding of choices made in the past and their ramifications?
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Tutorials of Visual Graphic Communication Programs for Interior Design, Volume 2
Yongyeon Cho · Iowa State University · 2022
This book is for advanced-level architecture and interior design students who have in-depth knowledge and skills with computer-aided visualization software. The author developed a total of twenty-two chapters to teach practical graphic presentation techniques for architectural presentations. Readers will learn these techniques by following step-by-step tutorials. This book includes multiple exercises for the reader's practice. After completing the tutorials, readers will be able to apply these techniques to their design projects.
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Dress, Appearance, and Diversity in U.S. Society
Kelly Reddy-Best; Abbey Elder; Lesya Hassall · Iowa State University · 2020
This book introduces topics about identity, dress, and the body. Through the content, readers explore how individuals and communities use dress as a way to communicate (i.e. “negotiate” in fashion studies) their various identities. There is heightened attention to social justice, power, privilege, and oppression. That is, the content focuses on the experiences of historically marginalized communities and the ways they navigate dress and dressing their bodies in different contexts. In the first part of the book, readers are introduced to concepts and theories related to fashion, clothing, dress, and/or accessories. In the second part, readers examine the role that fashion, clothing, dress, and/or accessories play in identity development for individuals in marginalized communities in the United States.
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A Practical Approach to Understanding Music Theory
Charles Brooks · University of North Alabama · 2022
A Practical Approach to Understanding Music Theory is a textbook designed for the non-music performance major or music business/audio engineer who needs to professionally interface with musicians without needing to write or compose music. The material is designed around a spiral learning model in which a very simple straightforward concept is introduced, defined and explained. From this point and forward the book adds one element of music theory after another until a broad base of musical understanding and application is achieved. Even though the spiral learning model has a linear approach, the book is also laid out in a manner that any music student or hobbyist may treat it as a research manual to search out specific explanations of musical situations they encounter. This text is meant to be an all-inclusive explanation of how music is created, graphically distributed and performed for those who are not majoring in music theory, performance or education. It is aimed at those who are seeking a career in audio engineering, music business, artist representation, minoring in music, teaching lessons in a local community or someone who just wants to learn to play and understand music on a deeper level. The material is designed around a spiral learning model in which a very simple straightforward concept is introduced, defined and explained. From this point and forward the book adds one element of music theory after another until a broad base of musical understanding and application is achieved. Even though the spiral learning model has a linear approach, the book is also laid out in a manner that any music student or hobbyist may treat it as a research manual to search out specific explanations of musical situations they encounter. This text is meant to be an all-inclusive explanation of how music is created, graphically distributed and performed for those who are not majoring in music theory, performance or education. It is aimed at those who are seeking a career in aud
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Storytelling on Screen: An Online Playback Theatre Archive and Guidebook
Jordan Rosin; Heidi Vogel; Sammy Lebron · Virginia Tech Publishing · 2021
Playback Theatre is a form of community-centered storytelling theater where the audience tells stories, which are then reflected by a company of actors and musicians. Storytelling on Screen: An Online Playback Theatre Archive and Guidebook is an open education resource consisting of a collection of full-length recordings of online Playback Theatre performances, and a 55-page explanatory guidebook. The guidebook, featuring a foreword by Playback Theatre co-founder, Jo Salas, explains the adaptation to online performances and some of the key concepts, roles, and forms involved in online Playback Theatre. The resource as a whole is suitable for a wide range of theatre students in courses such as applied theatre, theatre for social justice, improvisation, theatre appreciation, or acting. The guidebook contains hyperlinks to specific sections of the archive where students can see a given form or concept in action, allowing for a comparison of how different companies approach a given form. If you are an artist, educator, or theatre-maker using this resource, please help us understand your use by filling out this form https://bit.ly/playback_interest
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Technical Theatre Practicum
Christopher Boltz · College of the Canyons · 2019
Welcome to the exciting world of technical theatre. Studying this topic can lead to many different careers in several different sectors of the economy. The general skills needed for any of the careers or sectors have many things in common. Workers need to be dead-line oriented, as most productions have firm timelines that cannot be altered. Critical thinking and analysis are much needed skills. Almost every project in the field is unique and technicians and designers alike must discover the best way of reaching a project’s goal. Creative problem solving is trait successful practitioners have in common. With every project being unique, there are no guaranteed solutions to the problems that are presented. Technicians draw on their vast experience of what worked in the past that can be adapted to be a solution to the current problems. Clear communication and collaboration round out the necessary skills. No technical theatre project is ever handled by one person on their own. Collaboration with many people is the norm, and successful collaboration requires clear written and verbal communication skills.
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Teaching Low Brass
Steven Maxwell · New Prairie Press · 2018
The purpose of this textbook is to provide resources about teaching low brass instruments to music educators and future music educators. The book was developed by the author as part of the open/alternative textbook initiative at Kansas State University. It Is the textbook used for the Kansas State University course Music 239-Low Brass Techniques and Materials. The textbook focuses on two areas: basic information including pedagogical material for teaching low brass students and low brass etudes. The information is divided into several categories including brass history, the overtone series, general intonation tendencies, embouchure, instruments and equipment, literature, maintenance, vibrato, and low brass in the marching band. Pedagogical material is interspersed throughout each of the chapters. Etudes are incorporated in the appendix of the textbook. These etudes are intended to be used in a laboratory setting with future music educators learning each low brass instrument for the first time. Instrument fingerings, slide positions, and simple warm-up material is also available in the appendix.
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Guide to Ancient Roman art
Ruth Ezra; Beth Harris; Steven Zucker · Smarthistory · 2019
This book contains all of Smarthistory’s content for the Ancient Roman art.
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Guide to Ancient Greek Art
Ruth Ezra; Beth Harris; Steven Zucker · Smarthistory · 2019
This book contains all of Smarthistory’s content for Ancient Greek art.
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Moving Pictures: An Introduction to Cinema
Russell Sharman · University of Arkansas · 2020
Textbook for 1000- level Communication course: Introduction to Films Studies
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Guide to Ancient Etruscan Art
Ruth Ezra; Beth Harris; Steven Zucker · Smarthistory · 2019
This book contains all of Smarthistory’s content for the Ancient Etruscan art.