Digital library
Textbooks, references and open learning resources.
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Music and the Child
Natalie Sarrazin · Open SUNY · 2016
Children are inherently musical. They respond to music and learn through music. Music expresses children's identity and heritage, teaches them to belong to a culture, and develops their cognitive well-being and inner self worth. As professional instructors, childcare workers, or students looking forward to a career working with children, we should continuously search for ways to tap into children's natural reservoir of enthusiasm for singing, moving and experimenting with instruments. But how, you might ask? What music is appropriate for the children I'm working with? How can music help inspire a well-rounded child? How do I reach and teach children musically? Most importantly perhaps, how can I incorporate music into a curriculum that marginalizes the arts? This book explores a holistic, artistic, and integrated approach to understanding the developmental connections between music and children. This book guides professionals to work through music, harnessing the processes that underlie music learning, and outlining developmentally appropriate methods to understand the role of music in children's lives through play, games, creativity, and movement. Additionally, the book explores ways of applying music-making to benefit the whole child, i.e., socially, emotionally, physically, cognitively, and linguistically.
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Le Littéraire dans le quotidien
Joanna Luks · COERLL · 2015
Le Littéraire dans le quotidien is an open textbook for use in French courses. The Literary in the Everyday represents a new pedagogical approach to reading and writing at the lower levels and is applicable to all languages. Teachers of foreign languages besides French can read about the approach in the Teacher's Guide. Go to Google Drive for individual chapters. Additionally, the Foreign Languages & The Literary in the Everyday (FLLITE) Project, a joint initiative of COERLL and CERCLL, two national foreign language resource centers, offers open resources for professional development in the publication of CC licensed FLLITE lessons in any language.
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Writing for Success
University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing · 2015
Writing for Success is a text that provides instruction in steps, builds writing, reading, and critical thinking, and combines comprehensive grammar review with an introduction to paragraph writing and composition. Beginning with the sentence and its essential elements, this book addresses each concept with clear, concise and effective examples that are immediately reinforced with exercises and opportunities to demonstrate, and reinforce, learning. Each chapter allows your students to demonstrate mastery of the principles of quality writing. With its incremental approach, it can address a range of writing levels and abilities, helping each student in your course prepare for their next writing or university course. Constant reinforcement is provided through examples and exercises, and the text involves students in the learning process through reading, problem-solving, practicing, listening, and experiencing the writing process. Each chapter also has integrated examples that unify the discussion and form a common, easy-to-understand basis for discussion and exploration. This will put your students at ease, and allow for greater absorption of the material. Tips for effective writing are included in every chapter, as well. Thought-provoking scenarios provide challenges and opportunities for collaboration and interaction. These exercises are especially helpful if you incorporate group work in your course. Clear exercises teach sentence and paragraph writing skills that lead to common English composition and research essays. Features: Exercises are integrated in each segment. Each concept is immediately reinforced as soon as it is introduced to keep students on track. Exercises are designed to facilitate interaction and collaboration. This allows for peer-peer engagement, development of interpersonal skills, and promotion of critical thinking skills. Exercises that involve self-editing and collaborative writing are featured. This feature develops and promotes student inte
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Cyber-Human Systems, Space Technologies, and Threats
Randall Nichols; Hans Mumm; Wayne Lonstein; Julie Ryan · New Prairie Press · 2023
CYBER-HUMAN SYSTEMS, SPACE TECHNOLOGIES, AND THREATS is our eighth textbook in a series covering the world of UASs / CUAS / UUVs / SPACE. We address the technological future of the merging of cyber-human systems (robots, cyborgs, AI/ML, computers) with humans and apply these innovations to space operations and defense against threats that are concomitant with their development. We look at artificial brains, legality of CHS sensors, AI /ML and Ag and food industry; Neurostrike and CHATGPT, biological threats and growth in space, space EW, modeling, deep space warfare, logistics and dominance; hypersonic missiles, cyber threats in space, machine parts, materials technologies, and economies of scale, quantum technologies impact and finally, innovative wireless power transfer for space applications. State-of-the-Art research by a team of eighteen SMEs is incorporated into our book. We trust you will enjoy reading it as much as we have in its writing. There is hope for the future. There is also caution needed.
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The Whole Child: Development in the Early Years
Deirdre Budzyna; Doris Buckley · ROTEL · 2023
The Whole Child is a textbook that gives an overview of development, beginning in the mother’s womb through the age of eight. It starts with a look at perspectives of early childhood, including how children have been viewed historically as well as cross-culturally. There is a complete overview of the important theorists that have helped to deepen and bring clarity to how children develop. These theories include psychodynamic, behavioral, social cognitive theory, cognitive theory, humanistic, multiple intelligence, growth mindset, and Bloom’s taxonomy. Understanding the implications of each theory is important foundational knowledge for the study of development. Developmental domains at each stage is examined alongside important milestones. The biology of the brain is given important consideration. Some of the many factors that influence a young child’s development are also included in this text.
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Knowing Home: Braiding Indigenous Science with Western Science
Gloria Snively ; Wanosts’a7 Williams · University of Victoria · 2016
Knowing Home attempts to capture the creative vision of Indigenous scientific knowledge and technology that is derived from an ecology of a home place. The traditional wisdom component of Indigenous Science—the values and ways of decision-making—assists humans in their relationship with each other, the land and water, and all of creation. Indigenous perspectives have the potential to give insight and guidance to the kind of environmental ethics and deep understanding that we must gain as we attempt to solve the increasingly complex problems of the 21st century. Braiding Indigenous Science and Western Science is a metaphor used to establish a particular relationship. Linked by braiding, there is a certain reciprocity. Each strand remains a separate entity, but all strands come together to form the whole. When we braid Indigenous Science with Western Science we acknowledge that both ways of knowing are legitimate forms of knowledge. The book provides a window into the vast storehouse of innovations and technologies of the Indigenous peoples who live in Northwestern North America. It is our hope that the Indigenous Science examples, research and curriculum models will inspire deep reflection regarding the under-representation of Aboriginal students in the sciences. It is intended that the rich examples and cases, combined with the resources listed in the appendices, will enable teachers and students to explore Indigenous Science examples in the classroom, and in addition, support the development of curriculum projects in home places.
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ePortfolio Performance Support Systems: Constructing, Presenting, and Assessing Portfolios
Katherine Wills; Rich Rice · WAC Clearinghouse · 2013
ePortfolio Performance Support Systems: Constructing, Presenting, and Assessing Portfolios addresses theories and practices advanced by some of the most innovative and active proponents of ePortfolios. Editors Katherine V. Wills and Rich Rice interweave twelve essays that address the ways in which ePortfolios can facilitate sustainable and measureable writing-related student development, assessment and accountability, learning and knowledge transfer, and principles related to universal design for learning, just-in-time support, interaction design, and usability testing.
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Chinese Rhetoric and Writing: An Introduction for Language Teachers
Andy Kirkpatrick; Zhichang Xu · WAC Clearinghouse · 2012
The authors of Chinese Rhetoric and Writing offer a response to the argument that Chinese students' academic writing in English is influenced by "culturally nuanced rhetorical baggage that is uniquely Chinese and hard to eradicate." Noting that this argument draws from "an essentially monolingual and Anglo-centric view of writing," they point out that the rapid growth in the use of English worldwide calls for "a radical reassessment of what English is in today's world." The result is a book that provides teachers of writing, and in particular those involved in the teaching of English academic writing to Chinese students, an introduction to key stages in the development of Chinese rhetoric, a wide-ranging field with a history of several thousand years. Understanding this important rhetorical tradition provides a strong foundation for assessing and responding to the writing of this growing group of students.
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Beyond Dichotomy: Synergizing Writing Center and Classroom Pedagogies
Steven Corbett · WAC Clearinghouse · 2015
How closely can or should writing centers and writing classrooms collaborate? Beyond Dichotomy explores how research on peer tutoring one-to-one and in small groups can inform our work with students in writing centers and other tutoring programs, as well as in writing courses and classrooms. These multi-method (including rhetorical and discourse analyses and ethnographic and case-study) investigations center on several course-based tutoring (CBT) partnerships at two universities. Rather than practice separately in the center or in the classroom, rather than seeing teacher here and tutor there and student over there, CBT asks all participants in the dynamic drama of teaching and learning to consider the many possible means of connecting synergistically. This book offers the "more-is-more" value of designing more peer-to-peer learning situations for developmental and multicultural writers, and a more elaborate view of what happens in these peer-centered learning environments. It offers important implications—especially of directive and nondirective tutoring strategies and methods—for peer-to-peer learning and one-to-one tutoring and conferencing for all teachers and learners of writing.
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Steps to Success: Crossing the Bridge Between Literacy Research and Practice
Kristen Munger · Open SUNY · 2016
Steps to Success: Crossing the Bridge Between Literacy Research and Practice introduces instructional strategies linked to the most current research-supported practices in the field of literacy. The book includes chapters related to scientifically-based literacy research, early literacy development, literacy assessment, digital age influences on children's literature, literacy development in underserved student groups, secondary literacy instructional strategies, literacy and modern language, and critical discourse analysis. Chapters are written by authors with expertise in both college teaching and the delivery of research-supported literacy practices in schools. The book features detailed explanations of a wide variety of literacy strategies that can be implemented by both beginning and expert practitioners. Readers will gain knowledge about topics frequently covered in college literacy courses, along with guided practice for applying this knowledge in their future or current classrooms. The book's success-oriented framework helps guide educators toward improving their own practices and is designed to foster the literacy development of students of all ages.
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Producing Open Source Software: How to Run a Successful Free Software Project
Karl Fogel · Karl Fogel · 2005
Producing Open Source Software is a book about the human side of open source development. It describes how successful projects operate, the expectations of users and developers, and the culture of free software. The book is released under an open copyright. You can buy it in bookstores, order copies from O'Reilly Media, or browse and download it here.
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A First Course in Electrical and Computer Engineering
Louis Scharf · OpenStax CNX · 2009
This book was written for an experimental freshman course at the University of Colorado. The course is now an elective that the majority of our electrical and computer engineering students take in the second semester of their freshman year, just before their first circuits course. Our department decided to offer this course for several reasons: we wanted to pique student' interest in engineering by acquainting them with engineering teachers early in their university careers and by providing with exposure to the types of problems that electrical and computer engineers are asked to solve; we wanted students entering the electrical and computer engineering programs to be prepared in complex analysis, phasors, and linear algebra, topics that are of fundamental importance in our discipline; we wanted students to have an introduction to a software application tool, such as MATLAB, to complete their preparation for practical and efficient computing in their subsequent courses and in their professional careers; we wanted students to make early contact with advanced topics like vector graphics, filtering, and binary coding so that they would gain a more rounded picture of modern electrical and computer engineering. In order to introduce this course, we had to sacrifice a second semester of Pascal programming. We concluded that the sacrifice was worth making because we found that most of our students were prepared for high-level language computing after just one semester of programming. We believe engineering educators elsewhere are reaching similar conclusions about their own students and curriculums. We hope this book helps create a much needed dialogue about curriculum revision and that it leads to the development of similar introductory courses that encourage students to enter and practice our craft.Students electing to take this course have completed one semester of calculus, computer programming, chemistry, and humanities. Concurrently with this course, students take ph
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Business Information Systems: Design an App for That
Raymond Frost; Jacqueline Pike; Lauren Kenyo; Sarah Pels · Saylor Foundation · 2011
We set out to design an introductory course governed by four themes: Give students a good idea of what a career in MIS looks like by doing MIS. Enhance the professionalism of deliverables by teaching design and usability concepts. Promote creativity by assigning projects that demand it. Teach students about cloud computing by having them do cloud computing. Students in an introductory Management Information Systems (MIS) course often ask what a career in MIS looks like. Lacking a clear vision, they make their own assumptions. Often they assume the career involves programming with little human interaction. That MIS is a technical field could not be further from the truth. MIS job descriptions typically require candidates to be able to collaborate, communicate, analyze needs and gather requirements. They also list the need for excellent written and communication skills. In other words, MIS workers are constantly interacting with other people both inside and outside the organization. They are coming up with creative solutions to business problems. This course is designed to help students get a feel for what a career in MIS would be like. Our students report that they learn more about information systems from their internships than from their IS courses. Consequently, we designed a course that looks very much like an internship—an introduction to the field followed by a substantial project. Chapter 1 begins by introducing the information systems landscape. Here we discuss all the usual suspects: the information systems triangle, the systems development life cycle, transaction systems (ERP, SCM, CRM), collaboration systems, and business intelligence systems. Other aspects of the landscape such as usability, outsourcing, database concepts and so forth are introduced throughout chapter in Chapter 2 where they fit in naturally with the flow of the project. Chapter 2 is the substantial project which runs over a number of chapters. Over the course of the semester, students pl
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Creating a circular healthcare economy: Sustainable strategies for a circular healthcare
Bart van Straten; Letizia Alvino; Tim Horeman · TU Delft Open · 2023
Our world is the only planet, as far as we know, which harbors life. The number of humans on our planet has grown tremendously in recent centuries. In 1800 one billion humans occupied our earth; on 15 November 2022, this number reached 8 billion. A result of this growth, the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary greenhouse gas emitted by human activities, drastically increased. The increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere foster the long-term increase of our earth’s temperatures, also referred to as global warming. While the earth’s population grew, so did our mass consumption society. After the Second World War humanity witnessed gigantic global economic development with great technological improvements. Computers, laptops, airplanes, tablets and Internet of Things connected humans all over the world. The hunger for plastics and steel grew as all products had to be manufactured in ever-increasing volumes. As the economy developed, our consumption grew apace. The healthcare sector has seen the same increase of consumption. The number of patients grew, and so did the number of single-use medical products. As products become more complex and more different materials were combined., recycling became more difficult. Thus, hospitals transformed into waste factories with ever-growing waste streams. The consumption of (disposable) medical devices takes up scarce raw materials and contributes to the growing CO2 emissions. In this book, Van Straten, Alvino and Horeman present their findings on how to create a sustainable healthcare economy by introducing different circular strategies. In 9 chapters, they present a wide variation of studies as practical cases to show what strategies and actions can be taken in order to implement sustainable strategies for a circular healthcare. This book was written in line with the courses the authors developed at TU Extension School, the open online education edX platform of Delft University of Technology/TU D
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Sustainable Property Management
Erin Hopkins · Virginia Tech Publishing · 2023
Although “sustainability,” as used in the real estate context, is about preserving the environment, it is about more than that. In sustainable property management, sustainability encompasses three spheres—environmental, social, and economic. Sustainable property management is about reconciling these three spheres throughout the operations and maintenance phase of the building lifecycle in such a way that a balance is achieved between economic development and protection of environmental and social resources. This textbook explains how ecologically sustainable concepts may be implemented throughout the various property management operation functions while also considering the other spheres of sustainability. It also incorporates the theme of sustainable building practices as a human science as well as a building science by highlighting motivations and impacts to various stakeholders. The author draws on various industry examples to illustrate these concepts and provides many experiential activities for students to apply these concepts. Sustainable Property Management is intended for students majoring in property management and real estate at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. It can be incorporated into an existing property management operations course or used for a stand-alone course focused on sustainable property management. It is available online for free in multiple formats and also as an affordable print edition. Are you reviewing or adopting this book for a course? Please help us understand your use by completing this form https://bit.ly/interest_sustainable_property_management.
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Human Relations
Laura Dias · LibreTexts · 2012
Human Relations by Laura Portolese-Dias addresses all of the critical topics to obtain career success as they relate to professional relationships. Knowing how to get along with others, resolve workplace conflict, manage relationships, communicate well, and make good decisions are all critical skills all students need to succeed in career and in life. Human Relations is not an organizational behavior; rather, it provides a good baseline of issues students will deal with in their careers on a day-to-day basis. It is also not a professional communications, business English, or professionalism textbook, as its focus is much broader — on general career success and how to effectively maneuver in the workplace. From communication challenges to focusing on one's own emotional intelligence, the examples throughout Human Relations will help students understand the importance of the human side in their career. This book's easy-to-understand language and tone is written to convey practical information in an engaging way. Every chapter opens with a realistic example which introduces a concept to be explained in detail later. Each chapter contains relevant examples, YouTube videos, figures, learning objectives, key takeaways, exercises, and a chapter-ending case that offer different ways to promote learning. Many of the end-of-section exercises offer self-assessment quizzes, so students may engage in self-understanding and development.
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Avant-Première: Intermediate French Through Films
Caren Parrish; Aurélie Chevant-Aksoy · LibreTexts · 2025
Avant-Première is an open educational resource designed for third-semester college French. Organized around recent French and Francophone films, each unit integrates vocabulary, grammar, and cultural analysis, enabling students to engage critically with cinematic texts. Supplemented by curated readings, multimedia activities, and interactive grammar exercises, the textbook supports the development of linguistic proficiency, communicative competence, and intercultural awareness, while fostering deeper insight into contemporary French and Francophone societies.
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Avant-Première: Advanced French Through Films
Caren Parrish; Aurélie Chevant-Aksoy · LibreTexts · 2025
Avant-Première is an open educational resource designed for fourth-semester college French. Organized around recent French and Francophone films, each unit integrates vocabulary, grammar, and cultural analysis, enabling students to engage critically with cinematic texts. Supplemented by curated readings, multimedia activities, and interactive grammar exercises, the textbook supports the development of linguistic proficiency, communicative competence, and intercultural awareness, while fostering deeper insight into contemporary French and Francophone societies.
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La hora del cuento en español
Constanza Rojas-Primus; Sofía Rodríguez; Cheyenne Pokeda · Kwantlen Polytechnic University · 2023
La hora del cuento en español is a collection of children’s stories in Spanish authored by Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) students and edited by KPU Faculty Constanza Rojas-Primus and KPU alumna Sofía Rodríguez. The first part of this collection is a selection of stories written by KPU Spanish 1100 students between Fall 2017 and Spring 2019 as a result of a collaboration between KPU Spanish and Guildford Public Library Language Literacy Program “Storytime in Spanish”. The second part of this collection is a selection of stories written by KPU Spanish 1101 students between Fall 2020 and Spring 2022 as a result of an interuniversity collaboration in support of UNESCO´s Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030. All stories are narrated by Constanza Rojas-Primus and have been translated into English by Sofía Rodríguez. The illustrations in the cover and first part of this collection are artwork of KPU Fine Arts student Cheyenne Pokeda.