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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Becoming a Climate Conscious Lawyer: Climate and the Australian Legal System
Anna Huggins; Ellen Hawkins; Steven Tudor; Nicole Rogers · La Trobe University · 2024
As the world grapples with the escalating challenges of climate change, the legal profession finds itself at a crossroads. Becoming a Climate Conscious Lawyer: Climate and the Australian Legal System provides an original, innovative, and accessible analysis of the impact of climate change on legal doctrines and principles. It offers an overview of cutting-edge developments and how the transition to a low-carbon society is reshaping a wide range of laws, from corporate to criminal law, and beyond. This valuable new resource supports legal professionals, law students, and legal educators to understand current legal challenges – providing the know-how to strategically navigate, and positively influence, the development of law to respond to a climate changed world. The book delivers a transformative approach to legal education: equipping law students to become climate-conscious professionals with the confidence and competency to deliver legal solutions to a diverse range of clients, and promote climate justice across diverse communities.
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Interculturality for Personal Development and Organizational Leadership
Christina Page · Kwantlen Polytechnic University · 2026
Interculturality is a key competency for students and emerging professionals across a variety of fields, from business and education to health care and non-profit leadership. This book bridges academic theory with professional application, helping learners to develop self-awareness and cultural humility. This text also seeks to equip students with practical analytical and communication skills that can be immediately applied in personal and workplace situations. It also seeks to ground students in a foundation for professional leadership in justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI). Drawing on both established and emerging frameworks, the text exposes students to diverse perspectives on interculturality, inviting them to critically evaluate established and emerging viewpoints through reflective exercises and case studies. Additionally, this resource integrates the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), connecting interculturality with meaningful local and global action. Learners are also prepared for meaningful action through the framework of Inclusive Innovation, using tools to foster equitable environments and lead transformative change in their workplaces, organizations, and communities.
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Building Cost Planning: Best Practices and Insights
Thilini Jayawickrama; Ruchini Jayasinghe; Ravindu Kahandawa; Rameez Rameezdeen · Council of Australian University Librarians · 2023
This book focuses on the cost planning of building construction projects with special reference to the Australian and New Zealand context. Design development and cost planning with elemental analysis are emphasised in the pre-construction cost management process in the region. This book translates the well-established practice of pre-construction cost management process in the construction industry into a published academic and professional resource which can be used for teaching higher education students and for professional training programs. Building cost planning is considered from the client and the design team’s perspective and focuses on the functions of a cost manager. From the overview of the construction industry and the client’s team, to the detailed cost planning process and cost planning techniques at progressive stages in the pre-construction phase, this book is ideal as a guide to cost plan building construction projects. It follows an interactive style by featuring learning outcomes, self-review questions and learning activities for each chapter. It also extends theory into applications with case studies incorporated from the Australian and New Zealand construction industries. These approaches make this book useful for both students and practitioners in construction management.
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The ELC: An Early Childhood Learning Community at Work
Heather Bridge; Lorraine Melita; Patricia Roiger · Open SUNY · 2020
The ELC professional development model was designed to improve the quality of teacher candidates’ Practicum field placements and align teaching in field placements with Learning Standards used in the teacher education program. Teams of four educators from varied settings worked in a Practicum placement setting for one semester to improve their teaching and align it with Learning Standards. An action research approach improved teaching challenges teams faced. Research articles were read to improve teams’ teaching challenges by implementing one agreed strategy. Teams video-recorded, assessed, and reflected on the impact of the strategy on their teaching, on teacher candidates’ learning and on children’s learning. This text compiles six case studies from this model to illustrate how teaching challenges were improved. Appropriate for practiced educators as well as educators in training, this text provides a real world look into applying Learning Standards in early childhood classrooms.
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Teaching in the University: Learning from Graduate Students and Early Career Faculty
Donna Westfall-Rudd; Courtney Vengrin; Jeremy Elliott-Engel · Virginia Tech Publishing · 2022
The primary objective of this book is to provide a resource for graduate teaching assistants who are looking for practical strategies and guidance as they begin their careers as postsecondary STEM educators. The text is designed to address a comprehensive list of topics to support the professional development of new faculty, recognizing that those holding academic faculty positions within a college or university are expected to be active in teaching, discovery, and outreach. Traditional doctoral education programs have historically emphasized preparation for research and scholarly publications, and for outreach. However, to some extent, many candidates who complete doctoral programs have minimal preparation and training in formal teaching. Contributors to this text have had a unique experience as part of a three-year, college-wide program designed to prepare interested doctoral students for a rewarding academic career. The program is designed to support the professional development of new faculty, recognizing that those holding academic faculty positions within a college or university are expected to be active in teaching, discovery, and outreach. The alumni and scholars of the program have worked collectively to gather resources and implement educational practices in the diverse set of courses they taught in during their three years in the program. Now as new faculty at a variety of postsecondary institutions across the United States, these early-career educators bring their insights and real-world teaching experiences, embedded in contemporary teaching and learning theory to their contributions to this text. What is this resource? This text is a collection of chapters and vignettes intended to provide practical insight into the challenges and opportunities of teaching at the postsecondary level. It is anticipated that the vignettes provide examples of contexts in which the principles of the topic chapters are applied. Goals for this book Support future STEM facult
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Designing Arguments for Academic, Public, and Professional Audiences
Phillip Marzluf · New Prairie Press · 2021
This college-level textbook guides students through five different types of arguments: evaluations, responses, persuasive rhetorical arguments, proposals, and practical professional development arguments. Students are introduced to rhetorical concepts and strategies to enable them to more effectively appeal to different types of audiences. Students will gain practice in audience-based reasoning, basing their reasons and evidence on the assumptions, beliefs, and values of their readers.
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Confident Supervisors: Creating Independent Researchers
Susan Gasson; Christine Bruce; Ian Stoodley; Jillian Blacker · James Cook University · 2023
Confident Supervisors is intended to be both a textbook and a professional development resource for Higher Degree Research supervisors and researcher developers involved in providing workshops and resources to support research supervisors in their practice. Throughout this book, authors introduce different theoretical frameworks and concepts to provide supervisors with tools and strategies for responding to the challenges and opportunities associated with research supervision. It contains chapters written by current supervisors and research support partners who are engaged in the scholarship of supervision and can share the practical and theoretical constructs they employ in their practice. The authors have been drawn from a broad range of higher education and research contexts and contribute understandings of local and global relevance. This openly available eBook responds to turbulent times in higher education, offering practical tips and suggestions for supervisors to pivot to changing contexts.
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Supporting Technology Integration for School Leaders
Howard Pitler · EdTech Books
This Open Educational Resource (OER) textbook is written as the primary resource for a 3-hour graduate course delivered online by The Teachers College at Emporia State University. The course is designed to prepare school leaders (teachers, instructional coaches, administrators, etc.) for the integration and application of diverse educational technologies into classrooms and schools in ways that reflect a theoretical, research-based, and practical understanding of curriculum development and the effective uses of technology. The course explores practical ways to integrate technology into both teaching and learning and the critical importance of adequate training and professional development for successful integration. This intensive course is delivered completely online over a seven-week period using Canvas. Canvas is a web-based learning management system or LMS. It is used by learning institutions, educators, and students to access and manage online course learning materials and communicate skill development and learning achievement.
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Efficacious Technology Management: A Guide for School Leaders
Gary Ackerman · Gary Ackerman · 2018
Dr. Gary Ackerman, an educational technology specialist with decades of experience in K-12, community college, and faculty development has released Efficacious Technology Management: A Guide for School Leaders. This is his second book, and it is available under a Creative Commons license. This book describes efficacious school technology as that which is used for educationally appropriate purposes, is properly configured to be robust and reliable, and is aligned with local expectations, so it is reasonable. This type of school IT emerges from collaborative planning including educators, IT professionals, and school leaders. This book helps educators understand IT and IT professionals understand education, so their collaboration can be efficient and effective.
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Principles of Managerial Accounting
Christine Jonick · University of North Georgia Press · 2017
The University of North Georgia Press and Affordable Learning Georgia bring you Principles of Managerial Accounting. Well-written and straightforward, Principles of Managerial Accounting is a needed contribution to open source pedagogy in the business education world. Written in order to directly meet the needs of her students, this textbook developed from Dr. Jonick’s years of teaching and commitment to effective pedagogy. Features: Peer reviewed by academic professionals and tested by students Over 100 charts and graphs Instructional exercises appearing both in-text and for Excel Resources for student professional development This textbook is an Open Education Resource. It can be reused, remixed, and reedited freely without seeking permission.
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Principles of Financial Accounting
Christine Jonick · University of North Georgia Press · 2017
The University of North Georgia Press and Affordable Learning Georgia bring you Accounting I. Well-written and straightforward, Principles of Financial Accounting is a needed contribution to open source pedagogy in the business education world. Written in order to directly meet the needs of her students, this textbook developed from Dr. Christine Jonick’s years of teaching and commitment to effective pedagogy. Features: Peer reviewed by academic professionals and tested by students Over 100 charts and graphs Instructional exercises appearing both in-text and for Excel Resources for student professional development This textbook is an Open Education Resource. It can be reused, remixed, and reedited freely without seeking permission.