New and Noteworthy is the City Tech Library OER Team’s monthly roundup of new and noteworthy open educational resources. We try to include at least one OER relevant to each school at City Tech in every post. At the end of the month, these resources will be compiled and distributed by the library liaison for your department. Please contact us if you know of new or particularly interesting OER to share with our colleagues or would like more information about open educational resources initiatives at City Tech.

Biology

• Experiences in Biodiversity Research: A Field Course, by Thea B. Gessler, Iowa State University Digital Press (2024). License: CC BY-NC
  “This handbook was developed to support the course, Experiences in Biodiversity Research. This course is intended to provide early undergraduates with experience in the practice of biodiversity research and to demystify the path to careers in this field.”

Business

• Introduction to Financial Analysis  by Kenneth S. Bigel, Touro College (2022). License: CC BY
  “…a dynamic guide incorporating the essential skills needed to build a foundation in Financial Analysis. Students and readers will learn how to insightfully read a Financial Statement, utilize key financial ratios in order to derive forward-looking investment-related inferences from the accounting data, engage in elementary forecasting and modeling, master the theory of the Time Value of Money, and learn to price stocks and bonds in an environment in which interest rates constantly change. Ample problems and solutions, and review questions are provided to the student so that s/he can gauge his/her progress.”

Computer Systems

• Workplace Software and Skills (2023). License: CC BY
  “Workplace Software and Skills is designed to flexibly support a range of courses covering computer literacy, Microsoft Office, and Google Suite applications. The textbook covers both hard and soft skills that are applicable to a broad range of academic majors and careers. Chapters combine studio learning and guided practice with scaffolded activities designed to reinforce a student’s ability to perform higher-order tasks independently.” 

Health Sciences & Health Services Administration

• Legal Fundamentals of Healthcare Law, by Tiffany Jackman, University of West Florida (2024). License: CC BY-NC-SA
  “Healthcare, a field dedicated to the well-being of individuals and communities, operates within an intricate web of legal principles. Understanding these laws is not simply a professional necessity for doctors, nurses, administrators, and researchers; it’s also an ethical imperative for anyone who interacts with the healthcare system. This book is your compass, guiding you through the labyrinth of legal fundamentals that shape the landscape of healthcare.”

History

• American Government, 3rd edition (audiobook), by Brian Barrick and Sarah Arya, Open Audio (2024). License: CC-BY-SA
  Audiobook productions of popular OpenStax textbooks, produced by Open Audio, are available on multiple streaming platforms, including YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts. These audiobook resources may be especially helpful for students with disabilities, auditory learners, working students, and students who speak English as a second language.

• World History, Volume 1 (to 1500) (audiobook), by Brian Barrick and Sarah Arya, Open Audio (2024). License: CC-BY-SA
  Audiobook productions of popular OpenStax textbooks, produced by Open Audio, are available on multiple streaming platforms, including YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts. These audiobook resources may be especially helpful for students with disabilities, auditory learners, working students, and students who speak English as a second language.

Human Services

• Treatment of Addictions, Individual and Group by Whatcom Community College. License: CC BY
  “This course covers evidenced based approaches and systems of care in individual and group addiction treatment. Systems of care, historical models, healthy system recovery, and new peer supports are explored. Case studies, and information about documentation, counseling approaches, and case management are offered.”

Mechanical Engineering Technology

• Essential Fluids with MATLAB and Octave – Part 1 (theory) by P. Venkataraman (2024). License: CC BY
  “This book covers the requisite theory for the basic study of fluid mechanics at low speeds. This book is unique in that it integrates engineering computation using the popular technical software MATLAB, and the free counterpart Octave.  Programming is by example throughout the book.  Prior knowledge of programming is not necessary.  This book reviews prerequisite topics prior to teaching the subject matter.  This book introduces the physics of fluid mechanics based on first principles. It develops the mathematical relations and model of fluid flow so that problems can be defined and solved. […] The topics in this book are illustrated with examples, with most solved by computation. The premise of this book is that science and mathematical concepts are best understood through graphics; therefore, software illustrates solutions through graphical programming.  Students are taught and encouraged to explore solutions through graphics.”

• Introductory Dynamics: 2D Kinematics and Kinetics of Point Masses and Rigid Bodies, by Peter G. Steeneken, Delft University of Technology (2024). License: CC BY 
  “Motion is all around us, the universe is full of moving matter and this motion is surprisingly predictable. The field of science and engineering that studies time-dependent motion in the presence of forces is called Dynamics. In this book we will introduce the core concepts in dynamics and provide a comprehensive toolset to predict and analyse planar 2D motion of point masses and rigid bodies. The material includes kinematic analysis, Newton’s laws, Euler’s laws, the equations of motion, work, energy, impulse and momentum. Vector-based methods are discussed for systematically solving essentially any problem in 2D dynamics. The book provides a bachelor level introduction for any science and engineering student that can serve as a basis for more advanced courses in dynamics.

Sociology

• Introduction to Sociology, 3rd edition (audiobook), by Brian Barrick and Sarah Arya, Open Audio (2024). License: CC-BY-SA
  Audiobook productions of popular OpenStax textbooks, produced by Open Audio, are available on multiple streaming platforms, including YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts. These audiobook resources may be especially helpful for students with disabilities, auditory learners, working students, and students who speak English as a second language.

OER Team:
Cailean Cooney, Associate Professor, OER Librarian: ccooney@citytech.cuny.edu
Joshua Peach, Adjunct Reference & OER Librarian: jpeach@citytech.cuny.edu
Jo Thompson, Adjunct Reference & OER Librarian: jthompson@citytech.cuny.edu