Open Educational Resources

OER at City Tech

Page 23 of 36

New and Noteworthy OER 12/11

New and Noteworthy is the City Tech Library OER Team’s weekly roundup of new and noteworthy OER. 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 OER initiatives at City Tech.

Arts & Sciences 

  1. The Bright Continent: African Art History, by Kathy Curnow, Cleveland State University (2018). License: CC BY-NC-SA
    “This book aims to act as your map through the world of African art. As such, it will help you define the competencies you need to develop–visual analysis, research, noting what information is critical, asking questions, and writing down your observations–and provide opportunities for you to practice these skills until you are proficient. It will also expose you to new art forms and the worlds that produced them, enriching your understanding and appreciation.”

  2. Intercultural Communication, by Shannon Ahrndt, University of Missouri-St. Louis (2020). License: CC BY-NC-SA
    “Intercultural Communication examines culture as a variable in interpersonal and collective communication. It explores the opportunities and problems arising from similarities and differences in communication patterns, processes, and codes among various cultural groups. It explores cultural universals, social categorization, stereotyping and discrimination, with a focus on topics including race, ethnicity, social class, religion, gender and sexuality as they relate to communication.”


Professional Studies

  1. Communication, Affect, & Learning in the Classroom – 4th Edition, by Virginia Peck Richmond, Jason S. Wrench, and Joan Gorham, Jason S. Wrench (2020). License: CC BY-NC-SA
    “The purpose of the handbook was to synthesize the first three decades of research in instructional communication into a single volume that could help both researchers and instructors understand the value of communication in the instructional process.”

  2. Plague Diaries: Firsthand Accounts of Epidemics, 430 B.C. to A.D. 1918, by Ryan Johnson, David Ulrich and Tina Ulrich (2020). License: CC BY-SA
    “This is a small collection of public domain excerpts from first hand accounts of epidemics throughout history.”


Technology & Design

  1. Structural Mechanics, by Tomasz Wierzbicki, MIT Open Courseworks (2020). License: CC BY-NC-SA
    “This text covers the fundamental concepts of structural mechanics with applications to marine, civil, and mechanical structures. Topics include analysis of small deflections of beams, moderately large deflections of beams, columns, cables, and shafts; elastic and plastic buckling of columns, thin walled sections and plates; exact and approximate methods; energy methods; principle of virtual work; introduction to failure analysis of structures. We will include examples from civil, mechanical, offshore, and ship structures such as the collision and grounding of ships.”

  2. B C, Before Computers: On Information Technology from Writing to the Age of Digital Data, by Stephen Robertson, Open Book Publishers (2020). License: CC BY
    “The idea that the digital age has revolutionized our day-to-day experience of the world is nothing new, and has been amply recognized by cultural historians. In contrast, Stephen Robertson’s BC: Before Computers is a work which questions the idea that the mid-twentieth century saw a single moment of rupture. It is about all the things that we had to learn, invent, and understand – all the ways we had to evolve our thinking – before we could enter the information technology revolution of the second half of the twentieth century. Its focus ranges from the beginnings of data processing, right back to such originary forms of human technology as the development of writing systems, gathering a whole history of revolutionary moments in the development of information technologies into a single, although not linear narrative.”



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

Good for all: Academic Works for OERs

Although you may think of Academic Works as a platform for faculty research, it is also home to a robust and growing collection of open educational and OER content created at every CUNY campus.

As a reminder, adding your OER syllabus or course outline to Academic Works is a CUNY-wide requirement for OER fellows. If you would prefer, the library would be happy to work with you (contact Prof. Monica Berger to add your material on your behalf) but it is easy to do so on your own.

Today’s post focuses on why adding your OER or open textbook to Academic Works greatly benefits you in a variety of ways. Academic Works serves several functions. It preserves and documents the output of CUNY whether related to scholarship or to teaching in the open. Another key function of Academic Works it that it makes content much easier to find. Material added to Academic Works is indexed by Google and Google Scholar. Major OER repositories and hubs harvest OER content in Academic Works including OERCommons, TeachOER, and Teaching Commons. This helps OER creators outside of City Tech find and adapt your work.

Academic Works further benefits you by allowing you to document the impact of your work. Download metrics for your material in Academic Works can be added as evidence on your PARSE. Academic Works also has a widget that allows readers to comment on how a specific item helped them. Knowing who has adapted or taught with your open textbook or OER demonstrates the excellence of your work!

Since City Tech uses a non-static platform, OpenLab, for our OER Fellows program, it is difficult to neatly document any specific OER. Our solution is to share your syllabus or course outline and link to your OER. This helps other faculty discover your work. Here’s our most downloaded syllabus:

Introduction to Anthropology, ANTH 1101, Syllabus, Lisa Pope Fischer

Open textbooks and lab manuals in pdf format are easy to add to Academic Works. BIO2450L Genetics Laboratory Manual is the overall most downloaded item in our OER collection with over 7500 downloads.

Please feel free to reach out to me, Prof. Monica Berger, if you have any questions about Academic Works at mberger@citytech.cuny.edu.

New and Noteworthy OER 12/04

New and Noteworthy is the City Tech Library OER Team’s weekly roundup of new and noteworthy OER. 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 OER initiatives at City Tech.

Arts & Sciences

  1. Plato’s ‘Republic’: An Introduction, by Sean McAleer, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (2020). License: CC BY
    “This book is a lucid and accessible companion to Plato’s Republic, throwing light upon the text’s arguments and main themes, placing them in the wider context of the text’s structure. […] Plato’s ‘Republic’: An Introduction offers a rigorous and thought-provoking analysis of the text, helping readers navigate one of the world’s most influential works of philosophy and political theory. With its approachable tone and clear presentation, it constitutes a welcome contribution to the field, and will be an indispensable resource for philosophy students and teachers, as well as general readers new to, or returning to, the text.”

  2. Trauma Informed Behaviour Support: A Practical Guide to Developing Resilient Learners, by Kay Ayre, Edith Cowan University (2020). License: CC BY-SA
    “If we want to impact the world of children who have experienced trauma then we must change not only ourselves and our classroom, but we must change our schools, our organisations, and our systems of care for children. […]  If you stay engaged with this book and with a child who has experienced trauma then you will learn new understandings, new ideas and new ways to reach the mind, the heart and the soul of young people who need our support and our love.”

Professional Studies

  1. Nutrition: Science and Everyday Application – beta v 0.1, by Alice Callahan, Heather Leonard, and Tamberly Powell, Open Oregon Educational Resources (2020). License: CC BY-NC
    “The book covers basic nutrition and metabolism, information literacy, energy balance, nutrition across life stages, dietary supplements, an in-depth look at each of the macronutrients, and major functions of vitamins and minerals.”

  2. Histology and Embryology for Dental Hygiene, by Laird Sheldahl, Raye Ann Yapp, Open Oregon State (2020). License: CC BY-NC-SA
    “This eBook makes use of animated images to focus on concepts in histology and embryology, as well as hyperlinks to promote non-linear reading and learning. It is aimed at college students in a dental hygienist program.”

Technology & Design

  1. Operational Amplifiers & Linear Integrated Circuits + Lab Manual, by James Fiore, SUNY Open Textbooks (2020). License: CC BY-NC-SA
    “This text covers the theory and application of operational amplifiers and other linear integrated circuits. It is appropriate for Associate and Bachelors degrees programs in Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technology, Electrical Engineering and similar areas of study. Topics include negative feedback, comparators, voltage amplifiers, summing and differencing amplifiers, high speed and high power devices, non-linear circuit applications, regulators, oscillators, integrators and differentiators, active filters and AD/DA conversion. A companion laboratory manual is available. The companion laboratory manual features 22 separate exercises. It covers the theory and application of operational amplifiers and other linear integrated circuits. Exercises include discrete differential amplifier analysis; inverting, non-inverting and differential configurations; frequency response; slew rate; DC offset; OTA; oscillators; linear regulator; function synthesis; active filters; and integrators and differentiators.”

  2. A Person-Centered Guide to Demystifying Technology: Working together to observe, question, design, prototype, and implement/reject technology in support of people’s valued beings and doings, by Martin Wolske, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Windsor & Downs Press (2020). License: CC BY-SA
    “The general learning outcome objectives of this book are to help readers: Develop a clear hands-on working understanding of the physical and software layers of computers and networks; Evolve a more holistic and nuanced understanding of the sociotechnical artifacts we use as a daily part of our professional lives; Develop a critical approach to sociotechnical artifacts to counter systemic injustices related to race, class/caste, gender, and other cultural dynamics; and Advance community agency in appropriating technology to achieve our individual and community development goals through a reconsidered digital literacy learning and practice.”

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

« Older posts Newer posts »