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.

Biological Sciences

• Introducing Mathematical Biology: An Open Education Resource, by Alex Best, University of Sheffield (2023). License: CC BY
  “Mathematical modeling plays an increasingly important role in almost any area of life sciences, and this interactive textbook focuses on the areas of population ecology, infectious diseases, immunology and cell dynamics, gene networks and pharmacokinetics. It is aimed at anyone who is interested in learning about how to model biological systems, including undergraduate and postgraduate mathematics students who have not studied mathematical biology before, life-sciences students with an interest in modeling, and post-16 mathematics students interested in university-level material. Some mathematical knowledge is assumed, and the mathematical models used are all in the form of ordinary differential equations.”

Business

• Adaptive Apparel Design, by Ellen McKinney and Rachel Eike (2023). License: CC BY-NC-SA.
  “…prepared to support those learning about adaptive apparel design. The text is easy for students, scholars, and designers to use, and is organized around the apparel design process: research, sketching, developing a sample notebook, mood or inspiration board, pattern work, first sample, and the completed ensemble. Users can read from beginning to end or jump into resources related to their current phase of design.”
  
• Crawford Automation – A Guided Application of Structured Problem Solving: Continuous Improvement in Action, by Stephen Thomson; Kevin Hollis; and Laurie Turnbull, Conestoga College (2023).
  License: CC BY-NC-SA
  “This is a multimedia-enabled case in which students will be guided, by an industry expert, to apply structured problem-solving that addresses a typical supply chain problem, missing parts. What first appears as the issue may be a symptom of a root cause(s). The case utilizes videos, data files for analytics, audio recording, and videogame-style exercises to find the missing box of parts. The case is a collaboration between the Conestoga Centre for Supply Chain Innovation and ATS Automation and utilizes the ATS Business Model (ABM) approach to identifying and solving root causes.”

Communication

• In Your Eyes: Communicating in Close Relationships, by Sydney Brammer; Ryan Martinez; and Narissra Punyanunt-Carter, Texas Tech University Libraries (2023). License: CC BY-NC
  “This book was crafted for a new generation of people with an interest in communication studies, especially scholarship and concepts that speak to the role of close relationships in our lives and work. As you read through each chapter, you’ll meet new characters, ponder discussion questions, and interact with reflection activities that will get you to think deeply about various themes.”

Communication Design

• Colour Theory: Understanding and Working with Colour, by Lisa Cianci (2023). License: CC BY-NC
  “Colour theory covers a long history from antiquity to modern times. It includes academic and scientific investigations into how we see and understand colour. It also includes practical applications for using colour in creative work. […] This learning resource covers the history of colour theory, how we see colour, and how to use colour systems to mix colour and create colour relationships.”

Computer Systems Technology 

• Productivity in Common Operating Systems, by Lester Hiraki (2022, updated in 2023). License: CC BY-NC
  “The goal of this book is to provide the interested learner with the essentials to work in a Unix environment. […] The focus is on the user’s perspective to enable the user to be productive in a Unix environment.  Topics include understanding and navigating the file system, using common commands, and automating tasks.  Emphasizing the user’s perspective, the scope of this book does not include topics such as system administration, installation, or networking. […] This book is intended for adoption in the freshmen or sophomore year of a technical program (e.g. computer science, engineering, STEM, etc.).”

English

• Essentials of Creative Writing, by Rachel Morgan, Jeremy Schraffenberger, and Grant Tracey, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa (2023).
  License: CC BY-NC
  “This free and open access textbook introduces new writers to some basic elements of the craft of creative writing in the genres of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. The primary audience for this textbook, however, is the new writer, someone who may be enrolled in an introductory class, or perhaps someone who is trying to learn about the craft of creative writing on their own.”

Dental Hygiene 

• Dentistry Environment Essentials, by Nicole Stormon, Tachae Douglas-Miller, and Sowmya Shetty (2022). License: CC BY-NC.
  While the book is specific to the practice and standards of dentistry in Australia, the concepts, videos, and images, may be useful beyond this locale. This book aims to introduce the dental environment and give practical guidance on how to navigate the equipment, instruments, procedures and how to stay safe.

Health Sciences & Health Services Administration

• 2SLGBTQ+ Healthcare: Your guide to building an inclusive practice, by Selinda Berg, Scott Cowan, and Ashlyne O’Neil (2022).
  License: CC BY-NC-SA.
  A training module with actions, case studies, strategies, and additional resources to make healthcare inclusive to members LGBTQ+ community members. 
• Therapeutic Communication for Health Care Administrators, by Kimberlee Carter, Marie Rutherford, and Connie Stevens (2022).
  License: CC BY-NC-SA.
  The text is intended for learners preparing for positions in front-line health care settings to develop therapeutic communication is an essential competency. 

History

• Politics, Protest, Emotion: Interdisciplinary Perspectives: A Book of Blogs, edited by Paul Reilly; Anastasia Veneti and Dimitrinka Atanasova, University of Sheffield (2017). License: CC BY
  “Politics, emotion and identity performance presents a series of personal reflections on the ‘affective turn’ in social movement studies. Case studies such as Anonymous, the Hong Kong protest camps and the 2016 Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) march are  examined in order to explore the performance of identity in this era of global protest.”

Mathematics

• Differential Calculus: From Practice to Theory, by Eugene Boman and Robert Rogers, Milne Open Textbooks, SUNY (2023). License: CC BY-NC-SA
  “Differential Calculus: From Practice to Theory covers all of the topics in a typical first course in differential calculus. Initially it focuses on using calculus as a problem solving tool (in conjunction with analytic geometry and trigonometry) by exploiting an informal understanding of differentials (infinitesimals). As much as possible large, interesting, and important historical problems (the motion of falling bodies and trajectories, the shape of hanging chains, the Witch of Agnesi) are used to develop key ideas. Only after skill with the computational tools of calculus has been developed is the question of rigor seriously broached. At that point, the foundational ideas (limits, continuity) are developed to replace infinitesimals, first intuitively then rigorously.”

Mechanical Engineering Technology

• Crawford Automation – A Guided Application of Structured Problem Solving: Continuous Improvement in Action, by Stephen Thomson; Kevin Hollis; and Laurie Turnbull, Conestoga College (2023).
  License: CC BY-NC-SA
  “This is a multimedia-enabled case in which students will be guided, by an industry expert, to apply structured problem-solving that addresses a typical supply chain problem, missing parts. What first appears as the issue may be a symptom of a root cause(s). The case utilizes videos, data files for analytics, audio recording, and videogame-style exercises to find the missing box of parts. The case is a collaboration between the Conestoga Centre for Supply Chain Innovation and ATS Automation and utilizes the ATS Business Model (ABM) approach to identifying and solving root causes.”
  
• Machine Shop VESL, by Lisa Hillyard, MHCC Library Press. License: CC BY-NC
  An introductory text for those working in machine shops covering basic hand tools, measurements, reading plans, as well as working with large shop machines.

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