New and Noteworthy is the City Tech Library OER Team’s bi-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.
Open Education
- OERigin Stories: Pathways to the Open Movement, by Ursula Pike, Digital Higher Education Consortium of Texas (DigiTex) (2022).
License: CC BY-NC-SA
“Six women of color, leaders in the Open Education Movement, share their stories and thoughts on Open Education and higher education.”
- Open Research Toolkit, by Christopher Eaker, Center For Open Science (2022). License: CC BY
“While this toolkit was designed for librarians for learning open research concepts and skills and teaching them at their institutions, it would be useful for anyone interested in learning more about open research.”
Arts & Sciences
- Keys to Understanding the Middle East, by Alam Payind and Melinda McClimans, The Ohio State University (2022). License: CC BY-SA
“…for readers who have never studied the Middle East, or experts who may wish to fill gaps in their knowledge of the region from other disciplines. Whether for establishing or deepening one’s knowledge of the region, these fundamentals are important to know. The languages, cultural, religious and sectarian communities of the region, and selected turning points and influential people in history are starting points for gaining an understanding of the diverse contexts of the region.” - Effective Professional Communication: A Rhetorical Approach, by Rebekah Bennetch, Corey Owen, and Zachary Keesey, University of Saskatchewan (2022). License: CC BY-NC-SA
“Our goal in this text is to break down the communication process in professional environments so you can maximize your chance to get hired and retain your job once you graduate from university. We will do this by looking at communication through political, rhetorical, ethical, and interpersonal lenses and applying this knowledge to your future career.” The text has seven main sections: Introduction to Communication, Rhetorical Theory, Technical Writing Essentials, Technical Correspondence, Applying for a Job, Writinga Report, Public Speaking - Beginning Spanish ¡Empecemos por aquí!, by Jenny Ceciliano and Lisa Notman, Portland State University (2021). License: CC BY-NC
This text “…focuses on the development of communication skills in interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational modes while centering student voices. Activities engage learners in real exchanges of information on topics that are relevant to adult students. In addition to language-acquisition learning outcomes, this text supports learning outcomes in diversity, equity, inclusion, cultural sustainability, and social justice.”
Professional Studies
- Contemporary Families: An Equity Lens, by Elizabeth Pearce, Linn-Benton Community College (2020). License: CC BY
“This openly licensed text, created with students, approaches the current status of contemporary families in the U.S. from an equity lens. It asks and answers the questions “What do families need?” and “How do society and institutions support or get in the way of families getting what they need?” - Digital Marketing Strategy, by Pierre-Yann Dolbec, Concordia University Open Textbooks (2021). License: CC BY-NC-SA
“The Internet has transformed how businesses conduct their activities and how consumers go about buying products. This textbook aims to provide a way of conceptualizing how to do marketing online and a strategic framework to do so.”
Technology & Design
- Better by Design?: Architecture, Urban Planning, and the Good City by Paul L. Knox, Virginia Tech Publishing (2020). License: CC BY-NC-ND
“In Better by Design? Paul Knox explores the intellectual roots of the design professions, showing how architects, planners, and other designers have traditionally interpreted their roles and implemented their ideas in cities across North America and the UK. Drawing on his long record of research and award-winning publications on the social production of the built environment, Knox offers a critical appraisal of their ultimate effectiveness in achieving the goal of creating and sustaining good cities.”
- Surveying and Mapping by Christian Tiberius, Hans van der Marel, René Reudink and Freek van Leijen, TU Delft Open (2021). License: CC BY-NC-SA
“This book provides an introduction, at academic level, into the field of surveying and mapping…This book covers a wide range of measurement techniques, from land surveying, GPS/GNSS and remote sensing to the associated data processing, the underlying coordinate reference systems, as well as the analysis and visualization of the acquired geospatial information.”
City Tech OER team
Cailean Cooney, Assistant Professor, OER Librarian: ccooney@citytech.cuny.edu
Joshua Peach, Adjunct Reference & OER Librarian: jpeach@citytech.cuny.edu
Rachel Jones, Adjunct Librarian
