Part of
The Art and Science of Teaching Agriculture: Four Keys to Dynamic Learning is a 240-page methods of teaching book. Specifically, it is a collection of thoughts, best practices, strategies, and techniques for planning, delivering, and assessing teaching and learning. This resource is assembled from among the best teaching professors in agricultural communication, education, and leadership in America. The authors offer the opportunity to build confidence in planning, delivering, and assessing the depths of the variables inherent in learning for secondary and postsecondary educators in both formal and nonformal educational environments.
You will quickly grasp the four fundamental keys of solid, basic, time-tested formal and nonformal teaching: Laying the Foundation, Connecting with Students, Designing Instruction, and Applying Learning. These keys are shared with you through the unique voices of the authors to provide a multiperspective approach to teaching.
View Textbook
Using a systems framework, this textbook provides a clear and comprehensive introduction to the performance, analysis, and design of radio systems for students and practicing engineers. Presented within a consistent framework, the first part of the book describes the fundamentals of the subject: propagation, noise, antennas, and modulation. The analysis and design of radios including RF circuit design and signal processing is covered in the second half of the book.
View Textbook
Sustainable Property Management is a 150-page, peer-reviewed open textbook intended for students majoring in property management and real estate at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. It can be incorporated into an existing property management operations course or used for a stand-alone course focused on sustainable property management. Although sustainability, as used in the real estate context, is about preserving the environment, it is about more than that. In sustainable property management, sustainability encompasses three spheres—environmental, social, and economic. Sustainable property management is about reconciling these three spheres throughout the operations and maintenance phases of the building lifecycle in such a way that a balance is achieved between economic development and the protection of environmental and social resources.
This textbook explains how ecologically sustainable concepts may be implemented throughout the property management operation functions while also considering the other spheres of sustainability. It also incorporates the theme of sustainable building practices as a human science as well as a building science by highlighting motivations and impacts to various stakeholders. The author draws on industry examples to illustrate these concepts and provides many experiential activities through which students can apply these concepts.
Fish, Fishing, and Conservation is a 389-page, peer-reviewed open textbook intended for undergraduate students who are exploring majors in Fish & Wildlife. It is also relevant to a general audience or for use in courses which explore social and ethical aspects of fish, fishing and conservation.
View Textbook
Original Études for the Developing Conductor is a collection of supplemental études designed to enhance contemporary conducting pedagogy by amplifying the voices of composers from historically excluded groups. Each étude was commissioned from and composed by a living composer, the majority of whom are woman-identifying composers and/or composers of color. Each étude also addresses multiple specific pedagogical goals common to all conducting classrooms. Conducting textbooks commonly include musical examples to expose student conductors to various musical challenges and situations. However, due to the relative ease of using only music from the public domain, most examples found in commercially published books are excerpts of larger works composed by deceased cisgender white men of European descent. Often, this music bears little relation to a significant portion of the music contemporary students engage with and perform. These excerpts also tend to be quite short (i.e., less than a minute) and do not create cohesive, self-contained musical arcs.
View Textbook
This 155-page manual is comprised of two types of learning activities: 1) free response fill-in-the blank questions focused of the facts and principles of neuroanatomy and neurophysiology that underpin the neurologic examination and specifically developed exercises that demonstrate how the facts and principles are related to the particular tests and procedures that comprise the neurologic examination. Free response questions form the bulk of the Neuroscience Review section of each chapter and are intended as a review of information previously or concurrently being learned regarding the structure, function and organization of the nervous system. Some questions focus on anatomical or physiological facts and relationships that help explain why certain techniques are performed as they are, such as why non-nociceptive tactile stimuli are required in order to activate nerve impulse transmission in the lemniscal system. Other questions are intended to revisit facts and concepts that are needed to properly interpret the elicited findings. 2) The Application Exercises of each chapter are designed to demonstrate how neuroanatomical and neurophysiological information is used in the design of particular clinical tests of neurologic function. The application exercises are also intended to help users learn how to perform and become comfortable with the various clinical maneuvers and tests that comprise the routine neurologic examination. An important outcome of performing these exercises is that, as a member of a learning group, each individual has the opportunity to experience the neurologic examination from the point of view of the subject (patient)—an experience that arguably provides insight and understanding that can be gained in no other way.
View Textbook
Fundamentals of Business, 4th Edition (2023) is an 434-page open education resource intended to serve as a no-cost, faculty-customizable primary text for one-semester undergraduate introductory business courses. It covers the following topics in business: Teamwork; economics; ethics; entrepreneurship; business ownership, management, and leadership; organizational structures and operations management; human resources and motivating employees; managing in labor union contexts; marketing and pricing strategy; hospitality and tourism, accounting and finance, personal finances, and technology in business. The textbook was designed for use in Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business introductory level business course, MGT1104 Foundations of Business and is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial ShareAlike 4.0 license.
View Textbook
Introduction to Earth Science is a 530+ page open textbook designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to Earth Science that can be freely accessed online, read offline, printed, or purchased as a print-on-demand book. It is intended for a typical 1000-level university introductory course in the Geosciences, although its contents could be applied to many other related courses. This text includes various important features designed to enhance the student learning experience in introductory Earth Science courses. These include a multitude of high-quality figures and images within each chapter that help to clarify key concepts and are optimized for viewing online. Self-test assessment questions are embedded in each online chapter that help students focus their learning. QR codes are provided for each assessment to allow students using print or PDF versions to easily access the quiz from an internet-capable device of their choice.
View Textbook
The structure of the human body is usually considered in courses in gross anatomy. These courses typically consist of lectures by the faculty, readings in assigned textbooks and the study of photographs and illustrations in human anatomy atlases. However, as student’s progress through the curriculum and move into the more clinical or practice oriented phases, many discover that the anatomical knowledge they actually need is somewhat different from the kind they possess. What many encounter is difficulty in applying their knowledge to a clinical setting. Applied Human Anatomy was created to better integrate material that is more often than not treated separately in contemporary health care curricula. It is hoped that through this integration students will develop a deeper and more lasting knowledge and understanding of human anatomy as they are likely to need it in the evaluation and management of patients.
View Textbook
Human anatomy is one of the foundational disciplines in the training of health care professionals. Knowledge of human structure at both the macroscopic and microscopic levels serves as a framework for the study of normal function and dysfunction. This workbook presents a series of questions related to a particular area of anatomy. Answers to those questions are included at the end of the book. This approach to self-assessment in basic human anatomy will be helpful to students in preparing for clinical-based learning activities as well as for other types of knowledge assessment and evaluation.
View Textbook
Pulmonary Pathophysiology for Pre-Clinical Students is an undergraduate medical-level resource for foundational knowledge of pulmonary pathophysiology. This text is designed for a pre-clinical undergraduate medical curriculum and is aligned to USMLE(r) (United States Medical Licensing Examination) content guidelines. The text is meant to provide the essential information in a concise format that would allow learner preparation to engage in an active classroom. Clinical correlates and additional application of content is intended to be provided in the classroom experience. The text assumes that the students will have an understanding of basic pulmonary physiology that will be helpful to understand the content presented here. This resource should be assistive to the learner later in medical school and for exam preparation given the material is presented in a succinct manner, with a focus on high-yield concepts.
View Textbook
Pulmonary Physiology for Pre-Clinical Students is an undergraduate medical-level resource for foundational knowledge of pulmonary physiology. This text is designed for a pre-clinical medical curriculum and is aligned to USMLE(r) (United States Medical Licensing Examination) content guidelines. The text is meant to provide the essential information in a concise format that would allow learner preparation to engage in an active classroom. Clinical correlates and additional application of content is intended to be provided in the classroom experience. This resource should be assistive to the learner later in medical school and for exam preparation given the material is presented in a succinct manner, with a focus on high-yield concepts.
View Textbook
Cardiovascular Pathophysiology for Pre-Clinical Students is an undergraduate medical-level resource for foundational knowledge of common cardiovascular diseases, disorders and pathologies. This text is designed for a course pre-clinical undergraduate medical curriculum and it is aligned to USMLE(r) (United States Medical Licensing Examination) content guidelines. The text is meant to provide the essential information from these content areas in a concise format that would allow learner preparation to engage in an active classroom. Clinical correlates and additional application of content is intended to be provided in the classroom experience. The text assumes that the students will have an understanding of basic cardiovascular physiology that will be helpful to understand the content presented here. This resource should be assistive to the learner later in medical school and for exam preparation given the material is presented in a succinct manner, with a focus on high-yield concepts.
View Textbook
Teaching in the University: Learning from Graduate Students and Early Career Faculty provides insight and strategies for successful teaching, advising, and mentoring postsecondary students. In particular, the authors offer support and encouragement for implementing student-centered teaching practices relevant to college classrooms. This book is designed for new university teaching faculty and graduate teaching assistants looking for innovative teaching resources. As an Open Educational Resource (OER), this textbook provides university instructors free access to high-quality teaching materials based on the experiences of fellow new instructors. Twenty contributors and two co-editors from the current students and alumni of university teaching scholars programs offer this resource for fellow faculty and graduate students to improve instruction and engagement. Each chapter comes from the experiences and expertise of these talented individuals who speak directly to their peers.
View Textbook
Neuroscience for Pre-Clinical Students covers neuroenergetics, neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, and selected amino acid metabolism and degradation. This USMLE-aligned text is designed for a first-year undergraduate medical course and is meant to provide the essential biochemical information from these content areas in a concise format to enable students to engage in an active classroom. Hence, it does not cover neurophysiology and neuroanatomy; and clinical correlates and additional application of content are intended to be provided in the classroom experience. The text assumes that the students will have completed medical school prerequisites (including the MCAT) in which they will have been introduced to the most fundamental concepts of biology and chemistry that are essential to understand the content presented here. With its focus on high-yield concepts, this resource will assist the learner later in medical school and for exam preparation.
View Textbook
Aerospace Structures by Eric Raymond Johnson is a 600+ page text and reference book for junior, senior, and graduate-level aerospace engineering students. The text begins with a discussion of the aerodynamic and inertia loads acting on aircraft in symmetric flight and presents a linear theory for the status and dynamic response of thin-walled straight bars with closed and open cross-sections. Isotropic and fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials including temperature effects are modeled with Hooke’s law. Methods of analyses are by differential equations, Castigliano’s theorems, the direct stiffness method, the finite element method, and Lagrange’s equations. There are numerous examples for the response axial bars, beams, coplanar trusses, coplanar frames, and coplanar curved bars. Failure initiation by the von Mises yield criterion, buckling, wing divergence, fracture, and by Puck’s criterion for FRP composites are presented in the examples.
View Textbook
Cell Biology, Genetics, and Biochemistry for Pre-Clinical Students is an undergraduate medical-level resource for foundational knowledge across the disciplines of genetics, cell biology and biochemistry. This USMLE-aligned text is designed for a first-year undergraduate medical course that is delivered typically before students start to explore systems physiology and pathophysiology. The text is meant to provide the essential information from these content areas in a concise format that would allow learner preparation to engage in an active classroom. Clinical correlates and additional application of content is intended to be provided in the classroom experience. The text assumes that the students will have completed medical school prerequisites (including the MCAT) in which they will have been introduced to the most fundamental concepts of biology and chemistry that are essential to understand the content presented here. This resource should be assistive to the learner later in medical school and for exam preparation given the material is presented in a succinct manner, with a focus on high-yield concepts. The 276-page text was created specifically for use by pre-clinical students at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and was based on faculty experience and peer review to guide development and hone important topics.
View Textbook
Tree Steward Manual is designed for Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners who are training to be certified advanced Master Gardener tree stewards. Written by a dedicated team of volunteers who themselves completed advanced Master Gardener tree steward training, the manual covers a wide range of topics, specific to each region of Virginia, including identifying trees, selecting and planting appropriate trees for local landscapes, caring for trees, and troubleshooting tree problems.
In Virginia, advanced Master Gardener tree steward training is offered by the local Extension Master Gardener (EMG) program. Once the training is completed, volunteers become certified advanced EMG tree stewards and commit to a specific number of volunteer hours working on local tree steward projects. EMG tree stewards work on projects based on the needs of their local community as determined mutually between the local agent/coordinator and active tree stewards.
While Tree Steward Manual was developed with EMG training in mind, it is also appropriate for general readers who want to deepen their knowledge of trees and tree care.
View Textbook
Playback Theatre is a form of community-centered storytelling theater where the audience tells stories, which are then reflected by a company of actors and musicians. Storytelling on Screen: An Online Playback Theatre Archive and Guidebook is an open education resource consisting of a collection of full-length recordings of online Playback Theatre performances, and a 55-page explanatory guidebook. The guidebook, featuring a foreword by Playback Theatre co-founder, Jo Salas, explains the adaptation to online performances and some of the key concepts, roles, and forms involved in online Playback Theatre. The resource as a whole is suitable for a wide range of theatre students in courses such as applied theatre, theatre for social justice, improvisation, theatre appreciation, or acting. The guidebook contains hyperlinks to specific sections of the archive where students can see a given form or concept in action, allowing for a comparison of how different companies approach a given form.
View Textbook
Fundamentals of Business, Third Edition (2020) is an 370-page open education resource intended to serve as a no-cost, faculty customizable primary text for one-semester undergraduate introductory business courses. It covers the following topics in business: Teamwork; economics; ethics; entrepreneurship; business ownership, management, and leadership; organizational structures and operations management; human resources and motivating employees; managing in labor union contexts; marketing and pricing strategy; hospitality and tourism, accounting and finance, and personal finances.
The textbook was designed for use in Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business introductory level business course, MGT1104 Foundations of Business and is shared under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial ShareAlike 4.0 license. If you are an instructor reviewing, adopting, or adapting this textbook, please help us understand your use by filling out this form.
View Textbook Read Online
Introduction to Biosystems Engineering is targeted at 1st and 2nd year university-level students with an interest in biosystems engineering but who are not yet familiar with the breadth and depth of the subject. It is designed as a coherent educational resource, also available for download as individual digital chapters.
The book can be used as a localized, customizable text for introductory courses in Biosystems Engineering globally. It is written as a series of stand-alone chapters organized under six major topics: Food and Bioprocessing; Environment; Buildings and Infrastructure; Information and Communications Technology and Data; Machinery Systems; and Energy. Each chapter is organized around stated learning outcomes and describes key concepts, applications of the concepts, and worked examples.
This book is published jointly by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) and Virginia Tech Publishing.
View TextbookStrategic Management (2020) is an open educational resource designed as an introduction to the key topics and themes of strategic management.
The open textbook is intended for a senior capstone course in an undergraduate business program and suitable for a wide range of undergraduate business students including those majoring in marketing, management, business administration, accounting, finance, real estate, business information technology, and hospitality and tourism. The text presents examples of familiar companies and personalities to illustrate the different strategies used by today’s firms and how they go about implementing those strategies. It includes case studies, end of section key takeaways, exercises, and links to external videos, and an end-of-book glossary. The text is ideal for courses which focus on how organizations operate at the strategic level to be successful. Students will learn how to conduct case analyses, measure organizational performance, and conduct external and internal analyses.
View TextbookElectromagnetics, Volume 2 Steven W. Ellingson is a 216-page peer-reviewed open textbook designed especially for electrical engineering students in the third year of a bachelor of science degree program. It is intended as the primary textbook for the second semester of a two-semester undergraduate engineering electromagnetics sequence. The book addresses magnetic force and the Biot-Savart law; general and lossy media; parallel plate and rectangular waveguides; parallel wire, microstrip, and coaxial transmission lines; AC current flow and skin depth; reflection and transmission at planar boundaries; fields in parallel plate, parallel wire, and microstrip transmission lines; optical fiber; and radiation and antennas.
Report adoption of this book here. If you are a professor reviewing, adopting, or adapting this textbook please help us understand a little more about your use by filling out this form.
View Textbook
Electromagnetics, Volume 1 by Steven W. Ellingson is a 225-page, peer-reviewed open educational resource intended for electrical engineering students in the third year of a bachelor of science degree program. It is intended as a primary textbook for a one-semester first course in undergraduate engineering electromagnetics. The book employs the “transmission lines first” approach in which transmission lines are introduced using a lumped-element equivalent circuit model for a differential length of transmission line, leading to one-dimensional wage equations for voltage and current.
Report adoption of this book here. If you are a professor reviewing, adopting, or adapting this textbook please help us understand a little more about your use by filling out this form.
View Textbook
Fundamentals of Business, Second Edition (2018) is an 372-page open education resource intended to serve as a no-cost, faculty customizable primary text for one-semester undergraduate introductory business courses. It covers the following topics in business: Teamwork; economics; ethics; entrepreneurship; business ownership, management, and leadership; organizational structures and operations management; human resources and motivating employees; managing in labor union contexts; marketing and pricing strategy; hospitality and tourism, accounting and finance, and personal finances.
The textbook was designed for use in Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business introductory level business course, MGT1104 Foundations of Business and is shared under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial ShareAlike 4.0 license. If you are an instructor reviewing, adopting, or adapting this textbook, please help us understand your use by filling out this form.
View Textbook Read Online
