Hello Everyone,
It's been a busy fall for BCcampus Open Education. Please see below for a list of new open textbooks, ancillary resources, and other updates. An option to purchase print-on-demand copies through SFU's Document Solutions for Canadian faculty and students is available for all textbooks. Textbooks and supplementary resources that were created in B.C. are labelled as "Made in British Columbia". Other Canadian based materials are also marked.
New Books
CRIMINOLOGY
Made in British Columbia
Introduction to Criminal Investigation: Processes, Practices and Thinking is a teaching text describing and segmenting criminal investigations into its component parts to illustrate the craft of criminal investigation. Published by the Justice Institute of BC and written by Rod Gehl (JIBC) and Darryl Plecas (University of the Fraser Valley), the goal of this textbook is to assist the reader in forming their own structured mental map of investigative thinking practices.
GEOGRAPHY
World Regional Geography presents an overview of the discipline by introducing students to key themes and concepts in geography through a study of the world’s regions. This recent addition, by Caitlin Finlayson from the University of Mary Washington, was evaluated by subject matter experts in B.C.
MATH - Calculus
Made in British Columbia
Differential Calculus for the Life Sciences, by UBC Math professor Leah Edelstein-Keshet, is a high quality textbook designed with life sciences majors in mind. O
ften calculus is taught as a technical subject with rules and formulas devoid of its connection to applications. In this textbook, the applications form an important focal point, with emphasis on life sciences. This places the techniques and concepts into practical context, as well as motivating quantitative approaches to biology taught to undergraduates.
A two-volume set for an introductory calculus course has also been added, written by faculty authors at the Grand Valley State University in Michigan
- Active Calculus, 2017 edition can be used as a stand-alone textbook for a standard first semester college calculus course or as a supplement to a more traditional text. WeBWork files for a workbook and computer lab activities are available to instructors.
- In Active Calculus Multivariable the authors endeavor to actively engage students in learning the subject through an activity-driven approach in which the vast majority of the examples are completed by students.
PSYCHOLOGY
SPANISH
Two new textbooks on Spanish literature (and written in Spanish) are now available.
- Antologia Abierta de Literatura Hispana is a critical anthology of literary texts from the Spanish-speaking world. The focus is on canonical authors with an attempt to include voices that have been marginalized. Julie Ward, assistant professor of 20th and 21st-century Latin American literature at the University of Oklahoma, is the editor.
- Leyendas y arquetipos del Romanticismo español, Segunda edición is an introduction to nineteenth-century Spanish literature with a thematic focus on legends and archetypes. This textbook is by Robert Sanders, from Portland State University, who specializes in nineteenth and twentieth-century peninsular Spanish literature.
WEB LITERACY
Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers by Michael Caulfield, from Washington State University in Vancouver, WA, "will show you how to use date filters to find the source of viral content, how to assess the reputation of a scientific journal in less than five seconds, and how to see if a tweet is really from the famous person you think it is or from an impostor", amongst other skills.
Textbook Updates
Made in British Columbia
PDF files and print-on-demand copies are now available for the two textbook set: Greek and Latin Roots: Part I - Latin and Greek and Latin Roots: Part II - Greek. This series examines the systematic principles by which a large portion of English vocabulary has evolved from Latin and (to a lesser degree) from Greek. These open textbooks, by the late Peter Smith, were produced by the University of Victoria and funded, in part, from a BCcampus OER Grant.
Canadian (Alberta)
Creative Clinical Teaching in the Health Professions has been updated with files for its 2016 edition. This peer reviewed e-book, from Athabasca University authors Sherri Melrose, Caroline Park, and Beth Perry, is a must-read for nurses and other health professionals who strive to teach with creativity and excellence in clinical settings. Each chapter presents current evidence informed educational practice knowledge.
New Ancillary Resources
HEALTH CARE
Made in British Columbia
Health Case Studies, the work of Glynda Rees, Rob Kruger, and Janet Morrison from BCIT, is a set of eight original health case studies. Each case includes a patient story that models the best practice in healthcare settings along with a set of specific learning objectives to support learning and facilitate educational strategies and evaluation. These case studies align with the textbooks Clinical Procedures for Safer Patient Care and Anatomy and Physiology: OpenStax. This project was funded, in part, with funds from a BCcampus OER Grant.
ACCOUNTING
Canadian (Alberta)
For Introduction to Financial Accounting, we have added (from author, David Annand, Athabasca University) a comprehensive end-of-course assignment. Randomly-generated versions of this assignment are also available.
ESL and ABE English
Made in British Columbia
Support Resources
A new resource, A Guide to Making Open Textbooks with Students, produced through the Rebus Community, has been added to Guides in the B.C. Open Textbook collection. This handbook is for for faculty interested in practicing open pedagogy by involving students in the making of open textbooks, ancillary materials, or other open educational resources. Rajiv Jhangiani, from Kwantlen Polytechnic University, was a contributor.
Other News
Regards,
Lauri Aesoph
Lauri Aesoph Manager, Open Education
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