The high cost of textbooks is of concern not only to college students but also to society as a whole. Open textbooks promise the same educational benefits as traditional textbooks; however, their efficacy remains largely untested. We report on one community college’s adoption of a collection of open resources across five different mathematics classes. During the 2012 fall semester, 2,043 students in five different courses used these open access resources. We present a comparison between the previous two years in terms of the number of students who withdrew from the courses and the number that completed the courses with a C grade or better. Our analysis suggests that while there was likely no change in these educational outcomes, students who have access to open access materials collectively saved a significant amount of money. Students and faculty were surveyed as to their perceptions of these materials and the results were generally favorable.

A guide to Open Access Resources consisting of scholarly journals, student dissertations, legal repositories, scientific publications and more.

Short Description:
This peer reviewed e-book 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. Each topic is also presented with text boxes describing ‘Creative Strategies’ that clinical teachers from across Canada have successfully implemented. For those who are interested in background knowledge, the authors provided a comprehensive literature base. And, for those interested mainly in 'what to do,' the text box summaries offer step-by-step directions for creative, challenging activities that both new and experienced instructors can begin using immediately.

Long Description:
About the Book

This peer reviewed e-book 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. Each topic is also presented with text boxes describing ‘Creative Strategies’ that clinical teachers from across Canada have successfully implemented. For those who are interested in background knowledge, the authors provided a comprehensive literature base. And, for those interested mainly in ‘what to do,’ the text box summaries offer step-by-step directions for creative, challenging activities that both new and experienced instructors can begin using immediately.

The authors also address other issues familiar to clinical teachers. How do the theoretical foundations of teaching apply to clinical learning environments? How does one articulate a personal philosophy of teaching? How can clinical teachers support and socialize students towards becoming competent professionals? How can technology assist clinical instruction? What are the best methods of evaluating student progress in clinical ‘classrooms?’ What can preceptors do to promote student success? By considering these and other concerns, and by providing the kinds of practical strategies that can begin to resolve them, this open educational resource will be invaluable to clinical teachers from a variety of different disciplines and health care settings.

About the Authors

Sherri Melrose, Caroline Park, and Beth Perry teach in the Faculty of Health Disciplines at Athabasca University. Melrose has published widely on educating health professionals, facilitates a graduate course in clinical teaching and is a winner of the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing Award for Excellence in Nursing Education. Park, currently the Chair of Graduate Programs, has taught in a variety of nurse education settings and leads research projects related to technology enhanced clinical education and mobile learning. Perry is an established author and is the principal investigator of a SSHRC-funded study exploring artistic pedagogical technologies. Perry is also a winner of the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing Award for Excellence in Nursing Education.

Recommended Citation

Melrose, S., Park, C. & Perry, B. (2015). Creative clinical teaching in the health professions. Retrieved from https://clinicalteaching.pressbooks.com

Word Count: 108788

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Thinking critically is a complicated but important endeavour that involves learning how to think clearly, acquiring problem-solving skills, and applying these skills in real life contexts. This text offers students an introduction to critical thinking methods, principles, and applied examples. It engages the reader to question their attitude and approach to critical thinking and provides a detailed introduction to the role of belief in critical thinking. It outlines the use of argument forms for validity, definitions and classification, syllogistic reasoning, categorical logic, and the method of informal fallacy identification. With up-to-date examples, current issues, links to videos, exercises and answer keys, a glossary, quick charts, and key takeaways, this resource is engaging and designed for students’ success.

Workplace injuries happen every day and can profoundly affect workers, their families, and the communities in which they live. This textbook is for workers and students looking for an introduction to injury prevention on the job. It offers an extensive overview of central occupational health and safety (OHS) concepts and practices and provides practical suggestions for health and safety advocacy. Foster and Barnetson bring the field into the twenty-first century by including discussions of how precarious employment, gender, and ill-health can be better handled in Canadian OHS.

This introduction to computer programming with Python begins with some of the basics of computing and programming before diving into the fundamental elements and building blocks of computer programs in Python language. From the installation of Python, Python interactive programming, and integrated development environments to raising and handling exceptions, using compound data types to solve problems, and implement divide-and-conquer processes using functions, classes and modules, this textbook will set students up for success in programming and computing study and practice. The included exercises and projects are designed to hone students’ skills.

This paper presents the results of collaborative research between open textbook provider OpenStax College (OSC) and the OER Research Hub (OERRH), a Hewlett funded mixed methods open research project examining the impact of open educational resources (OER) on learning and teaching.

The paper focuses primarily on the results of two surveys that were conducted with educators using a range of OSC open textbooks during 2013 and 2014/2015. The results of this research shows that OER such as OSC enables a majority of educators to better respond to student needs whilst often making teaching easier and in some instances changing teaching practices. Although this paper does not focus on the impact of OER on students, a majority of educators surveyed perceive an increase in student satisfaction when using OER such as OSC and believe that OSC are saving students money.

Cognitive science arose in the 1950s when it became apparent that a number of disciplines, including psychology, computer science, linguistics, and philosophy, were fragmenting. Perhaps owing to the field’s immediate origins in cybernetics, as well as to the foundational assumption that cognition is information processing, cognitive science initially seemed more unified than psychology. However, as a result of differing interpretations of the foundational assumption and dramatically divergent views of the meaning of the term information processing, three separate schools emerged: classical cognitive science, connectionist cognitive science, and embodied cognitive science.

This collection is for anyone interested in the use of mobile technology for various distance learning applications. Readers will discover how to design learning materials for delivery on mobile technology and become familiar with the best practices of other educators, trainers, and researchers in the field, as well as the most recent initiatives in mobile learning research. Businesses and governments can learn how to deliver timely information to staff using mobile devices. Professors can use this book as a textbook for courses on distance education, mobile learning, and educational technology.

Within the rapidly expanding field of educational technology, learners and educators must confront a seemingly overwhelming selection of tools designed to deliver and facilitate both online and blended learning. Many of these tools assume that learning is configured and delivered in closed contexts, through learning management systems (LMS). However, while traditional "classroom" learning is by no means obsolete, networked learning is in the ascendant. A foundational method in online and blended education, as well as the most common means of informal and self-directed learning, networked learning is rapidly becoming the dominant mode of teaching as well as learning.

In Teaching Crowds, Dron and Anderson introduce a new model for understanding and exploiting the pedagogical potential of Web-based technologies, one that rests on connections — on networks and collectives — rather than on separations. Recognizing that online learning both demands and affords new models of teaching and learning, the authors show how learners can engage with social media platforms to create an unbounded field of emergent connections. These connections empower learners, allowing them to draw from one another’s expertise to formulate and fulfill their own educational goals. In an increasingly networked world, developing such skills will, they argue, better prepare students to become self-directed, lifelong learners.

Short Description:
This e-book represents the work of The Trans Community Says Project. Each chapter in this book will explore a different theme or topic that arose from the conversations that took place for the project. Transgender community members in Edmonton and Calgary participated in this work. This research was supported by The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, The Alberta Human Rights Commission, The Alberta Public Interest Research Group, and Athabasca University

Word Count: 17725

(Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)