Education Textbooks

Safety, Health, and Nutrition in Early Childhood Education

Contributor: Paris

Publisher: College of the Canyons

License: CC BY

Early childhood is a critical time in development. Many outcomes, both positive and negative, have their beginnings in these years. It is vital that children’s health and safety be protected. High-quality early care and education programs can play a valuable role in improving outcomes

(5 reviews)

The ELC: An Early Childhood Learning Community at Work

Contributors: Bridge, Melita, and Roiger

Publisher: Open SUNY

License: CC BY-NC

The ELC professional development model was designed to improve the quality of teacher candidates’ Practicum field placements and align teaching in field placements with Learning Standards used in the teacher education program.

(3 reviews)

Writing Instruction Tips For Automated Essay Graders: How To Design an Essay for a Non-human Reader

Contributor: Lamoreaux

Publisher: Open Oregon Educational Resources

License: CC BY-NC

As schools, as well as the workplace, become more automated, and remote or distance learning/working becomes the “new normal,” understanding and leveraging artificial intelligence will become a critical skill.

(2 reviews)

Hybrid-Flexible Course Design

Contributor: Beatty

Publisher: EdTech Books

License: CC BY

This volume provides readers with methods, case stories, and strategies related to Hybrid-Flexible (HyFlex) course design so that they may make decisions about using it themselves and even begin their own HyFlex course (re)design. More specifically, based on the needs identified for their course(s), readers will be able to a) determine if and how HyFlex course design could help them solve critical needs, b) take advantage of emerging opportunities to improve their education practice, enabling them to better serve more students, c) gain an awareness of the HyFlex design, d) find their own innovative HyFlex solution to their specific challenges, and e) begin the HyFlex implementation process using strategies similar to those used by instructors described in this book. The volume describes the fundamental principles of HyFlex design, explains a process for design and development, and discusses implementation factors that instructors have experienced in various higher education institutions. These factors include the drivers, the variations in implementation approaches and constraints, and the results (e.g., student scores, student satisfaction). A series of worksheets provides specific guidance that can be used by individuals or teams engaging in HyFlex design projects at their own institution. Case reports from institutions and faculty who have successfully implemented HyFlex-style courses provide a rich set of real-world stories to draw insights for a reader’s own design setting.

(4 reviews)

Informed Arguments: A Guide to Writing and Research - Revised Second Edition

Contributors: Pantuso, LeMire, and Anders

Publisher: Texas A&M University

License: CC BY-NC-SA

Welcome to composition and rhetoric! While most of you are taking this course because it is required, we hope that all of you will leave with more confidence in your reading, writing, researching, and speaking abilities as these are all elements of freshman composition. Many times, these elements are presented in excellent textbooks written by top scholars. While the collaborators of this particular textbook respect and value those textbooks available from publishers, we have been concerned about students who do not have the resources to purchase textbooks. Therefore, we decided to put together this Open Educational Resource (OER) explicitly for use in freshman composition courses at Texas A&M University. It is important to note that the focus for this text is on thesis-driven argumentation as that is the focus of the first year writing course at Texas A&M University at the time of development. However, other first year writing courses at different colleges and universities include a variety of types of writing such as personal essays, informative articles, and/or creative writing pieces. The collaborators for this project acknowledge each program is unique; therefore, the adaptability of an OER textbook for first year writing allows for academic freedom across campuses.

(10 reviews)

Introduction to Curriculum for Early Childhood Education

Contributors: Paris, Beeve, and Springer

Publisher: College of the Canyons

License: CC BY

Welcome to learning about how to effectively plan curriculum for young children. This textbook will address:

(16 reviews)

Bad Ideas About Writing

Contributors: Ball and Loewe

Publisher: West Virginia University

License: CC BY

We intend this work to be less a bestiary of bad ideas about writing than an effort to name bad ideas and suggest better ones. Some of those bad ideas are quite old, such as the archetype of the inspired genius author, the five-paragraph essay, or the abuse of adjunct writing teachers. Others are much newer, such as computerized essay scoring or gamification. Some ideas, such as the supposed demise of literacy brought on by texting, are newer bad ideas but are really instances of older bad ideas about literacy always being in a cycle of decline. Yet the same core questions such as what is good writing, what makes a good writer, how should writing be assessed, and the like persist across contexts, technologies, and eras. The project has its genesis in frustration, but what emerges is hope: hope for leaving aside bad ideas and thinking about writing in more productive, inclusive, and useful ways.

(12 reviews)

Sharing Our Knowledge: Best Practices for Supporting English Language Learners in Schools

Contributor: Prokopchuk

Publisher: OPENPRESS.USASK.CA

License: CC BY

To complete the course ECUR 415.3: Current Issues in EAL, students are required to submit a final paper that reflects their growing knowledge about English as an Additional Language (EAL). EAL is the term used in Saskatchewan to describe students who speak languages other than English and require adequate levels of English to be successful with the school curriculum.

(7 reviews)

Trauma-Informed School Practices: Building Expertise To Transform Schools

Contributors: Berardi and Morton

Publisher: George Fox University Library

License: CC BY-NC-SA

This textbook represents the combined insight and experience of Morton, a k12 educator, and Berardi, a psychotherapist, both of whom are also university educators with extensive work experience serving districts and their teachers seeking to incorporate trauma-informed principles into their school culture and classroom. The authors identify that the field of education is now ready to deepen its level of response to the paradigm shift created by advances in neuroscience and traumatology. Hence, the primary focus is on identifying and applying trauma-informed educator competencies needed to transform districts, schools, educators, classrooms, and the field of education itself, while also including community members such as parents and board members in these processes - a total system makeover. At the conclusion of this text, the student, educator, or mental health professional will have a deeper understanding of what trauma-informed practice requires of them. This includes practical strategies on how to transform our learning communities in response to the devastating effect of unmitigated stress and trauma on our student's ability to learn and thrive throughout the lifespan.

(14 reviews)

Wellbeing in Educational Contexts - Second Edition

Contributors: Carter and Andersen

Publisher: University of Southern Queensland

License: CC BY-NC

This text endeavours to focus on wellbeing promotion in educational contexts as schools and other educational contexts play a pivotal role in teaching students about nonviolence, promoting understanding of diversity, endowing people with a shared purpose and meaning and the skills and behaviours to create a more inclusive, healthy, and positive future.

(2 reviews)