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19 results
Foundations of Neuroscience book cover

Foundations of Neuroscience

CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike)  40 H5P Activities    English

Author(s): Casey Henley

Subject(s): Neurosciences

Publisher: Michigan State University Libraries

Last updated: 01/02/2024

Foundations of Neuroscience is aimed at undergraduate students new to the field of neuroscience. The first edition specifically targets students enrolled in Neurobiology at Michigan State University and primarily contains topics covered in that course. For example, only three sensory systems are discussed in this version of the text. Future editions will continue to expand the number of topics and concepts presented.

This OER is unique in its presentation of neuroscience content. The text is divided into short, easily digestible chapters that focus on one concept. Pairing the text with images, animations, and videos provides students with multiple ways of learning the content. The text is written with the undergraduate student that is new to neuroscience in mind. Neuroscience terminology is introduced in an easy-to-understand manner, and supporting content is clear and concise to minimize cognitive load not associated with understanding new material

Each chapter ends with an interactive quiz for student self-evaluation of the content. Quiz questions provide feedback, so students can self-check their understanding at the end of each concept and receive immediate feedback about their learning.

Introduction to Neuroscience book cover

Introduction to Neuroscience

CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike)  44 H5P Activities    English

Author(s): Valerie Hedges

Subject(s): Neurosciences

Institution(s): Michigan State University

Publisher: Michigan State University Libraries

Last updated: 12/09/2023

Introduction to Neuroscience  is designed for undergraduate students enrolled in introductory neuroscience courses. This book specifically targets students enrolled in Introduction to Neuroscience 1 and Introduction to Neuroscience 2 at Michigan State University and primarily contains topics covered in those courses.

This completed text will guide students through the structure and function of nervous system cells and nervous system structures, signaling within the nervous system, include various sensory systems, motor systems, motivation and reward, stress, sex and the brain, emotions, nervous system disorders, learning, and memory.

This text has been remixed and revised from two different open educational resources aimed at undergraduate neuroscience students:

Foundations of Neuroscience by Casey Henley, Michigan State University

The Open Neuroscience Initiative by Austin Lim, DePaul University

In addition, new original content has been added to supplement what was provided in the above texts. The text includes many images and animations throughout and will be divided into shorter chapters that focus on a single topic. As this text is meant for undergraduate students, the writing is aimed at students that have not taken a neuroscience course before. Neuroscience terminology will be defined throughout the text through the use of the embedded Glossary terms to help with ease of reading. Additionally, important terms are bolded. Many chapters will end with an interactive quiz for student self-evaluation of the content.

Find errors or have suggestions? Please email hedgesva@msu.edu

Basic Urdu book cover

Basic Urdu

CC BY-NC (Attribution NonCommercial)  124 H5P Activities    English

Author(s): Rajiv Ranjan

Subject(s): Language and Linguistics, Urdu

Institution(s): Michigan State University

Publisher: Michigan State University Libraries

Last updated: 25/07/2023

Basic Urdu is a theme-based, interactive open-source online textbook for the true novice learners of the Urdu language. The book aims to help true novice learners of the Urdu language to achieve intermediate low to mid-level American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) proficiency level. The book has eight chapters. Chapter 1 focuses on the Urdu script. Chapters 2 to 8 follow a similar pattern. They all begin with stated goals followed by three to four readings and listening, followed by grammar points. Reading and listening sections have the vocabulary, pre- and post-activities which follow a combination of pedagogical approaches to language teaching. It also has grammatical points so that users can build overall language proficiency inductively or deductively. Each chapter ends with cultural notes and extra online resources. The book has several interactive activities with in-built feedback for independent learners.

OCLUE: Organic Chemistry, Life, the Universe & Everything book cover

OCLUE: Organic Chemistry, Life, the Universe & Everything

CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike)   English

Author(s): Melanie M. Cooper, Michael W. Klymkowsky

Subject(s): Organic chemistry, Chemistry

Institution(s): Michigan State University

Publisher: Michigan State University Libraries

Last updated: 18/05/2023

The essence of organic chemistry is how carbon atoms interact with other atoms and groups of atoms to produce an astounding array of complex and interesting molecules. The basics of bonding and intermolecular interactions are introduced in the general chemistry version of CLUE (Chemistry, Life, the Universe & Everything), along with how the structure of a molecule affects its properties, how the energy changes associated with chemical and physical changes can be predicted and explained, and how chemical systems can be stabilized or perturbed by changing conditions. These four core ideas (structure-property relationships, bonding and interactions, energy, and stability, and change) are continued on into OCLUE and are deepened and expanded as we discover and explain ever more complex chemical systems.

Making Sense of Digital Humanities book cover

Making Sense of Digital Humanities

CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike)   English

Author(s): Julian Chambliss, Ellen Moll

Editor(s): Julian Chambliss, Ellen Moll

Subject(s): Education, Educational: Technology, Media studies: internet, digital media and society, History of Computing, digital and information technologies, Cultural policies and debates

Institution(s): Michigan State University

Publisher: Michigan State University Libraries

Last updated: 28/04/2023

Taking up the challenge of navigating the complex world of digital humanities, Making Sense of Digital Humanities offers readers an exploration of the many ways scholars have employed the diverse toolkit of digital humanities to create a better understanding of the synergies and disruptions created by technological change. Rooted in a concern for the daunting tasks associated with teaching and learning about the digital humanities, this volume hopes to provide easy entry into a complex topic while highlighting how an understanding of digital humanities can transform our thinking about technology in the modern world.

Financial Management for Small Businesses, 2nd OER Edition book cover

Financial Management for Small Businesses, 2nd OER Edition

CC BY-NC (Attribution NonCommercial)   English

Author(s): Lindon Robison, Steven Hanson, J. Roy Black

Subject(s): Economics, Finance, Business and Management, Business and Management, Agricultural and rural economics, Agriculture, agribusiness and food production industries

Institution(s): Michigan State University

Publisher: Michigan State University Libraries

Last updated: 06/04/2023

This book is for those whose financial management focus is on small businesses. For you, we adapt the traditional financial management themes emphasized in corporate financial management courses to meet the needs of small businesses.

Many financial managers of small businesses come from farms or agribusinesses. Others are interested in working for or starting businesses in the food or retail sectors. In most cases, these businesses aren’t organized as C-corporations impacting things like taxes, depreciation, and legal requirements around compiling and reporting financial data. They are rarely publicly traded which creates unique constraints to raising debt and equity capital and calculating required risk-adjusted returns.

These financial managers are interested in solving specific problems they face in family or small businesses. They want to know how to apply the tools they are learning—coordinated financial statement analysis, present value analysis, management of cash flow, measuring their opportunity costs, etc.—to the problems they face at home. As we started to work on the actual problems faced by these managers, it quickly became clear that corporate finance tools don’t exactly fit the small businesses they come from. Further, in attempting to tackle the problems they bring, we learned that finding and/or constructing the data needed for financial management is another skill set often overlooked and in need of development. In the end, after investing a lot of time, we found that—without adaptation—corporate finance theory as traditionally taught doesn’t meet the knowledge needs and application skills of financial managers of small businesses. We wrote this book to be a catalyst that enables students and managers of small businesses to learn the tools and skill sets that will help them make sound financial management decisions.

Reframing Digital Humanities: Conversations with Digital Humanists book cover

Reframing Digital Humanities: Conversations with Digital Humanists

CC BY-NC (Attribution NonCommercial)   English

Author(s): Julian Chambliss

Subject(s): Media studies: internet, digital media and society

Institution(s): Michigan State University

Publisher: Michigan State University Libraries

Last updated: 06/04/2023

Growing from Reframing History, a podcast about history theory and practice, Reframing Digital Humanities: Conversations with Digital Humanists, Julian Chambliss, Professor of English at Michigan State University, brings together a diverse group of digital humanities practitioners to reflect on theory and practice. From the question of public engagement and knowledge production to considerations of identity and cultural production, the conversations presented in this work shed light on the ways digital humanities offer scholars tools to ask humane questions. Are the benefits promised being achieved? Are the right tools and training available? Are we asking the right questions? In this volume, scholars deeply engaged in using digital tools reflect on their work and this dynamic academic field.

Criminal Procedure: Undergraduate Edition book cover

Criminal Procedure: Undergraduate Edition

CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike)   English

Author(s): Christopher E. Smith

Subject(s): Criminal procedure, Criminal law: procedure and offences, Criminal procedure: investigation and specific proceedings

Institution(s): Michigan State University

Publisher: Michigan State University Libraries

Last updated: 09/02/2023

An open textbook for undergraduate Criminal Procedure courses that are typically required of criminal justice majors.  The book uses U.S. Supreme Court opinions to illuminate the definition of rights concerning search and seizure, right to counsel, and other aspects of the criminal justice process.  This open textbook seeks to make undergraduates familiar with judicial reasoning as well as the definitions of rights relevant to individuals who are drawn into contact with criminal justice officials.  The chapters give significant attention to police procedures and individual rights under the Fourth Amendment related to searches, including those using warrants and the situations in which warrant searches are permissible.  The book also covers rights in the context of police interrogation, including Miranda warnings and exceptions to the Miranda rule.  In addition, there is coverage of the exclusionary rule, right to counsel, plea bargaining, and trial rights.  It concludes with a brief examination of rights related to sentencing.  This resource challenges undergraduates to understand the development and changes affecting rights as new decisions are issued by the U.S. Supreme Court.

CLUE: Chemistry, Life, the Universe and Everything book cover

CLUE: Chemistry, Life, the Universe and Everything

CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike)   English

Author(s): Melanie M. Cooper, Michael W. Klymkowsky

Subject(s): Chemistry

Institution(s): Michigan State University

Publisher: Michigan State University Libraries

Last updated: 08/02/2023

Chemistry, Life the Universe and Everything (CLUE) is a transformed general chemistry curriculum, developed by an interdisciplinary team of a chemist and a molecular biologist, that aims to bring about evidence-based change in general chemistry. General Chemistry is a gateway course for many students intending on careers in scientific, engineering, and health care-related disciplines. While there have been many attempts to improve the outcomes for these students, little has changed over the past 60 years. Recent transformation efforts have focused primarily on incorporating student engagement techniques into the course, rather than considering what it is that is important for students to learn. CLUE is different. CLUE was developed using a design research approach that focuses on scaffolded progressions around four core ideas: structure and properties, bonding and interactions, energy, and change and stability. The course emphasizes causal mechanistic reasoning in order to help students move beyond knowing that, to knowing how and knowing why chemical phenomena occur.