The Open Educational Resource College Public Speaking Textbook,A Creative Commons-Licensed Open Educational Resource for Introductory College Public Speaking Courses

Explore innovative teaching methods in "Game-Based and Adaptive Learning Strategies." This course delves into the dynamic intersection of educational technology and effective pedagogy. Discover how games and adaptive learning systems can engage students, personalize learning experiences, and optimize educational outcomes. Through hands-on activities and theoretical insights, educators will develop the skills needed to design and implement engaging and adaptive learning environments in diverse educational settings. Join us on a journey to revolutionize teaching and learning through cutting-edge strategies.

This book is an adaptation of Introduction to Business Statistics © 2010 by Thomas K. Tiemann, which is under a CC BY 3.0 Licence. This adaptation includes the following changes and additions which are © 2015 by Mohammad Mahbobi and are licensed under a CC BY 4.0 Licence: All examples have been changed to Canadian references, and information throughout the book, as applicable, has been revised to reflect Canadian content. One or more interactive Excel spreadsheets have been added to each of the eight chapters in this textbook as instructional tools.

About this Adaptation

Introductory Business Statistics with Interactive Spreadsheets – 1st Canadian Edition was adapted by Mohammad Mahbobi from Thomas K. Tiemann’s textbook, Introductory Business Statistics. For information about what was changed in this adaptation, refer to the copyright statement at the bottom of the home page. This adaptation was funded by BCcampus Open Education.BCcampus Open Education began in 2012 as the B.C. Open Textbook Project with the goal of making post-secondary education in British Columbia more accessible by reducing students’ costs through the use of open textbooks and other OER. BCcampus supports the post-secondary institutions of British Columbia as they adapt and evolve their teaching and learning practices to enable powerful learning opportunities for the students of B.C. BCcampus Open Education is funded by the British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills & Training, and the Hewlett Foundation.

Open educational resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research resources that, through permissions granted by the copyright holder, allow others to use, distribute, keep, or make changes to them. Our open textbooks are openly licensed using a Creative Commons licence, and are offered in various e-book formats free of charge, or as printed books that are available at cost.

For more information about open education in British Columbia, please visit the BCcampus Open Education website. If you are an instructor who is using this book for a course, please fill out our Adoption of an Open Textbook form.

A note from the original author: Thomas K. Tiemann

I have been teaching introductory statistics to undergraduate economics and business students for almost 30 years. When I took the course as an undergraduate, before computers were widely available to students, we had lots of homework, and learned how to do the arithmetic needed to get the mathematical answer. When I got to graduate school, I found out that I did not have any idea of how statistics worked, or what test to use in what situation. The first few times I taught the course, I stressed learning what test to use in what situation and what the arithmetic answer meant.

As computers became more and more available, students would do statistical studies that would have taken months to perform before, and it became even more important that students understand some of the basic ideas behind statistics, especially the sampling distribution, so I shifted my courses toward an intuitive understanding of sampling distributions and their place in hypothesis testing. That is what is presented here—my attempt to help students understand how statistics works, not just how to “get the right number”.

Dedication

The adapted version of this textbook is dedicated to my father, Ghasemali, for his support and encouragement, and especially for the opportunities that he opened up for me when I was in high school, and to my wife, Maryam, with whom I share credit for every goal I have achieved. 

 – Mohammad Mahbobi

This is an OER textbook for introductory creative writing classes with condensed chapters and expanded genres. Compiled and written by Sybil Priebe, an Associate Professor at the North Dakota State College of Science.

Preface

Geography is a discipline of explorers. Some geographers explore the world using satellite imagery and others by interviewing members of an indigenous community in an isolated area. What unites geographers everywhere is a desire to dig deeper, a desire to better understand why the spatial patterns and unique features we find in the world exist and how they interact and change. World Regional Geography presents an overview of the discipline by introducing students to key themes and concepts in the discipline of geography through a study of the world’s regions.

In a traditional World Regional Geography textbook, chapters are arranged around the various regions of the world with each chapter focusing on the geographic features of the particular region. Concepts such as climate, physical features, culture, economics, and politics are discussed in every chapter and particular places and names of physical features found in each region are emphasized. In essence, most World Regional Geography textbooks privilege breadth over depth.

There are two key problems with this traditional approach. First, most regional chapters follow the same basic outline of topics, perhaps beginning with physical features, then outlining historical developments, and then moving on to culture and economics. Countries and specific places within the region are emphasized rather than the patterns found across the region as a whole. There is rarely an over-arching theme or story that connects the regions to one another. Secondly, in most primary-level geography courses, breadth is already emphasized. Students may take map quizzes or learn a list of physical features, but have little exposure to the depth of concepts and theories that are central to geography as a discipline.

This book takes a different approach. Rather than present students with a broad, novicelevel introduction to geography, emphasizing places and vocabulary terms, this text approaches geography as experts understand the discipline, focusing on connections and an in-depth understanding of core themes. This thematic approach, informed by pedagogical research, provides students with an introduction to thinking geographically. Instead of repeating the same several themes each chapter, this text emphasizes depth over breadth by arranging each chapter around a central theme and then exploring that theme in detail as it applies to the particular region. In addition, while chapters are designed to stand alone and be rearranged or eliminated at the instructor’s discretion, the theme of globalization and inequality unites all of the regions discussed. This core focus enables students to draw connections between regions and to better understand the interconnectedness of our world. Furthermore, the focus on both globalization and inequality helps demonstrate the real-world application of the concepts discussed. Colonialism, for instance, rather than a historical relic, becomes a force that has shaped geography and informs social justice. This thematic approach is also intended to facilitate active learning and This book takes a different approach. Rather than present students with a broad, novice-level introduction to geography, emphasizing places and vocabulary terms, this text approaches geography as experts understand the discipline, focusing on connections and an in-depth understanding of core themes. This thematic approach, informed by pedagogical research, provides students with an introduction to thinking geographically. Instead of repeating the same several themes each chapter, this text emphasizes depth over breadth by arranging each chapter around a central theme and then exploring that theme in detail as it applies to the particular region. In addition, while chapters are designed to stand alone and be rearranged or eliminated at the instructor’s discretion, the theme of globalization and inequality unites all of the regions discussed. This core focus enables students to draw connections between regions and to better understand the interconnectedness of our world. Furthermore, the focus on both globalization and inequality helps demonstrate the real-world application of the concepts discussed. Colonialism, for instance, rather than a historical relic, becomes a force that has shaped geography and informs social justice. This thematic approach is also intended to facilitate active learning and would be suitable for a flipped or team-based learning-style course since it more easily integrates case studies and higher-order thinking than the traditional model. Each chapter begins with a list of learning objectives. This text was written with the backward course design model in mind and the content of each chapter was structured around these learning objectives. Because of this backward design focus, the length of each chapter is considerably shorter than most traditional textbooks. The intention is for the instructor to supplement the text with problems, case studies, and news articles and to use the text as a springboard for discussing deeper issues. The chapters are written in an accessible style, often addressing the student directly, and the author’s voice has intentionally tried to remain present in the text. Following the Washington Post’s gender-inclusive style guide, the singular they is intentionally used throughout the text. Rhetorical questions are also used to help students reflect on concepts and to encourage them to dig deeper and consider concepts from different perspectives.

Finally, a key difference between this text and others on the subject is that it is provided at no cost under the CC BY license. This means that the content can be distributed, remixed, tweaked, or built upon simply by crediting the author. Geography is an open discipline. In truth, anyone can be a geographer as long as they are curious about the world around them. This isn’t a perfect text and it doesn’t attempt to be. In emphasizing depth over breadth, some content was sacrificed. However, the intention is that students will not only know the material much more deeply, but in doing so, will also develop a passion for geography and a geographical imagination that will continue beyond this course. Happy exploring, geographers.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Music 1300, Music: Its Language History, and Culture. The course has a number of interrelated objectives: 

1. To introduce you to works representative of a variety of music traditions. These include the repertoires of Western Europe from the Middle Ages through the present; of the United States, including art music, jazz, folk, rock, musical theater; and from at least two non-Western world areas (Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Indian subcontinent). 
2. To enable you to speak and write about the features of the music you study, employing vocabulary and concepts of melody, rhythm, harmony, texture, timbre, and form used by musicians. 
3. To explore with you the historic, social, and cultural contexts and the role of class, ethnicity, and gender in the creation and performance of music, including practices of improvisation and the implications of oral and notated transmission. 
4. To acquaint you with the sources of musical sounds—instruments and voices from different cultures, found sounds, electronically generated sounds; basic principles that determine pitch and timbre. 
5. To examine the influence of technology, mass media, globalization, and transnational currents on the music of today. 

The chapters in this reader contain definitions and explanations of musical terms and concepts, short essays on subjects related to music as a creative performing art, biographical sketches of major figures in music, and historical and cultural background information on music from different periods and places.

The entire Pro Git book, written by Scott Chacon and Ben Straub and published by Apress, is available here. All content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike 3.0 license. Print versions of the book are available on Amazon.com.

Introduction

History and Science of Cultivated Plants narrates how humans transitioned from foragers to farmers and have arrived at present-day industrial agriculture-based civilization. It entails myths, historical accounts, and scientific concepts to describe how human efforts have shaped and produced easier to grow, larger, tastier, and more nutritious fruits, vegetables, and grains from wild plants. Using examples of various economically and socially important crops central to human civilization, the book describes the origin of crop plants, the evolution of agricultural practices, fundamental concepts of natural selection vs. domestication, experimental and methodical plant breeding, and plant biotechnology. A chapter on genetically engineered crops includes the fundamental concepts of recombinant DNA technology, the development of transgenic crops, and their societal impacts around the globe. The book discusses the challenges of feeding the world’s growing population in the wake of the changing climate, reduced acreage, and other socio-economic constraints, and the need for a sustainable agriculture system in the 21st century and beyond.

This text treats science as a type of human activity and examines the nature, value, and limitations of scientific methods and the interaction of science with society at numerous levels. The complex interactions between the available scientific knowledge and how it influences societal decisions have been described using a few historical examples. Often, the issues related to science can be adequately resolved using a more objective and systematic approach. However, the socio-political decisions have lasting consequences, and those need to be open-ended enough to leave room for inquiry, evaluation, and innovations. The purpose of this book is to empower its readers to adopt an open-minded approach to science and technology in general and develop a fundamental understanding of the agriculture and farming communities —who contribute to the variety, quality, and quantity of foods they consume.

I am grateful to my current and former colleagues, collaborators, and friends who have generously provided many images and figures used in this book. I would especially like to acknowledge Professor Susan McCouch, Dr. Ajay Garg (Cornell University), Professor Hiro Nonogaki and Professor Pankaj Jaiswal (Oregon State University), Dr. Shekhar Pathak and Pramod Singh for numerous discussions over the years that led to meaningful insights and helped to broaden the scope of this book. I would like to thank Stefanie Buck, Mark A. Lane, Ariel Meshorer, and Daniel Thompson (Oregon State University OER Unit) for their continued support in providing help with the review, editing, illustrations, and production of this book.

Sushma Naithani

The text, labs, and review questions in this book are designed as an introduction to the applied topic of computer security. With these resources students will learn ways of preventing, identifying, understanding, and recovering from attacks against computer systems. This text also presents the evolution of computer security, the main threats, attacks and mechanisms, applied computer operation and security protocols, main data transmission and storage protection methods, cryptography, network systems availability, recovery, and business continuation procedures.

The purpose of this text is to promote understanding of the Geographic Information Science and Technology enterprise (GIS&T, also known as “geospatial”).

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.

Student learning styles continue to evolve as we move into the twenty-first century. Students want to learn accounting in the most efficient way possible, balancing coursework with personal schedules. They tend to focus on their studies in short intense segments between jobs, classes, and family commitments. Meanwhile, the accounting industry has endured dramatic shifts since the collapse of Enron and WorldCom, causing a renewed focus on ethical behavior in accounting

Working together to observe, question, design, prototype, and implement/reject technology in support of people's valued beings and doings

Principles of Marketing teaches the experience and process of actually doing marketing – not just the vocabulary. It carries five dominant themes throughout in order to expose students to marketing in today's environment:

Service dominant logic — This textbook employs the term "offering" instead of the more traditional First "P" — product. That is because consumers don't sacrifice value when alternating between a product and a service. They are evaluating the entire experience, whether they interact with a product, a service, or a combination. So the fundamental focus is providing value throughout the value chain, whether that value chain encompasses a product, service, or both.

Sustainability — Increasingly, companies are interested in the impact they are having on their local community as well as the overall environment. This is often referred to as the "triple bottom line" of financial, social, and environment performance.

Ethics and social responsibility — Following on the sustainability notion is the broader importance of ethics and social responsibility in creating successful organizations. The authors make consistent references to ethical situations throughout chapter coverage, and end of chapter material in most chapters will encompass ethical situations.

Global coverage — the authors deliberately entitled Chapter 1 "What is Marketing?" Whether it is today's price of gasoline, the current U.S. presidential race, or Midwestern U.S. farming, almost every industry and company needs strong global awareness. And today's marketing professionals must understand the world in which they and their companies operate.

Metrics — Firms today have the potential to gather more information than ever before about their current and potential customers. That information gathering can be costly, but it can also be very revealing. With the potential to capture so much more detail about micro transactions, firms should now be more able to answer "well, what this marketing strategy really worth it?" And "what is the marketing ROI?" And finally, "what is this customer or set of customers worth to us over their lifetime?"

Course containing the video guides on how to navigate and perform certain tasks within the Cobra Itech Moodle Website