A Humanities Textbook: Lower Division

Short Description:
An introductory examination of cultural appropriation in the fine arts and popular arts of the United States, with reference to historical, literary, and other cultural developments. The primary focus is the use of cultural appropriation to communicate ideas about racial identity in ways that have served the interests of the dominant culture. Areas of specific concern are voice appropriation, content appropriation, style appropriation, and motif appropriation. The emphasis is on historically significant examples in the visual arts, literature, theater, and music. As expressive communication, the arts are central to cultural identity. Cultural appropriation is wrong when it undermines America's diversity of cultural identities. Generations of American artists have used cultural appropriation as a tool of racial privilege. Despite this history of harmful and wrongful appropriation, cultural appropriation also provides a tactic of response and self-empowerment for non-dominant groups. Appropriation is frequently used by non-dominant groups and subcultures as a tool of active resistance against stereotyping and discrimination.

Word Count: 68176

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Word Count: 39646

Included H5P activities: 6

(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.)

Writing Spaces is “an open textbook project for college-level writing studies courses. Each volume in the Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing series contains peer-reviewed collections of essays about writing—all composed by teachers for students”.

Within this collection you will find lessons, videos, handouts, and teacher guides you can use in your classroom.  You will also find a brief summary of each resource with the source sited for further exploration, appropriate grade level, approximate lesson length, and learning standards.

Within this collection you will find lessons, videos, handouts, and teacher guides you can use in your classroom.  You will also find a brief summary of each resource with the source sited for further exploration, appropriate grade level, approximate lesson length, and learning standards.

Within this collection you will find lessons, videos, handouts, and teacher guides you can use in your classroom.  You will also find a brief summary of each resource with the source sited for further exploration, appropriate grade level, approximate lesson length, and learning standards.

Short Description:
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) is a philosophical novel by Irish playwright Oscar Wilde; it is his only novel. The story centre's on Dorian Gray, the subject of a full-length portrait in oil by Basil Hallward, an artist impressed and infatuated by Dorian's beauty. Through Basil, Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, an aristocrat who teaches him that beauty and sensual fulfilment are the only things worth pursuing in life.

Long Description:
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) is a philosophical novel by Irish playwright Oscar Wilde; it is his only novel. The story centre’s on Dorian Gray, the subject of a full-length portrait in oil by Basil Hallward, an artist impressed and infatuated by Dorian’s beauty. Through Basil, Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, an aristocrat who teaches him that beauty and sensual fulfilment are the only things worth pursuing in life.

Word Count: 79792

(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.)

The writings in this book were collected from students and their professors at Lansing Community College. The requirement was that the writings included needed to be something that had been submitted for a class at LCC and that it received a 3.0 or better. I wasn’t looking for perfect work. I was looking for good work. I hoped that the OER (Open Educational Resource) that resulted from this collection would help students and faculty learn about what teachers and students here were thinking and writing about. I hoped that student writers would feel some pride and satisfaction at seeing their work published and acknowledged as being good. I wasn’t worried about perfection, but I did ask instructors about what they would have recommended that students continue to work on to improve their writing, because especially student writing is a process. As I edited this work, I added a bit of punctuation and fixed some spelling, standardized fonts, and indicated paragraphs, but for the most part left the mechanics as they were. I wanted readers to be able to see the work that was submitted as it was submitted complete with mechanical flaws.Of course in writing classes we also work to polish format, but as one faculty member said to me, you have to have something to say!

The idea of perfection is worth consideration. Some of my colleagues seemed reluctant to encourage students to submit work because they seemed worried that the student work wouldn’t be good enough or would somehow reflect on them as instructors. But I know they give 3.0’s and 4.0’s and I know that students do work instructors judge as good enough. I especially liked hearing from the instructors who participated about what they valued; I think students and other instructors may also find that interesting. Over and over again I heard instructors value novelty, risk taking, and a clear writing voice.

I am grateful to the students who submitted their work and my colleagues who sat and talked with me about their students’ work. I am also grateful to the Lansing Community College Board of Trustees who agreed to fund this sabbatical project. The sabbatical I took during the Spring Semester of 2020 gave me time to reflect and celebrate the writing of students and think about and read more about publication of students’ writing. I am also grateful to Associate Professor of Integrated English Amy Larson—OER Project Manager and Professor of Economics James Luke who both consulted with me about creating this text to be housed at Open LCC. Thanks also to Lydia Warnke, one of the Department of Integrated English staff who helped me work on the formatting required by Open LCC. I would never have made the deadline without her help. Finally, thanks to Professor of Integrated English Jill Reglin who was my Sabbatical Committee Mentor; her encouragement was invaluable.

Because this is an OER perhaps a couple more examples were added during the summer of 2021. I hope other students will be inspired to add their pieces\ or at least develop more confidence about their writing in the future. To that end I have include the release form used for this project in the appendix. There is also a brief annotated bibliography discussing publishing student writing. Doing this research helped me see that there is a long history of discussion about publishing student writing and only beginning to be much current work on the topic. I hope to find more scholarly work being done about blogging, podcasts, and using modern media forms of publishing, but that is research for another day.

Students will analyze "Man with a Hoe" by Jean-Francois Millet, and learn how the artist's use of shape and space creates emphasis. Students will discuss their interpretations of the painting and provide visual evidence to back up their ideas. They will create a persona poem that demonstrates their interpretation of how the man in the painting feels. Students will then illustrate their understanding of how shape and space creates emphasis by drawing a person in their family who works hard.

Students will examine the details and color in an 1821 painting by Jacques-Louis David depicting two sisters who are exiled princesses. Students will read a tale about the Brothers Grimm, who were writing fairy tales during the same time period that these sisters were exiled. Students will then write and illustrate a fairy tale inspired by the painting.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Microbial interactions play a crucial role in the functioning and biogeochemical cycling of Earth's ecosystem. But these connections are highly dynamic and poorly understood. A clear picture of how microbes interact over time could help gain insight into processes that influence nutrient cycling, productivity, and the overall health of marine ecosystems. Researchers investigated microbial dynamics in the Mediterranean Sea on a monthly basis over 10 years. To pinpoint persistent, seasonal, and temporary microbial associations, the researchers identified a temporal network capturing the interactomes of each sample. This network followed an annual cycle that collapsed and reassembled with changes in water temperature. And microbial associations were more repeatable in colder versus warmer months. However, only 16 associations could be validated in the literature, underlining a serious knowledge gap in marine microbial ecological interactions..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This curriculum, which can be used in whole or in part, provides background legislative initiatives, evaluations of Family Preservation/Support Programs in different areas of the country, and techniques in evaluating community-based programs. Chapters include: a description of the development of Family Preservation/Family Support programs including key federal legislation and California's implementation process; a review of current literature on both family support and family preservation evaluations; a state-wide matrix of County Five-Year Plans for the Family Preservation/Support Program Initiative, summaries of 10 county Five-Year Plans, and case studies of three counties; information on single-subject designs including the nature and scope of single-subject research and its relationship to time-series design; information on collecting and analyzing administrative level data to determine whether change has occurred in a target community; and analysis of administrative level data within a single-system design framework. This module addresses Child Welfare Policy, Planning and Administration competencies. (343 pages)Rogers, K., Ferguson, C., Barth, R. P., & Embry, R. (1998).

Autumn 2022 Edition

Short Description:
This textbook is based on materials sourced from different practitioners from the world of research design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation. The author and her collaborators have also added materials to supplement the available literature. This activity is aligned with SDG4 – Quality Education and SDG10 - Reduced Inequalities.  NewParaThis first edition is running concurrently with Customer Insights. Second Edition.

Long Description:
Increasingly, the concept of marketing research is being replaced with the term ‘customer or consumer insights’. As decision-makers are bombarded with data, it is important to have an Insights Team or Department which can sift through it all and identify those nuggets of information that can meaningfully explain human behaviour. Such insights must translate into an informed business strategy for success. This book has been curated to ensure that the practice of data collection, analysis, and interpretation is presented from an industry perspective. This first edition is running concurrently with Customer Insights. Second Edition https://oercollective.caul.edu.au/customer-insights/

Word Count: 41271

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The goal of this research project is to allow students to integrate and apply their geomorphic knowledge in a comprehensive study of a local landscape system. In this project, students investigate the origin and significance of a series of flat-topped mesas and isolated hills that rise above the gently sloping surface of alluvial fans along the San Gabriel Mountain foothills. Students work as part of a research team of 3 or 4 members. Each team is assigned a different field area and conduct a comprehensive geomorphic investigation of landforms within that area. Team members are expected to work collaboratively to formulate a research plan, complete a background literature search, and conduct independent fieldwork outside of class time. Each team divides up responsibilities as they see fit. At the end of the quarter, each team presents the results of their research in an oral presentation in front of the class, and in a professional written report submitted to the professor.
Designed for a geomorphology course

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Explore the concept of evaporative cooling through a hands-on experiment. Use a wet cloth and fan to model an air-conditioner and use temperature and relative humidity sensors to collect data. Then digitally plot the data using graphs in the activity. In an optional extension, make your own modifications to improve the cooler's efficiency.

The Center for European Studies at UNC-CH is proud to present the Teaching the EU Toolkits. CES has a 20-year history of providing outreach materials and professional development on contemporary Europe. During this time, we have discovered that although there is much interest in teaching Europe, most resources are historic in nature, and do not allow students to fully grasp the rich cultures, languages, people, and politics of today’s Europe, Europeans, and the European Union. This project was generously funded by a Getting to Know Europe grant from the Delegation of the European Union to the US in Washington, DC.

This information sheet addresses the following information:
What is the European Union?
What do Europeans have in common?
How has the European Union developed? What does the EU do today?

The goal of this book is to teach you to think like a computer scientist. I like the way computer scientists think because they combine some of the best features of Mathematics, Engineering, and Natural Science. Like mathematicians, computer scientists use formal languages to denote ideas (specifically computations). Like engineers, they design things, assembling components into systems and evaluating trade offs among alternatives. Like scientists, they observe the behavior of complex systems, form hypotheses, and test predictions.The single most important skill for a computer scientist is problem-solving. By that I mean the ability to formulate problems, think creatively about solutions, and express a solution clearly and accurately. As it turns out, the process of learning to program is an excellent opportunity to practice problem-solving skills. That’s why this chapter is called “The way of the program.”

Students simulate disease transmission by collecting data based on their proximity to other students. One option for measuring proximity is by having Bluetooth devices "discover" each other. After data is collected, students apply graph theory to analyze it, and summarize their data and findings in lab report format. Students learn real-world engineering applications of graph theory and see how numerous instances of real-world relationships can be more thoroughly understood by applying graph theory. Also, by applying graph theory the students are able to come up with possible solutions to limit the spread of disease. The activity is intended to be part of a computer science curriculum and knowledge of the Java programming language is required. To complete the activity, a computer with Java installed and appropriate editing software is needed.

(This case study was added to OER Commons as one of a batch of over 700. It has relevant information which may include medical imagery, lab results, and history where relevant. A link to the final diagnosis can be found at the end of the case study for review. The first paragraph of the case study -- typically, but not always the clinical presentation -- is provided below.)

A 49-year-old right-handed man developed progressive cognitive difficulties over a four month period. Recent memory was impaired. He was unable to do the payroll at his company and would get lost in familiar surroundings. There were word-finding and language difficulties. He had associated fatigue, anorexia, daytime somnolence and weight loss of thirty pounds. Gait imbalance and urinary incontinence developed later.

Short Description:
This Open Educational Resource (OER), developed by Olds College is collaboration with the Government of Alberta, is a series of modules intended for use in Higher Education courses or by independent learners. This resource is useful for instructors whose courses cover introductory communication skills, workplace communication, technical communication, or business writing. It contains four modules, each with its own lesson plans, assessments, and supporting materials. This is module, Foundations of Professional Communication, is the first in the series and establishes important foundational skills to address the complexities of communicating in the modern-day professional environment. Topics include audience, communication channels, plain language, using visuals, and using feedback.

Word Count: 20685

(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.)