Student Engagement Activities for Business Communications is a compilation resource for instructors of workplace writing and oral presentations. The activities in this book can add value and energy to the classroom by engaging students in activities that support their learning. Handouts, links, activity variations, and debrief questions are included.

This book is suited for the Entrepreneurship or Innovation course with an emphasis on Sustainability or for a course devoted entirely to Sustainability.

What are the trends and forces underlying the changing character of the business-environment relationship? How they are creating significant entrepreneurial opportunities for individuals and companies? Around the world, the movement toward “sustainable development” has caused many firms to adopt policies and practices that reflect what is sometimes called a “sustainable business” or “triple bottom line” approach. “Triple bottom line” refers to the demonstration of strong performance across economic, social, and environmental indicators. Those measures serve as indicators of fiduciary responsibility to a growing set of concerned investors and therefore can help ensure access to capital. They also enable innovators to lower costs, create strategic differentiation, reduce risk, and position themselves for competitive advantage over rivals less attuned to trends.

The deep roots of sustainability thinking are now evident in widespread and increasingly visible activities worldwide, and Sustainability, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship explores this evolution; its necessity, its implications and its progression.

The issue of sustainability and specifically sustainable business is of increasing interest and importance to students of business and also students in the sciences, government, public policy, planning and other fields. There can be significant benefits from students learning about sustainable business from the rich experiences of business practice.

The Sustainable Business Case Book by Gittell, Magnusson and Merenda is one of the first of its kind. It combines the the theory of sustainability with key concepts, analytical information and contextual information with a collection of cases which provide insights, perspective and practical guidance on how sustainable businesses operate from different business functional area perspectives.

The Sustainable Business Case Book can be used as a stand-alone text or as a supplemental textbook for undergraduate courses that have an interest in sustainable business. While the book's primary focus is on the relationship between business and sustainability, the book can also be used in courses offered in fields other than business, including environmental and earth systems sciences, environmental studies, urban planning, economics and public policy.

The first part of The Sustainable Business Case Book, Chapter 1 through Chapter 3, introduces students to the meaning of sustainability, and the practice of sustainable business. The introductory chapters also describe key concepts, analytical frameworks, and contextual information relevant for the understanding of business sustainability. Chapter 1, defines sustainability and describes how and why businesses choose to engage in sustainable practices and how sustainable business practices relate to corporate profitability and social responsibility. Chapters 2 and 3 provide important background and contextual information affecting sustainable business practice. Chapter 2, The Science of Sustainability, reviews scientific evidence about climate change and the human and business influences on climate change. Chapter 3, Sustainability, Public Policy and Business, describes the significant role of government and public policy in sustainability, including setting the rules, regulations and laws that define the market and market opportunities for sustainable business practice.

Sustainable Property Management is a 150-page, peer-reviewed open textbook intended for students majoring in property management and real estate at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. It can be incorporated into an existing property management operations course or used for a stand-alone course focused on sustainable property management. Although sustainability, as used in the real estate context, is about preserving the environment, it is about more than that. In sustainable property management, sustainability encompasses three spheres—environmental, social, and economic. Sustainable property management is about reconciling these three spheres throughout the operations and maintenance phases of the building lifecycle in such a way that a balance is achieved between economic development and the protection of environmental and social resources.

This textbook explains how ecologically sustainable concepts may be implemented throughout the property management operation functions while also considering the other spheres of sustainability. It also incorporates the theme of sustainable building practices as a human science as well as a building science by highlighting motivations and impacts to various stakeholders. The author draws on industry examples to illustrate these concepts and provides many experiential activities through which students can apply these concepts.

Are you reviewing or adopting this book for a course?
Please help us understand your use by filling out this form https://bit.ly/interest_sustainable_property_management.

How to Access the Book
The main landing page for this book is https://doi.org/10.21061/sustainable_property_management. The open textbook is freely available online in multiple formats, including PDF, ePub, and Pressbooks https://pressbooks.lib.vt.edu/sustainablepropertymanagement.
A softcover print version is available for order here.

ISBN
ISBN PDF 978-1-957213-38-5
ISBN Pressbooks 978-1-957213-40-8
ISBN ePub 978-1-957213-39-2
ISBN Print (color) 978-1-957213-37-8 https://www.amazon.com/dp/195721337X.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction to Sustainable Property Management
Chapter 2: The Three Spheres of Sustainable Property Management
Chapter 3: Stakeholder Motivations for Sustainable Property Management Practices
Chapter 4: Sustainable Building Maintenance and Repair Practices
Chapter 5: The Intersection of Sustainable Property Management and Risk Management
Chapter 6: Integrating Sustainable Practices into Marketing and Leasing
Chapter 7: Financial Evaluation of Sustainable Building Initiatives
Chapter 8: Human Health Considerations

Find, Adapt, and Share Resources
Customizable class slides for this book are available at http://hdl.handle.net/10919/113422.

Instructors are encouraged to share their relevant, original, and openly-licensed teaching resources via the Instructor Resource Portal in OER Commons.

About the Author
Erin A. Hopkins, PhD, serves as an Associate Professor of Property Management within the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech, where she teaches courses in property management operations and sustainability in the built environment. She has been awarded Virginia Tech’s Teacher of the Week and has received recognition in Virginia Tech’s “Thank a Teacher” program multiple times. She has twenty-three published journal articles and has served as an associate editor for the textbook Practical Apartment Management (7th ed.), Journal of Green Building, Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education. She also serves on the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) Foundation’s Board of Directors and IREM’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Advisory Council.

Suggested Citation: Hopkins, Erin A. (2023). Sustainable Property Management. Blacksburg: Virginia Tech Department of Apparel, Housing, and Resource Management. https://doi.org/10.21061/sustainable_property_management. Licensed with CC BY NC-SA 4.0.

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Accessibility
Virginia Tech Publishing is committed to making its publications accessible in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The Pressbooks (HTML) and ePub versions of this text are tagged structurally and include alternative text, which allows for machine readability.

Cover Art: Danist Soh via https://unsplash.com/photos/XufAxQTncGY
Illustration and Cover Design: Kindred Grey

A Guide for Teaching and Learning Online

Short Description:
Online instructors need a framework for "teaching beyond text" using rich media as instructional resources. This book defines rich media, its affordances, and its value in conveying information. The book offers a model for pedagogical strategies, a set of instructor competencies, and two models for assessment for use in professional development.

Long Description:
Online instructors need a framework for “teaching beyond text” using rich media as instructional resources. These include multimedia, social media, and cloud-based Web tools. This book defines rich media, its affordances, its value in conveying information, a model for pedagogical strategies, a set of instructor competencies, and two models for assessment for use in professional development.

Word Count: 15257

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Third Edition

Word Count: 196848

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Short Description:
A focus on the organization, development, and refinement of technical communications. Internal and external communications, including letters, memos, reports, and presentations are included.

Long Description:
A focus on the organization, development, and refinement of technical communications. Internal and external communications, including letters, memos, reports, and presentations are included.

Word Count: 100025

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What does it mean to be media literate in today’s world? How are we transformed by the many media infrastructures around us? We are immersed in a world mediated by information and communication technologies (ICTs). From hardware like smartphones, smartwatches, and home assistants to software like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat, our lives have become a complex, interconnected network of relations. Scholarship on media literacy has tended to focus on developing the skills to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media messages without considering or weighing the impact of the technological medium—how it enables and constrains both messages and media users. Additionally, there is often little attention paid to the broader context of interrelations which affect our engagement with media technologies.

This book addresses these issues by providing a transdisciplinary method that allows for both practical and theoretical analyses of media investigations. Informed by postphenomenology, media ecology, philosophical posthumanism, and complexity theory the author proposes both a framework and a pragmatic instrument for understanding the multiplicity of relations that all contribute to how we affect—and are affected by—our relations with media technology. The author argues persuasively that the increased awareness provided by this posthuman approach affords us a greater chance for reclaiming some of our agency and provides a sound foundation upon which we can then judge our media relations. This book will be an indispensable tool for educators in media literacy and media studies, as well as academics in philosophy of technology, media and communication studies, and the post-humanities.

A Reference for Creating Accessible Office Documents

Short Description:
With much of the world gone digital, learning to create documents that are accessible to everyone is becoming a necessary skill. Intended for a general audience, this free resource reviews a wide range of document authoring applications, including the tools they contain for creating accessible documents, and tests them to ensure they do not contain potential barriers. Learn how to create accessible word processed documents, spreadsheets, presentation slides, and PDF documents, among others, so they are accessible to everyone.

Long Description:
With much of the world gone digital, learning to create documents that are accessible to everyone is becoming a necessary skill. Intended for a general audience, this free resource reviews a wide range of document authoring applications, including the tools they contain for creating accessible documents, and tests them to ensure they do not contain potential barriers. Learn how to create accessible word processed documents, spreadsheets, presentation slides, and PDF documents, among others, so they are accessible to everyone.

Word Count: 113386

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This book’s title tells its intent. It is written to help you understand media and culture. The media and culture are so much a part of our days that sometimes it is difficult to step back and appreciate and apprehend their great impact on our lives. The book’s title, and the book itself, begin with a focus squarely on media. Think of your typical day. If you are like many people, you wake to a digital alarm clock or perhaps your cell phone. Soon after waking, you likely have a routine that involves some media. Some people immediately check the cell phone for text messages. Others will turn on the computer and check Facebook, email, or websites. Some people read the newspaper. Others listen to music on an iPod or CD. Some people will turn on the television and watch a weather channel, cable news, or Sports Center. Heading to work or class, you may chat on a cell phone or listen to music. Your classes likely employ various types of media from course management software to PowerPoint presentations to DVDs to YouTube. You may return home and relax with video games, television, movies, more Facebook, or music. You connect with friends on campus and beyond with text messages or Facebook. And your day may end as you fall asleep to digital music. Media for most of us are entwined with almost every aspect of life and work. Understanding media will not only help you appreciate the role of media in your life but also help you be a more informed citizen, a more savvy consumer, and a more successful worker. Media influence all those aspects of life as well.

Understanding Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication was written to squarely emphasize media technology. Jack believes that an introduction to mass communication text should be a compelling, historical narrative sketching the *ongoing evolution* of media technology and how that technology shapes and is shaped by culture — and that is what he set out to deliver with his new textbook.

Today’s students are immersed in media technology. They live in a world of cell phones, smart phones, video games, iPods, laptops, Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare, and more. They fully expect that new technology will be developed tomorrow. Yet students often lack an historical perspective on media technology. They lack knowledge of the social, political and economic forces that shape media technology. This is not knowledge for knowledge’s sake. It is knowledge that can help them understand, comprehend, appreciate, anticipate, shape and control media technology.

With this focus, Understanding Media and Culture becomes an appropriate title. Indeed, the title has particular significance. Marshall McLuhan’s Understanding Media is a key text in media studies. Written in the 1960s, Understanding Media was the subject of intense debates that continue to this day. Its central message was that the technology of media — not their content — was their most important feature. In a typically pithy phrase, McLuhan said, ”The medium is the message.“ The title, Understanding Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication, situates the introductory text in a large, engrossing theoretical conversation.

The goal is to adopt a textbook that will support and complement your teaching of this course. Jack Lule’s, Understanding Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication, will support an engaging and interesting course experience for students that will not only show them the powerful social, political and economic forces will affect the future of media technology, but will challenge students to do their part in shaping that future.

Written in 2006 by Iowa State University librarians Nancy L. Pelzer and William H. Wiese, Veterinary Medical Libraries in the 21st Century provides an in-depth introduction to managing an academic veterinary medical library at the turn of the 21st century, with overviews of selected libraries; discussions of collection development, technical services, and reference services; and a comprehensive list of resources on academic veterinary medical libraries.

Short Description:
‘Visuals for influence: in project management and beyond’ is a practical guide with 24 visuals to download, adapt and deploy to engage your stakeholders. This practical guide will build your confidence and practical skills to quickly and effectively leverage the benefits of visuals to maximise your influence.

Long Description:
‘Visuals for influence: in project management and beyond’ is a practical guide with 24 visuals to download, adapt and deploy to engage your stakeholders. This practical guide will build your confidence and practical skills to quickly and effectively leverage the benefits of visuals to maximise your influence. Uncover the science behind the power in visuals Discover software and tools that make visualisation easy Learn pro design tips that give your visuals a professional edge Download a visual archetype, tailor to your needs, and enhance your influence!

Word Count: 19408

ISBN: 978-0-6487698-6-6

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Whiplash injuries causing whiplash-associated disorder (WAD; spectrum of clinical manifestations resulting from injury) represent a major public health problem. The onset of pain and other symptoms may occur immediately or have a delayed onset. A substantial majority of patients progress to continuing symptoms of pain, inability to function, and loss of work, with or without associated psychological burden of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress syndrome. It is important for a clinician or a health worker to understand the disease from the perspectives of its historical, biomechanical, clinical-therapeutic and bio-psycho-social approaches to effectively manage a patient’s care following a potential injury. In this book, we have summarized that information, organized into different chapters, within the framework of two patients. With this approach, information is easier to understand and directly applicable to clinical practice. We feel that this book acts as a useful resource to medical students and learners, primary care physicians, pain physicians, physiatrists, physical therapists and health providers involved with management of whiplash patients. A conscious attempt has been made to deliver evidence-based information.

Why writing is still crucial in a digital and visual world

Short Description:
Print and electronic communication, social media and even visual messaging all require a core skill: writing. Learn how to write and develop messages in different formats from professionals with expertise in different areas of communication.

Long Description:
Print and electronic communication, social media and even visual messaging all require a core skill: writing. This book is a practical guide to planning and writing strategically, concisely and effectively for many of the communication channels used in the current public relations environment. It connects students to professionals with expertise in different aspects of message creation and highlights the types of writing and other skills needed to be competitive in the current communication job market.

Word Count: 13250

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Short Description:
"Writing Fabulous Features" teaches the art and craft of feature writing to help readers learning to write non-fiction with flair.

Long Description:
“Writing Fabulous Features” teaches the art and craft of feature writing to help readers learning to write non-fiction with flair through examples, expert insights, writing techniques and quick tips.

Word Count: 38534

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Short Description:
Good writing skills are important in today’s competitive work environment. This is especially the case for communication-related professions such as public relations, brand communication, journalism, and marketing.

Long Description:
Good writing skills are important in today’s competitive work environment. This is especially the case for communication-related professions such as public relations, brand communication, journalism, and marketing. Writing for Strategic Communication Industries emphasizes practical application of academic inquiry to help readers improve their writing skills. This book gives readers: Straightforward chapters that use real-world examples to illustrate key points. Discussion of different writing styles and techniques. Examples of communication materials such as press releases, creative briefs, feature articles, and more. Embedded videos of insights from communication professionals. Tips on pitching to the media. A collection of popular sources for further explanation.

Word Count: 20764

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The newly updated edition - based on Quirk's unique Think, Create, Engage, Optimise structure and processes - includes chapters on the latest marketing trends as well as updated facts and figures and all new real-world case studies showing the application of digital best practice.

eMarketing: The Essential Guide to Online Marketing by Rob Stokes, a marketing guru and CEO of Quirk eMarketing, Sarah Blake, and his team of QuirkStars, consolidates 11 years of real marketing experience doing online marketing at Quirk into a full length textbook that draws on both academic theory and practical experience. It is intended for third and fourth year marketing students, this textbook covers all of the important aspects of online marketing, including chapters on each of the following areas:* Search Engine Marketing* Affiliate Marketing* Web Analytics and Conversion Optimisation* Web Development* Online Copywriting* Online Advertising* WebPR* Online Reputation Management* Pay Per Click Advertising* Viral Marketing* Social Media Marketing* Search Engine Optimisation* eMarketing Strategy* Market Research* Mobile Marketing* Crowdsourcing* Customer Relationship ManagementIt also features a glossary and index as well as summaries, learning objectives and discussion points for each chapter. This eMarketing textbook offers students information that is highly applicable with examples to which they can easily relate. It is a must-have guide for each and every undergraduate and post-graduate marketing student as well as anyone working in the digital or traditional marketing sphere.