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e-book
With “Sustainability: A Comprehensive Foundation”, first and second-year college students are introduced to this expanding new field, comprehensively exploring the essential concepts from every branch of knowledge – including engineering and the applied arts, natural and social sciences, and the humanities. As sustainability is a multi-disciplinary area of study, the text is the product of multiple authors drawn from the diverse faculty of the University of Illinois: each chapter is written by a recognized expert in the field. This text is designed to introduce the reader to the essential concepts of sustainability. This subject is of vital importance seeking as it does to uncover the principles of the long-term welfare of all the peoples of the planet but is only peripherally served by existing college textbooks. The content is intended to be useful for both a broad-based introductory class on sustainability and as a useful supplement to specialist courses which wish to review the sustainability dimensions of their areas of study. By covering a wide range of topics with a uniformity of style, and by including glossaries, review questions, case studies, and links to further resources, the text has sufficient range to perform as the core resource for a semester course. Students who cover the material in the book will be conversant in the language and concepts of sustainability, and will be equipped for further study in sustainable planning, policy, economics, climate, ecology, infrastructure, and more. Furthermore, the modular design allows individual chapters and sections to be easily appropriated without the purchase of a whole new text. This allows educators to easily bring sustainability concepts, references, and case studies into their area of study. This appropriation works particularly well as the text is free downloadable to anyone who wishes to use it. Furthermore, readers are encouraged to work with the text. Provided there is attribution to the source, users can adapt, add to, revise and republish the text to meet their own needs. Because sustainability is a cross-disciplinary field of study, producing this text has required the bringing together over twenty experts from a variety of fields. This enables us to cover all of the foundational components of sustainability: understanding our motivations requires the humanities, measuring the challenges of sustainability requires knowledge of the sciences (both natural and social), and building solutions requires technical insight into systems (such as provided by engineering, planning, and management). Readers accustomed to textbooks that present material in a unitary voice might be surprised to find in this one statements that do not always agree. Here, for example, cautious claims about climate change stand beside sweeping pronouncements predicting future social upheaval engendered by a warming world. And a chapter that includes market-based solutions to environmental problems coexists with others that call for increased government control. Such diversity of thought characterizes many of the fields of inquiry represented in the book; by including it, we invite users to engage in the sort of critical thinking a serious study of sustainability requires. It is our sincerest hope that this work is shared freely and widely, as we all struggle to understand and solve the enormous environmental challenges of our time.
- Keywords:
- Sustainability Textbooks
- Resource Type:
- e-book
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e-book
Business English for Success is a creative solution to a common challenge across Business Communication courses: Business English or Business Presentations? Some classes place an equal emphasis on oral and written communication. If that's the case for you check out our text Business Communication for Success. If, however, your class places the emphasis squarely on written communication and writing proficiency, then Business English for Success is for you. Business English for Success provides instruction in steps, builds writing, reading, and critical thinking, and combines comprehensive grammar review with an introduction to paragraph writing and composition. This step-by-step approach provides a clear path to student-centered learning. A wide range of writing levels and abilities are addressed, helping each student prepare for the next writing or university course. The text opens with a discussion on the sentence and then breaks it down into its elemental components, before reconstructing them into effective sentences, paragraphs, and larger assignments. Then, starting in Chapter 9: Effective Business Writing, the discussion applies lessons learned from the previous foundational chapters into common business issues and applications. From paraphrasing and plagiarism to style to the research process, the expectations increase as several common business documents are presented, including text messages and e-mail, memorandums and letters, the business proposal, business report, resume, and the sales message. This textbook has been used in classes at:Arizona Western College, Hostos Community College, Virginia State University, Truckee Meadows Community College, San Jose State University, Concordia University - Irvine, University New Brunswick - Fredericton, Cerritos College, University of Houston - Downtown, Flat World Knowledge University, A-C Central High School, University of The People, Truckee Meadows Community College, Danville Community High School
- Subjects:
- English Language
- Keywords:
- Business writing English language -- Business English Business communication Textbooks
- Resource Type:
- e-book
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e-book
Recognizing that a course in economics may seem daunting to some students, we have tried to make the writing clear and engaging. Clarity comes in part from the intuitive presentation style, but we have also integrated a number of pedagogical features that we believe make learning economic concepts and principles easier and more fun. These features are very student-focused. The chapters themselves are written using a “modular” format. In particular, chapters generally consist of three main content sections that break down a particular topic into manageable parts. Each content section contains not only an exposition of the material at hand but also learning objectives, summaries, examples, and problems. Each chapter is introduced with a story to motivate the material and each chapter ends with a wrap-up and additional problems. Our goal is to encourage active learning by including many examples and many problems of different types. A tour of the features available for each chapter may give a better sense of what we mean: Start Up—Chapter introductions set the stage for each chapter with an example that we hope will motivate readers to study the material that follows. These essays, on topics such as the value of a college degree in the labor market or how policy makers reacted to a particular economic recession, lend themselves to the type of analysis explained in the chapter. We often refer to these examples later in the text to demonstrate the link between theory and reality. Learning Objectives—These succinct statements are guides to the content of each section. Instructors can use them as a snapshot of the important points of the section. After completing the section, students can return to the learning objectives to check if they have mastered the material.Heads Up!—These notes throughout the text warn of common errors and explain how to avoid making them. After our combined teaching experience of more than fifty years, we have seen the same mistakes made by many students. This feature provides additional clarification and shows students how to navigate possibly treacherous waters. Key Takeaways—These statements review the main points covered in each content section. Key Terms—Defined within the text, students can review them in context, a process that enhances learning. Try It! questions—These problems, which appear at the end of each content section and which are answered completely in the text, give students the opportunity to be active learners. They are designed to give students a clear signal as to whether they understand the material before they go on to the next topic. Cases in Point—These essays included at the end of each content section illustrate the influence of economic forces on real issues and real people. Unlike other texts that use boxed features to present interesting new material or newspaper articles, we have written each case ourselves to integrate them more clearly with the rest of the text. Summary—In a few paragraphs, the information presented in the chapter is pulled together in a way that allows for a quick review of the material.End-of-chapter concept and numerical problems—These are bountiful and are intended to check understanding, to promote discussion of the issues raised in the chapter, and to engage students in critical thinking about the material. Included are not only general review questions to test basic understanding but also examples drawn from the news and from results of economics research. Some have students working with real-world data.
- Subjects:
- Economics
- Keywords:
- Macroeconomics Textbooks
- Resource Type:
- e-book
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e-book
Organizational Behavior bridges the gap between theory and practice with a distinct "experiential" approach. On average, a worker in the USA will change jobs 10 times in 20 years. In order to succeed in this type of career situation, individuals need to be armed with the tools necessary to be life-long learners. To that end, this book is not be about giving students all the answers to every situation they may encounter when they start their first job or as they continue up the career ladder. Instead, this book gives students the vocabulary, framework, and critical thinking skills necessary to diagnose situations, ask tough questions, evaluate the answers received, and to act in an effective and ethical manner regardless of situational characteristics. Often, students taking OB either do not understand how important knowledge of OB can be to their professional careers, or they DO understand and they want to put that knowledge into practice. Organizational Behavior takes a more experiential angle to the material to meet both of those needs. The experiential approach can be incorporated in the classroom primarily through the "OB Toolbox." This feature brings life to the concepts and allows students to not only see how the OB theories unfold, but to practice them, as well.
- Subjects:
- Management
- Keywords:
- Personnel management Textbooks Organizational behavior
- Resource Type:
- e-book
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Others
The Academic Phrasebank is a general resource for academic writers. It aims to provide you with examples of some of the phraseological ‘nuts and bolts’ of writing organised according to the main sections of a research paper or dissertation (see the top menu ). Other phrases are listed under the more general communicative functions of academic writing (see the menu on the left). The resource should be particularly useful for writers who need to report their research work.The phrases, and the headings under which they are listed, can be used simply to assist you in thinking about the content and organisation of your own writing, or the phrases can be incorporated into your writing where this is appropriate. In most cases, a certain amount of creativity and adaptation will be necessary when a phrase is used.The items in the Academic Phrasebank are mostly content neutral and generic in nature; in using them, therefore, you are not stealing other people’s ideas and this does not constitute plagiarism. For some of the entries, specific content words have been included for illustrative purposes, and these should be substituted when the phrases are used.The resource was designed primarily for academic and scientific writers who are non-native speakers of English. However, native speaker writers may still find much of the material helpful. In fact, recent data suggest that the majority of users are native speakers of English.
- Course related:
- ELC6002 Thesis Writing for Research Students
- Subjects:
- English Language
- Keywords:
- Academic writing English language -- Terms phrases
- Resource Type:
- Others
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MOOC
Creating prototypes puts a proposed solution into action. In this course, you will learn the value of prototypes and user testing as critical components of the design thinking process. You will examine case studies to understand the iterative process of prototyping and discover how new products and ideas can emerge as a result. As part of the Design Thinking MicroMasters program, you will study how to analyze and implement the results of user testing to ensure your solution can fully benefit from this inclusive and innovative process. Best practices for evaluating solutions will also be covered, including surveys, user evaluations, focus groups and interviews.
- Subjects:
- Design Elements
- Keywords:
- Design -- Methodology Industrial design
- Resource Type:
- MOOC
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Others
Evaluate and improve your learning experiences for free.
- Keywords:
- Effective teaching Motivation in education Educational evaluation Learning
- Resource Type:
- Others
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Courseware
The BIIG problem-solving method is unique in that it forces us to concentrate on decoding a real-world word problem completely into meaningful parts and aids us in finding and applying the right formula to easily arrive at the correct solution. As desired, it places less emphasis on the memorization of factual detail and more emphasis on the understanding of concepts. Evidently, this method is beneficial in many ways as it aids students in honing skills in critical thinking, logical approach and attention to detail. As a method for organizing information it helps students avoid errors and sets them on a path to succeed. As long as the numbers are “buddied up” with their units, “identified” by the appropriate variables, “isolated” within the context, and the answer is presented “gourmet”, or explained in terms of the original question, finding a solution to any complex problem will become seamless, understandable and enjoyable. This innovation in science education fosters a passion for learning and serves as a foundation for a new paradigm for problem-solving in any discipline of science worldwide.
- Subjects:
- Physics
- Keywords:
- Problem solving Physics
- Resource Type:
- Courseware
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Video
When they’re used well, graphs can help us intuitively grasp complex data. But as visual software has enabled more usage of graphs throughout all media, it has also made them easier to use in a careless or dishonest way — and as it turns out, there are plenty of ways graphs can mislead and outright manipulate. Lea Gaslowitz shares some things to look out for.
- Keywords:
- Critical thinking Media literacy Information visualization Charts diagrams etc.
- Resource Type:
- Video
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Others
Apart from subject domain knowledge, there are some personal competencies and skills that learner may want to develop in university. The personal competencies and skills include, critical thinking, evaluating definitions, evaluating arguments, evaluating news & media, evaluating scientific studies, evaluating disagreement, and evaluating statistics & graphs.
- Keywords:
- Critical thinking Media literacy Journalism -- Social aspects Information literacy Press criticism
- Resource Type:
- Others