Open@VT

The Open Education Initiative at Virginia Tech is pleased to announce the release of Significant Statistics: An Introduction to Statistics (2025), adapted by J. Morgan Russell.

Significant Statistics is a peer-reviewed open textbook  intended for a one-semester introduction to statistics course for students who are not mathematics or engineering majors. It focuses on the interpretation of statistical results, especially in real world settings, and assumes that students have an understanding of intermediate algebra.

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The Open Education Initiative at Virginia Tech is pleased to announce the release of Microbiology, Pharmacology, and Immunology for Pre-Clinical Students (2025), adapted by Jennifer L. Cleveland; Andrew P. Binks; and Renée J. LeClair.

Microbiology, Pharmacology, and Immunology for Pre-Clinical Students is a peer-reviewed open textbook designed to fill a gap in undergraduate medical education (UME) and support medical school pre-clerkship education. It covers the areas of immunology, microbiology, systems-based infections, and global mechanisms of treatment. It is aligned to USMLE® (United States Medical Licensing Examination) and modified from OpenStax Microbiology.

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The Open Education Initiative at Virginia Tech is pleased to announce the release of open textbook Introduction to Earth Science, Second Edition (2025), adapted by Laura Neser, Ph.D.

Introduction to Earth Science, Second Edition is an 548-page open textbook designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to Earth Science that can be freely accessed online, read offline, printed, or purchased as a print-on-demand book. It is intended for a typical university-level introductory course in the Geosciences, although its contents could be applied to many other related courses.

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The Open Education Initiative at Virginia Tech is pleased to announce the republication of Methods of Teaching Agriculture, third edition by L. H. Newcomb; J. David McCracken; J. Robert Warmbrod; and M. Susie Whittington.

NOTE: This text was originally published by Pearson Prentice Hall in 2004 (ISBN 0131134183). Rights to the book have been reverted to the authors. The book was reformatted and republished in its entirety in 2025 and released as an open textbook under a CC BY NC 4.0 license.

Methods of Teaching Agriculture, third edition is a 406-page methods-of-teaching book. Providing a clear and concise framework for teaching and problem solving in agricultural education, Methods of Teaching Agriculture, third edition is a necessary text for any teaching methods course. It includes a comprehensive examination of theory and research in guiding principles for how students learn best. Numerous illustrations and graphs clarify all concepts discussed within the text.

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Resources for Formal and Non-Formal Middle School Educators

The  Virginia Tech Center for Advanced Innovation in Agriculture (CAIA)  is pleased to announce the release of The Agricultural Cyberbiosecurity Education Resource Collection intended for middle-school level educators in formal and non-formal educational settings. 

Cyberbiosecurity is an emerging field that focuses on creating security measures for digital aspects of our food and agriculture systems, creating a structure and opportunity for a safe food system that can meet the large needs of a growing population and world. 

This collection of 30 documents includes customizable resources designed for formal and non-formal agricultural educators working with middle school aged youth.  Three types of materials are included in the collection: 

• – Reference materials for facilitators to introduce key concepts
• – Youth-facing fact sheets present these concepts at a 6th grade level 
• – Hands-on activities integrate agriculture and cyberbiosecurity concepts Continue reading