Open@VT

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

The Open Education Initiative at Virginia Tech is pleased to announce the release of a new open textbook,  Epidemiology.

Epidemiology is a 156-page openly-licensed text by Charlotte Baker DrPH, MPH, CPH designed for medical degree–seeking clinical students without a prior background in public health. Using sports medicine and injury prevention examples and applications, it aims to provide students with the basics of epidemiology terms and concepts and is intended to guide medical school students as they prepare for the USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Examination) Step 1 Exam and to transition from student to clinician. 

• – It includes an introduction to general concepts and terminology of epidemiology, study designs and their relationship to clinical questions, and the use of epidemiology in clinical diagnosis and screening of disease. 
• – Concluding sections of the book present sources of errors in epidemiologic studies, including bias, confounding, and effect modification. 
• – The book is notable for its use of accessible, inclusive figures and examples, and end-of-chapter study guides that summarize the chapter visually.  Continue reading

The Open Education Initiative at Virginia Tech is pleased to announce the release of an openly-licensed, revised first edition of Radio Systems Engineering by Steven W. Ellingson.

Radio Systems Engineering, Revised First Edition https://doi.org/10.21061/radiosystemsengineering-revised1st is lightly updated from the version published in 2016 by Cambridge University Press (ISBN 9781107068285). While Cambridge retains rights to continue to sell and license their print and electronic versions, Cambridge has granted the author enough rights to update and release the book freely under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial International License (CC BY NC 4.0). 

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