Information Systems: A Manager’s Guide to Harnessing Technology is intended for use in undergraduate and/or graduate courses in Management Information Systems and Information Technology. For questions about this textbook please contact textbookuse@umn.edu

Information Systems: A Manager’s Guide to Harnessing Technology V1.2 is intended for use in undergraduate and/or graduate courses in Management Information Systems and Information Technology.Version 1.2 of John's book retains the same structure and theory of version 1.1, but refreshes key statistics, examples, and brings case material up to date (vital when covering firms that move as fast as Facebook, Google, and Netflix). Adopting version 1.2 guarantees your students will have the most current text on the market, drawing real and applicable lessons from material that will keep your class offerings current and accessible.One of BusinessWeek’s "Professors of the Year", John Gallaugher of Boston College, brings you a brand new Management Information Systems textbook that teaches students how he or she will experience IS from a Managers perspective first hand through interesting coverage and bleeding-edge cases.Get involved with John's community by visiting and subscribing to his blog, The Week In Geek, where courseware, technology and strategy intersect and joining his Ning IT Community site where you can get more resources to teach Information Systems.Shockingly, at a time when technology regularly appears on the cover of every major business publication, students find IS among the least appealing of management disciplines.The teaching approach in Information Systems: A Manager’s Guide to Harnessing Technology V 1.2 can change this. The text offers a proven approach that has garnered student praise, increased IS enrollment, and engaged students to think deeper and more practically about the space where business and technology meet. Every topic is related to specific business examples, so students gain an immediate appreciation of its importance. Rather than lead with technical topics, the book starts with strategic thinking, focusing on big-picture issues that have confounded experts but will engage students. And while chapters introduce concepts, cases on approachable, exciting firms across industries further challenge students to apply what they've learned, asking questions like:Why was NetFlix able to repel Blockbuster and WalMart? How did Harrah's Casino's become twice as profitable as comparably-sized Caesar's, enabling the former to acquire the latter? How does Spain's fashion giant Zara, a firm that shuns the sort of offshore manufacturing used by every other popular clothing chain, offer cheap fashions that fly off the shelves, all while achieving growth rates and profit margins that put Gap to shame? Why do technology markets often evolve into winner-take-all or winner take-most scenarios? And how can managers compete when these dynamics are present? Why is Google more profitable than Disney? How much is Facebook really worthThe Information Systems course and discipline have never seemed more relevant, more interesting, and more exciting. Gallaugher's textbook can help teachers make students understand why.

Welcome to composition and rhetoric! While most of you are taking this course because it is required, we hope that all of you will leave with more confidence in your reading, writing, researching, and speaking abilities as these are all elements of freshman composition.

This book is about teachers who care about students’ learning and are motivated to take risks and actively reflect on how to best facilitate that learning. What is most resonant for me after reading “Innovative Learning and Teaching” is how important relationships and communities are to effective higher education.

This textbook introduces readers to the idea of cooperation and mutualism. Cooperatives and mutuals are participatory organizations in which members participate in control and governance, receive economic benefits through patronage refunds or net income, and become owners through equity. These mutual-benefit organizations exist alongside non-profit organizations and investor-benefit organizations through the global economy.

Short Description:
Why do affluent, liberal, and design-rich cities like Minneapolis have some of the biggest racial disparities in the country? How can designers help to create more equitable communities? Introduction to Design Equity, an open access book for students and professionals, maps design processes and products against equity research to highlight the pitfalls and potentials of design as a tool for building social justice. NewParaUsing the book in a class or in your work with communities? Let us know by filling out this brief form!

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When you teach Introduction to Psychology, do you find it difficult – much harder than teaching classes in statistics or research methods? Do you easily give a lecture on the sympathetic nervous system, a lecture on Piaget, and a lecture on social cognition, but struggle with linking these topics together for the student? Do you feel like you are presenting a laundry list of research findings rather than an integrated set of principles and knowledge? Have you wondered how to ensure your course is relevant to your students? If so, then you have something in common with Charles Stangor.Charles Stangor's Introduction to Psychology utilizes the dual theme of behavior and empiricism to make psychology relevant to intro students.Charles wrote this book to help students organize their thinking about psychology at a conceptual level. Five or ten years from now, he does not expect his students to remember the details of most of what he teaches them. However, he does hope that they will remember that psychology matters because it helps us understand behavior and that our knowledge of psychology is based on empirical study.This book is designed to facilitate these learning outcomes, and he has used three techniques to help focus students on behavior:Chapter Openers: Each chapter opens showcasing an interesting real world example of people who dealing with behavioral questions and who can use psychology to help them answer them. The opener is designed to draw the student into the chapter and create an interesting in learning about the topic.Psychology in Everyday Life: Each chapter contains one or two features designed to link the principles from the chapter to real-world applications in business, environment, health, law, learning, and other relevant domains. For instance, the application in Chapter 7 on Development, “What makes good parents” applies the concepts of parenting styles in a mini-handbook about parenting, and the application in Chapter 3 is about the difficulties that left-handed people face performing everyday tasks in a right-handed world.Research Foci: Introduction to Psychology emphasizes empiricism throughout, but without making it a distraction from the main story line. Each chapter presents two close-ups on research -- well articulated and specific examples of research within the content area, each including a summary of the hypotheses, methods, results, and interpretations. This feature provides a continuous thread that reminds students of the importance of empirical research. The research foci also emphasize the fact that findings are not always predictable ahead of time (dispelling the myth of hindsight bias), and also help students understand how research really works.Charles Stangor's focus on behavior and empiricism has produced, Introduction to Psychology, a text that is better organized, has fewer chapters, and is somewhat shorter than many of the leading books.

When you teach Introduction to Psychology, do you find it difficult — much harder than teaching classes in statistics or research methods? Do you easily give a lecture on the sympathetic nervous system, a lecture on Piaget, and a lecture on social cognition, but struggle with linking these topics together for the student? Do you feel like you are presenting a laundry list of research findings rather than an integrated set of principles and knowledge? Have you wondered how to ensure your course is relevant to your students? Introduction to Psychology utilizes the dual theme of behavior and empiricism to make psychology relevant to intro students. The author wrote this book to help students organize their thinking about psychology at a conceptual level. Five or ten years from now, he does not expect his students to remember the details of most of what he teaches them. However, he does hope that they will remember that psychology matters because it helps us understand behavior and that our knowledge of psychology is based on empirical study.

This is a derivative of INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY by a publisher who has requested that they and the original author not receive attribution, which was originally released and is used under CC BY-NC-SA. This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Long Description:
This book was created by the students of PSY 3031: Sensation and Perception, as a class project, because there is no existing open-source textbook for S&P. Content is, for the most part, re-used and re-mixed from existing open-source materials from Psychology and Anatomy textbooks. We needed to do this project because we need a resource that goes into greater depth than the Sensation and Perception sections of introductory psychology textbooks. We also wanted to create a resource with a stronger neuroscience foundation than your average psychology textbook, with strong links between physiology and perception. The final product will always be a work in progress, but hopefully a useful collection of materials to support college-level courses that want to understand how human physiology supports human perceptual experiences.

The course has two over-arching themes or guiding principles, both of which rest on the basic understanding that perception is an interpretive act, which means that our perceptions are sometimes only loosely based on our sensory experiences: Our brains shape our environment: there are many things that we simply do not perceive because we are not prepared to perceive them. Our environments shape our brains: color categories and phonetic boundaries are just two examples of how our conscious access to sensory information is limited by the culture we grew up in.

Word Count: 63330

ISBN: 978-1-946135-80-3

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Long Description:
This book was created by the students of PSY 3031: Sensation and Perception, as a class project, because there is no existing open-source textbook for S&P. Content is, for the most part, re-used and re-mixed from existing open-source materials from Psychology and Anatomy textbooks. We needed to do this project because we need a resource that goes into greater depth than the Sensation and Perception sections of introductory psychology textbooks. We also wanted to create a resource with a stronger neuroscience foundation than your average psychology textbook, with strong links between physiology and perception. The final product will always be a work in progress, but hopefully a useful collection of materials to support college-level courses that want to understand how human physiology supports human perceptual experiences.

The course has two over-arching themes or guiding principles, both of which rest on the basic understanding that perception is an interpretive act, which means that our perceptions are sometimes only loosely based on our sensory experiences: Our brains shape our environment: there are many things that we simply do not perceive because we are not prepared to perceive them. Our environments shape our brains: color categories and phonetic boundaries are just two examples of how our conscious access to sensory information is limited by the culture we grew up in.

Word Count: 63080

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Short Description:
The founders of sociology in the United States wanted to make a difference. A central aim of the sociologists of the Chicago school was to use sociological knowledge to achieve social reform. A related aim of sociologists like Jane Addams, W.E.B. DuBois, and Ida B. Wells-Barnett and others since was to use sociological knowledge to understand and alleviate gender, racial, and class inequality. NewPara https://doi.org/10.24926/8668.2401 ISBN: 978-1-946135-24-7

Long Description:
Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World is adapted from a work produced by a publisher who has requested that they and the original author not receive attribution. This adapted edition is produced by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing through the eLearning Support Initiative. Though the publisher has requested that they and the original author not receive attribution, this adapted edition reproduces all original text and sections of the book, except for publisher and author name attribution.

The founders of sociology in the United States wanted to make a difference. A central aim of the sociologists of the Chicago school was to use sociological knowledge to achieve social reform. A related aim of sociologists like Jane Addams, W.E.B. DuBois, and Ida B. Wells-Barnett and others since was to use sociological knowledge to understand and alleviate gender, racial, and class inequality.

It is no accident that many sociology instructors and students are first drawn to sociology because they want to learn a body of knowledge that could help them make a difference in the world at large. Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World is designed for this audience. It presents a sociological understanding of society but also a sociological perspective on how to change society, while maintaining the structure and contents of the best mainstream texts.

Several pedagogical features of the book convey the sociological perspective and change theme:

Almost every chapter begins with a Social Issues in the News story from recent media coverage that recounts an event related to the chapter’s topic and proceeds with thought-provoking discussion about the social issue related to the event. Additional discussion elsewhere in the chapter helps students understand the basis for this issue and related issues. This dual treatment of the news story will help students appreciate the relevance of sociology for newsworthy events and issues.

Three types of boxes in almost every chapter reflect the U.S. founders’ emphasis on sociology and social justice. The first box, Sociology Making a Difference, discusses a social issue related to the chapter’s topic and shows how sociological insights and findings have been used, or could be used, to address the issue and achieve social reform. The second box, Learning from Other Societies, discusses the experience in another nation(s) regarding a social issue related to the chapter; this box helps students appreciate what has worked and not worked in other nations regarding the issue and thus better understand how social reform might be achieved in the United States. The third box, What Sociology Suggests, summarizes social policies grounded in sociological theory and research that hold strong potential for addressing issues discussed in the chapter.

In addition, many chapters contain tables called Theory Snapshots. These tables provide a quick reference tool for students to understand the varying theoretical approaches to the sociological topic that the chapter is discussing.

Finally, almost every chapter ends with a Using Sociology vignette that presents a hypothetical scenario concerning an issue or topic from the chapter and asks students to use the chapter’s material in a decision-making role involving social change. These vignettes help students connect the chapter’s discussion with real-life situations and, in turn, to better appreciate the relevance of sociological knowledge for social reform.

Drawing on these features and other discussion throughout the book, a brief and unique final chapter, ”Conclusion: Understanding and Changing the Social World,“ sums up what students have learned about society and themselves and reviews the relevance of sociology for achieving social change.

Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World makes sociology relevant for today’s students by balancing traditional coverage with a fresh approach that ironically takes them back to sociology’s American roots in the use of sociological knowledge for social reform.

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ISBN: 978-1-946135-24-7

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This textbook includes basic principles of large animal surgery and anesthesia, how to apply those principles to cases and situations, and discover ways of finding answers when you don’t remember the information, are presented with cases that aren’t “textbook” and/or things don’t go as planned.

Learn about learning analytics tools, resources, processes, and workflows currently available at the University of Minnesota.

Freedom of religion or belief is an increasingly relevant topic in human society. Lifting the Spirit: Human Rights and Freedom of Religion or Belief provides comprehensive and thought-provoking lessons about the human right to freedom of religion or belief without surveying world religions or endorsing any particular belief. Lifting the Spirit relates the worship, observances, practices, and teachings of all religions and beliefs to fundamental human rights principles. It provides background information, ideas for taking action, and interactive exercises to help people learn about the freedom of religion or belief: a right that is guaranteed in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Designed for use in secondary classrooms, religious institutions, and youth advocacy organizations around the world, both the content and organization of Lifting the Spirit aim to be adaptable to many different national and cultural settings.

This book is about how to read, use, and create maps. Our exploration of maps will be informed by a contextual understanding of how maps reflect the relationship between society and technology, and how mapping is an essential form of scientific and artistic inquiry. We will also explore how mapping is used to address a variety of societal issues, such as land use planning and political gerrymandering. You will gain insight into the technical underpinnings of mapping as a science approach, complement on-going interest and activities, or provide an applied focus for research or policy.

Teaching the strategic management course can be a challenge for many professors. In most business schools, strategic management is a ŇcapstoneÓ course that requires students to draw on insights from various functional courses they have completed (such as marketing, finance, and accounting) in order to understand how top executives make the strategic decisions that drive whether organizations succeed or fail. Although students have taken these functional courses, many students have very little experience with major organizational choices. It is this inexperience that can undermine many studentsŐ engagement in the course.

Mastering Strategic Management is adapted from a work produced by a publisher who has requested that they and the original author not receive attribution. This adapted edition is produced by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing through the eLearning Support Initiative. For questions about this textbook please contact textbookuse@umn.edu

Short Description:
This handbook was created to fill the need for a concise introduction to medical device innovation for those who are starting out, including students. Some of the material is based on innovation workshops held in Minneapolis and Tel Aviv, other material comes from the expertise of the contributing authors and still other material comes from the editors' experiences teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in medical device development. We thank all of the authors who have contributed material to this book. The book was developed with the support of the University of Minnesota Institute for Engineering in Medicine (IEM) and the Earl E. Bakken Medical Devices Center, part of IEM.

Word Count: 44515

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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.

Flat World Knowledge is thrilled to publish a first edition re-launch of Tim Tregarthen’s acclaimed Principles of Economics book, and proud to bring Tim's remarkable talents as a teacher to future generations of students.In 1996, Tim published the first edition of his principles of economics textbook to great acclaim, and it became widely used in colleges around the country. That same year, MS made him wheelchair-bound. The disease forced his retirement from teaching at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs in 1998. He lost the use of his arms in 2001 and has been quadriplegic ever since.Tim never let his disease get him down. In fact, he turned back to his love of writing and teaching for inspiration. He obtained a voice-activated computer, recruited a co-author, Libby Rittenberg of Colorado College, and turned his attention to revising his principles of economics book.Today we are excited to introduce Libby Rittenberg and Timothy Tregarthen’s Principles of Economics. The authors teach economics as the study of “choice “ by providing students with an accessible, straightforward overview of economics. This text combines the clarity and writing of Tregarthen's seminal periodical "The Margin" with great teaching insights.Rittenberg and Tregarthen help students to understand how real individuals actually work with economics. In this new book, the authors illustrate the practicality and relevance of economics with a variety of new illustrations and insights.The authors take a three-pronged approach to every concept: (1) the concept is covered with a “Heads Up” to ward off confusion, (2) a “You Try It” section makes sure students are staying on top of the concept and (3) a “Case and Point” section that uses a real-world application to harness the concept in reality. For one example of how this plays out in the text see "Chapter 3, Section 2 on Supply." hereThis book is intended for a two-semester course in economics taught out of the social sciences or business school.