IUPAC International Chemical Identifier (InChI)-related education and training materials through InChI Open Education Resource (OER).

The IUPAC International Chemical Identifier (InChI) is a structure-based chemical identifier that encodes various aspects of a chemical structure into a hierarchically layered line notation. Because InChI is non-proprietary, open-source, and freely available to everyone, it is adopted in popular chemical information resources and software programs. This paper describes the InChI Open Education Resource (OER) (https://www.inchi-trust.org/oer/), designed to provide educators and other interested parties with resources, training material, and information related to InChI. Currently, the OER contains over 100 materials collected from various sources and provides users with search, filtering, and sorting functionalities to locate specific records. New relevant materials can be suggested by anyone, allowing the scientific community to share and find InChI-related resources. This paper will show how to use the InChI OER tag taxonomy to filter content and demonstrate two resources within the InChI OER; the ChemNames2LCSS Google Sheet and the InChILayersExplorer, an Excel spreadsheet that breaks an InChI into its layers. While the InChI OER is of value to a broader chemistry community, this paper seeks to reach out to chemical educators and provide them with an understanding of InChI and its role in the practice of science.

Predicting open education competency level: A machine learning approach.

This article aims to study open education competency data through machine learning models to determine whether models can be built on decision rules using the features from the students' perceptions and classify them by the level of competency. Data was collected from a convenience sample of 326 students from 26 countries using the eOpen instrument. Based on a quantitative research approach, we analyzed the eOpen data using two machine learning models considering these findings: 1) derivation of decision rules from students' perceptions of knowledge, skills, and attitudes or values related to open education to predict their competence level using Decision Trees and Random Forests models, 2) analysis of the prediction errors in the machine learning models to find bias, and 3) description of decision trees from the machine learning models to understand the choices that both models made to predict the competency levels. The results confirmed our hypothesis that the students' perceptions of their knowledge, skills, and attitudes or values related to open education and its sub-competencies produced satisfactory data for building machine learning models to predict the participants' competency levels.

Adaptation, implementation, and evaluation of an online health sciences training program for brief smoking intervention: A pre-post study in four European countries.

BACKGROUND: Tobacco cessation intervention has a positive impact on quality of care. For health professionals, limited competency in this area may be associated with poor training during their academic programs. There is a clear need to further develop and implement training programs to improve tobacco cessation knowledge, skills, and attitudes among healthcare students. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the innovative online training program "Brief Intervention in Smoking Cessation" for healthcare students to improve their knowledge, skills, and attitudes. DESIGN: A pre-post evaluation study with a satisfaction assessment tool was used. SETTING: Seven universities from four European countries, including Belgium, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom, participated. PARTICIPANTS: One thousand and seventy-two (1072) undergraduate students participated, with 851 completing the online program. METHODS: All participants completed the "Brief Intervention in Smoking Cessation" online program, which consisted of five theoretical modules, five videos, and three virtual simulation cases between January 2020 and June 2022. Knowledge was assessed by a multiple-choice test, and practical skills were assessed by a simulation algorithm, both of which were developed by education and smoking cessation experts. Competency was achieved when students successfully completed both assessments. Satisfaction was measured using an ad hoc 16-item questionnaire. Pre-post changes in knowledge were assessed using a paired Student's t-test. RESULTS: Eighty-six percent of the students achieved smoking cessation competency. Students significantly improved their knowledge score on a scale of 0 to 10 points, with a mean pre-program score of 3.79 vs a mean post-program score of 7.33 ([-3.7 - -3.4] p < 0.001), acquiring sufficient attitudes and skills (simulation mean of 7.4 out of 10 points). Students were highly satisfied with the program (8.2 out of 10) and recommended it to other students (8.4 out of 10). CONCLUSIONS: The "Brief Intervention in Smoking Cessation" online training program is effective for the acquisition of smoking cessation competencies among European health profession students.

Collaborative parasitology: student partnerships in open education.

Student-faculty partnerships can drive innovation in parasitology education and outreach. We provide recommendations for building successful partnerships during the design, implementation, and impact assessment stages. We also introduce a new series of freely available educational and community outreach materials available on a platform that the parasitology community can contribute to.

An idea to explore: How an interdisciplinary undergraduate course exploring a global health challenge in molecular detail enabled science communication and collaboration in diverse audiences.

Communication and collaboration are key science competencies that support sharing of scientific knowledge with experts and non-experts alike. On the one hand, they facilitate interdisciplinary conversations between students, educators, and researchers, while on the other they improve public awareness, enable informed choices, and impact policy decisions. Herein, we describe an interdisciplinary undergraduate course focused on using data from various bioinformatics data resources to explore the molecular underpinnings of diabetes mellitus (Types 1 and 2) and introducing students to science communication. Building on course materials and original student-generated artifacts, a series of collaborative activities engaged students, educators, researchers, healthcare professionals and community members in exploring, learning about, and discussing the molecular bases of diabetes. These collaborations generated novel educational materials and approaches to learning and presenting complex ideas about major global health challenges in formats accessible to diverse audiences.

Online Interactive Pedagogical Tools for the Principles of Microeconomics Curriculum.

We discuss over one hundred interactive learning tools that we created and piloted in introductory open-education (OER) microeconomics classes. These interactive tools cover a wide range of microeconomics topics. They are highly randomized so that the presented scenario and correct answers are different on each usage of a tool, which not only provides students with unlimited practice attempts, but also significantly reduces the possibility of cheating by sharing answers. These tools can be uploaded into most learning management systems, and scores are automatically recorded. Student feedback is positive. The tools are available to others at no monetary cost at http://econreimagined.gsu.edu.

Applicability of open science practices to completed research projects from different disciplines and research paradigms.

The purpose of this data collection was to uncover the extent to which communities have emerged that cultivate a shared understanding of open science. In a cross-sectional survey, we assessed the applicability of 13 open science practices over different disciplines and research paradigms. Focusing on completed research projects, participants were able to draw informed evaluations concerning the applicability of open science practices. The total sample is N=295 researchers, with approximately equal numbers from six broad disciplines (between 42 and 52 participants per discipline). The survey included an attention check.

Current Status of Radiology Education Online: a Comprehensive Update.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate various online resources available for radiology education. An online search was conducted using PubMed (National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD) and Google Scholar for publications discussing the applications of online learning in radiology. The search strategy employed a combination of the following terms: radiology, web-based conferencing, radiology education seminars, radiology education online, radiology education programs, online lectures, radiology residency, radiology degree, Radiology-Integrated Training Initiative (R-ITI) e-learning platform, UTAUT, Moodle, active image-based learning, Video conference platforms (VCPs), education, undergraduate, medical students, teaching, virtual learning, blended learning, e-learning, COVID-19, pandemic, OER, open education resources, online learning, course assets, accessibility, 5G Internet, game-based learning, radiology competition, and virtual world. The literature published was reviewed and consolidated. Data from the literature shows that radiology education online and radiology education seminars are undergoing a revolution due to advancements in computers, online software, and 5G Internet speed. The pace of this development has accelerated even further due to the COVID-19 pandemic and thus forced distance online education. Various technologies are available and are being implemented by residency programs across the world to improve radiology education, making it more interactive and safer in this pandemic. Online learning has become an integral part of education in radiology, with new facets being added to it.

Catch the Open! A Gamified Interactive Immersion Into Open Educational Practices for Higher Education Educators.

Open Education (OE) opens up learning opportunities to, potentially, every person in the world. Additionally, it allows teachers, researchers, and practitioners to find, share, reuse, and improve existing resources under a dependable legal framework. Aiming to spread and foster the introduction of open policies in Higher Education (HE) institutions, the gamified interactive learning experience Catch the Open! was developed. Catch the Open! targets HE educators who wish to learn, or who wish to deepen their existing knowledge, about OE and Open Educational Practices (OEP). Within the gamified learning experience, the user becomes an educator, Alex, the game character, who receives a task from the Rector: to investigate how to best include OE and OEP in teaching and learning practice within the institution. Alex proceeds to explore and gather information in a web-based 2D virtual HE institution where students, colleagues, and guest researchers will help her to develop a comprehensive understanding of OE and the practical application of OEP. The educational content within Catch the Open! is underpinned by an OE competences framework for HE educators, developed in a previous phase of the Erasmus+ OpenGame project. In this paper, the design process to link pedagogical and technological approaches, which results in the Catch the Open! gamified web-based interactive application, is presented as well as the application itself. Moreover, two phases of piloting with 153 HE educators from six different HE institutions are presented. The obtained findings showed that the gamified environment helped in learning about OE. On the other hand, learners also suggested several improvement aspects of the gamified environment, such as the length of finishing a learning mission while playing.

Self-directed Science Learning During COVID-19 and Beyond.

Prompted by the sudden shift to remote instruction in March 2020 brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers explored online resources to support their students learning from home. We report on how twelve teachers identified and creatively leveraged open educational resources (OERs) and practices to facilitate self-directed science learning. Based on interviews and logged data, we illustrate how teachers' use of OER starkly differed from the typical uses of technology for transmitting information or increasing productivity. These experiences provide insights into ways teachers and professional developers can take advantage of OER to promote self-directed learning when in-person instruction resumes.

Closing the knowledge-action gap in conservation with open science.

The knowledge-action gap in conservation science and practice occurs when research outputs do not result in actions to protect or restore biodiversity. Among the diverse and complex reasons for this gap, three barriers are fundamental: knowledge is often unavailable to practitioners and challenging to interpret or difficult to use or both. Problems of availability, interpretability, and useability are solvable with open science practices. We considered the benefits and challenges of three open science practices for use by conservation scientists and practitioners. First, open access publishing makes the scientific literature available to all. Second, open materials (detailed methods, data, code, and software) increase the transparency and use of research findings. Third, open education resources allow conservation scientists and practitioners to acquire the skills needed to use research outputs. The long-term adoption of open science practices would help researchers and practitioners achieve conservation goals more quickly and efficiently and reduce inequities in information sharing. However, short-term costs for individual researchers (insufficient institutional incentives to engage in open science and knowledge mobilization) remain a challenge. We caution against a passive approach to sharing that simply involves making information available. We advocate a proactive stance toward transparency, communication, collaboration, and capacity building that involves seeking out and engaging with potential users to maximize the environmental and societal impact of conservation science.

Cierre de la Brecha entre el Conocimiento y la Acción en la Conservación con Ciencia Abierta 21-311 Resumen La brecha entre el conocimiento y la acción en las ciencias de la conservación y en su práctica ocurre cuando los resultados de las investigaciones no derivan en acciones para proteger o restaurar la biodiversidad. Entre las razones complejas y diversas de esta brecha, existen tres barreras que son fundamentales: con frecuencia el conocimiento no está disponible para los practicantes, es difícil de interpretar o difícil de usar, o ambas. Los problemas con la disponibilidad, interpretabilidad y utilidad son solucionables mediante las prácticas de ciencia abierta. Consideramos los beneficios y los obstáculos de tres prácticas de ciencia abierta para su uso por parte de los científicos y practicantes de la conservación. Primero, las publicaciones de acceso abierto hacen que la literatura científica esté disponible para todos. Segundo, los materiales abiertos (métodos detallados, datos, códigos y software) incrementan la transparencia y el uso de los hallazgos de las investigaciones. Tercero, los recursos educativos abiertos permiten que los científicos y practicantes de la conservación adquieran las habilidades necesarias para utilizar los productos de las investigaciones. La adopción a largo plazo de las prácticas de ciencia abierta ayudaría a los investigadores y a los practicantes a lograr los objetivos de conservación mucho más rápido y de manera eficiente y a reducir las desigualdades que existen en la divulgación de información. Sin embargo, los costos a corto plazo para los investigadores individuales (incentivos institucionales insuficientes para participar en la ciencia abierta y en la movilización del conocimiento) todavía son un reto. Advertimos sobre las estrategias pasivas de divulgación que simplemente hacen que la información esté disponible. Abogamos por una postura proactiva hacia la transparencia, la comunicación, la colaboración y la construcción de las capacidades que incluyen la búsqueda de y la interacción con los usuarios potenciales para maximizar el impacto ambiental y social de las ciencias de la conservación.

Teaching Neuroscience: Reviving Neuroanatomy, Notes on the 2022 Society for Neuroscience Professional Development Workshop on Teaching.

Students often find neuroanatomy a daunting exercise of rote memorization in a dead language. This workshop was designed to enliven the teaching of neuroanatomy. We recast the topic by extending it to the cellular and sub-cellular levels, animating it by learning to build a brain, and infusing the topic with the lively arts. Due to COVID's interference with the usual schedule of Society for Neuroscience (SfN) events, the 2021 Professional Development Workshop on Teaching was held as a webinar on April 12, 2022 with a follow-up question and answer session on June 7. In this workshop, not only were innovative teaching methods presented, but also the very definition of neuroanatomy was pushed to the limits-even reaching into the molecular and subcellular level. The presenters provided means of engaging students that were no cost, low cost, or well within the reach of most academic institutions. Judging by the attendance, this webinar was quite successful in its goals. Our speakers presented exciting and varied approaches to teaching neuroanatomy. Kaitlyn Casimo presented how the vast resources of the Allen Institute could be employed. Marc Nahmani described how open data resources could be utilized in creating a Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) on neural microanatomy. Erika Fanselow presented novel ways to overcome one of students' big hurdles in grasping neuroanatomy: understanding 3-D relationships. Len White described a creative approach in teaching neuroanatomy by incorporating the humanities, particularly art and literature. This article presents synopses of the presentations, which are written by the four presenters. Additionally, prompted by questions from the viewers, we have constructed a table of our favorite resources. A video of the original presentations as well as links to the subsequent Q & A sessions is available at https://neuronline.sfn.org/training/teaching-neuroscience-reviving-neuroanatomy/.

Building capacity through open approaches: Lessons from developing undergraduate electrophysiology practicals.

Background: Electrophysiology has a wide range of biomedical research and clinical applications. As such, education in the theoretical basis and hands-on practice of electrophysiological techniques is essential for biomedical students, including at the undergraduate level. However, offering hands-on learning experiences is particularly difficult in environments with limited resources and infrastructure. Methods: In 2017, we began a project to design and incorporate electrophysiology laboratory practicals into our Biomedical Physics undergraduate curriculum at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. We describe some of the challenges we faced, how we maximized resources to overcome some of these challenges, and in particular, how we used open scholarship approaches to build both educational and research capacity. Results: We succeeded in developing a number of experimental and data analysis practicals in electrophysiology, including electrocardiogram, electromyogram, and electrooculogram techniques. The use of open tools, open platforms, and open licenses was key to the success and broader impact of our project. We share examples of our practicals and explain how we use these activities to strengthen interdisciplinary learning, namely the application of concepts in physics to understanding functions of the human body. Conclusions: Open scholarship provides multiple opportunities for universities to build capacity. Our goal is to provide ideas, materials, and strategies for educators working in similar resource-limited environments.

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) no ensino superior de estudantes da saúde: revisão sistemática de efetividade / Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in higher education of health students: systematic review of effectiveness

Resumo: Trata-se de uma revisão sistemática de efetividade (RSE), sobre a efetividade do Massive open online course (MOOC) no ensino superior de estudantes da saúde humana. É um método sistemático e relevante para sumarizar evidências sobre uma intervenção. A seguinte questão de pesquisa foi elaborada: Qual é a efetividade do MOOC no ensino e aprendizagem, comparado com quaisquer outras estratégias de ensino, em estudantes do ensino superior na área da saúde? O acrônimo PICO foi utilizado, onde: P: estudantes do ensino superior na área da saúde humana; I: MOOC; C: quaisquer estratégias de ensino e aprendizagem e O: aprendizagem baseada em competências com aquisição de conhecimentos, habilidades e atitudes. Os estudos incluídos atenderam os seguintes critérios: estudos publicados ou não publicados sobre o MOOC em Inglês, Português e Espanhol; no ensino superior na área da saúde e publicados a partir de 2008. Foram selecionados estudos experimentais como ensaios clínicos randomizados (ECR) e quasi-experimentais (Non-randomised Studies of effects of Interventions - NRSI), nas bases de dados; Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL); Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (LILACS), PubMed, SCOPUS, Embase, Web of Science e a biblioteca Education Resources Information Center (ERIC). Os processos de seleção e exclusão foram realizados por dois revisores independentes, aplicando os critérios de elegibilidade, foram incluídas 03 publicações, com 02 (ECR) e 01 (NRSI) que somaram um total de 305 participantes. Sendo 224 estudantes de enfermagem; 48 estudantes de fisioterapia e 33 não médicos. Há um número reduzido de publicações que descrevem a eficácia da intervenção MOOC nas graduações do ensino superior da saúde, divulgados em diferentes revistas internacionais, com objetivo de avaliar o MOOC comparado a outras estratégias de ensino e aprendizagem. Percebe-se que os estudos incluídos e analisados foram positivos para a intervenção MOOC em relação aos conhecimentos, habilidades e atitudes, no ensino superior na área da saúde em relação às outras estratégias estudadas (aula expositiva presencial e curso online). De modo geral, o MOOC pode ser eficaz para os estudantes de ensino superior da área da saúde humana. As evidencias encontradas sugerem que o MOOC melhora o desenvolvimento de conhecimento, habilidades e atitudes dos estudantes em relação a outras estratégias de ensino, embora a força da evidencia seja fraca, não há contraindicação para o uso dessa estratégia de ensino. A confiança nesses resultados é reduzida pela impossibilidade de agrupar os estudos, bem como em decorrência de viés metodológico e imprecisão destes, acarretou uma certeza baixa ou muito baixa, atribuídas aos estudos, conforme julgamento por meio do Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evalution (GRADE). São necessárias novas pesquisas que superem essas limitações, bem como avaliem a sua efetividade e qualidade. O MOOC se mostra como uma estratégia interessante para aprimorar, diversificar a educação, seja na formação, atualizações de estudantes e profissionais de saúde e na democratização do conhecimento. O conhecimento compilado e analisado, nesta revisão sistemática de efetividade é inovadora, está alinhada a área de concentração do Programa de Pós e a Linha de pesquisa Tecnologia e Inovação para o Cuidar em Saúde e Enfermagem, espera-se que o estudo impacte os gestores e docentes sobre a prática pedagógica do ensino superior de graduação em saúde humana, por meio da sumarização das evidências disponíveis sobre esta tecnologia educacional - MOOC. Esta RSE é passível de replicabilidade, para eventuais pesquisas futuras e recomenda-se a produção de novas evidências. O protocolo está registrado no International prospective register of systematic reviews - PROSPERO sob o n° ID CRD42018108846.

Abstract: This is a systematic review (SR) on the effectiveness of the Massive open online course (MOOC) in higher education for health students. It is a systematic and relevant method for producing evidence about an intervention. The following research question was elaborated: What is the effectiveness of the MOOC in teaching and learning, compared to any other teaching strategies, in higher education students in the health area? The acronym PICO was used, where: P: higher education students in the field of human health; I: MOOC; C: any teaching and learning strategies and O: competence-based learning with acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudes. The included studies met the following criteria: published or unpublished studies on the MOOC in English, Portuguese and Spanish; in higher education in the health area and published from 2008 onwards. Experimental studies such as randomized clinical trials (RCT) and quasi-experimental (Non-randomised Studies of Effects of Interventions - NRSI) were selected in the following databases: CINAHL, LILACS, PubMed, SCOPUS, Embase, Web of Science and ERIC. The selection and exclusion process were accomplished by two independent reviewers, applying the eligibility criteria, 03 publications were included, with 02 (ECR) and 01 (NRSI) that totaled 305 participants, only the NRSI had more than 150 participants. Of these 224 were nursing students; 48 physiotherapy students and 33 non-medical students. There is a small number of publications that describe the effectiveness of the MOOC intervention in higher health education graduations, published in different international journals, with the objective of evaluating the MOOC compared to other teaching and learning strategies. It can be seen that the studies included and analyzed were positive for the MOOC intervention in relation to knowledge, skills and attitudes in higher education in the area of health in relation to the other strategies studied (face-to-face lecture and online course). Overall, the MOOC can be effective for higher education students in the field of human health. The evidence found suggests that the MOOC improves the development of knowledge, skills and attitudes of students in relation to other teaching strategies, although the strength of the evidence is weak, there is no contraindication for the use of this teaching strategy. Confidence in these results is reduced by the impossibility of grouping the studies, as well as, as a result of methodological bias and imprecision of these, resulted in low or very low certainty, attributed to the studies, as judged by the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evalution (GRADE). Further research is needed to overcome these limitations, as well as to assess its effectiveness and quality. The MOOC proves to be an interesting strategy to improve, diversify education, whether in training, updates of students and health professionals and in the democratization of knowledge. The knowledge compiled and analyzed in this systematic review of effectiveness is innovative, it is aligned with the area of concentration of the Postgraduate Program and the Research Line Technology and Innovation for Health and Nursing Care, it is expected that the study will impact managers and professors on the pedagogical practice of undergraduate higher education in human health, by summarizing the available evidence on this educational technology - MOOC. This CSR can be replicated for possible future research and the production of new evidence is recommended. The protocol is registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews - PROSPERO under ID No. CRD42018108846.

The Rutgers University Libraries Open and Affordable Textbook (OAT) Program.

The Rutgers University (RU) Open and Affordable Textbooks (OAT) Program provides $1,000 incentive awards to faculty who commit to redesigning or developing a course to use open or affordable course materials. This can include replacing a traditional textbook with open educational resources (OER), library-licensed materials, course reserves, self-developed materials, or a combination of these. It is a university-wide initiative, but this paper will focus on the impact on students in the health science programs. In many cases Health Sciences faculty went beyond using open educational resources by developing their own and making them freely available to their students and others. As of 2020 it is estimated students in the health sciences have saved $285,218 through the use of open materials and sustainable course design.

Open science as a path to education of new psychophysiologists.

There is a pressing need for resources to train the next generation of psychophysiologists. Psychophysiology, and especially the subfield of cognitive electrophysiology, poses challenges for educators because it requires an understanding of complex concepts and experimental design, advanced analysis and programming skills, and access to specialized software and equipment. These challenges are common to other STEM fields as well. We present PURSUE (Preparing Undergraduates for Research in STEM Using Electrophysiology - www.PursueERP.com) as an example initiative that engages open educational practices to create and share freely available electrophysiology training materials. This model uses evidence-based pedagogy to create accessible and flexible materials, an open database with supporting lab-based training resources, and also provides instructor support during implementation. This model can be used for other areas within STEM. We review benefits and challenges of using open science research and publishing practices for training. Open science resources have benefits for both course-based undergraduate research experiences and other types of training by increasing access to publications, software, and code for conducting experiments and analyses, as well as access to data for those who do not have access to research equipment. Further, we argue that coordinated open educational practices are necessary to take full advantage of open science resources for training students. Open educational practices such as open educational resources, collaborative course building, and implementation support greatly enhance the ability to incorporate these open science resources into a curriculum.

Overview of Erasmus+ NETCHEM project: ICT networking for overcoming technical and social barriers in instrumental analytical chemistry education.

The paper briefly presents goals, activities, challenges, and outcomes of the NETCHEM project ( http://www.netchem.ac.rs/ ) that was co-funded by the Erasmus+ Program of European Union (573885-EPP-1-2016-1-RS-EPPKA2- CBHE-JP). The project has been started in October 2016 and with extension lasted until April 2020. Western Balkan region has been targeted by upgrading capacities for education and research in environmental and food analysis in cooperation with partners from France, the UK, and Czech Republic. NETCHEM platform providing Web Accessed Remote Instrumental Analytical Laboratories (WARIAL) network, Database service and Open education system was created in order to improve the cooperation, educational, and research capacities of Higher Education Institutions involved, but also targeting whether audience not only from academic domain but from industry as well. The NETCHEM platform is free for access to public; thus, the external users to NETCHEM consortium can not only see its content but also actively participate, enter Database and WARIAL network, and upload their own educational/research material.

Open Educational Resource Textbook Impact on Students in an Introductory Nutrition Course.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if student outcomes, usage, perceptions, and engagement differ between introductory nutrition courses that used an open educational resource (OER) textbook compared with a traditional textbook. DESIGN: Cross-sectional. SETTING: College introductory nutrition course. PARTICIPANTS: Students enrolled in introductory nutrition courses that used a traditional textbook or an OER textbook. INTERVENTION: Implementation of an OER textbook in all introductory nutrition courses during 1 semester. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Usage, perceptions, and engagement with the textbook were evaluated by an online survey. Student outcome data (eg, grades) were collected from the learning management system at the end of the semester. ANALYSIS: Differences in student outcomes, usage, perceptions, and engagement were determined by t tests. Open-ended responses on textbook likes and dislikes were evaluated by thematic analysis. RESULTS: The number of students who completed the introductory nutrition course with a traditional textbook (n = 346) was higher than those who completed the course with an OER textbook (n = 311). There was no difference in student outcomes between textbooks. P values for student usage ranged from <.001 to .001, <.001 for engagement, and <.001 to .001 for perception with the OER textbook, with significantly better P values for outcomes than those with the traditional textbook. The $0 cost and place-based nature were noted as positive attributes of the OER textbook, whereas students appreciated the format and visual appeal of the traditional textbook. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Academic performance in introductory nutrition was not affected by an OER textbook. An OER textbook for introductory nutrition may be an appropriate solution for institutions seeking to reduce student costs.

Design, Development, and Content Creation for an Open Education Physics Website for MRT Education.

BACKGROUND: As health care technologies continue to advance rapidly, resulting in improved standards of practice, it is essential for health care professionals to continually expand on their current skills and knowledge. We describe here an initiative to use open education resources to provide ongoing education in radiation medical sciences and imaging. AIMS: The aim of this study to design an interactive, engaging, multilevel radiation medical physics resource, which is fully open to the public, and functional on all types of computing devices. Our primary target audiences are students and workers in medical radiation technology and other health care professionals as part of their continuing professional development. DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT: The three tasks of design, development, and content creation were most efficiently performed in parallel wherever possible. A modern responsive web design was adopted to target all desktop and mobile devices. Only open-source tools and libraries were used in developing the OpenPhys website. OVERALL WEBSITE DESIGN AND NAVIGATION: The homepage is a modern tile-based design containing one coloured tile for each lesson. Clicking anywhere on a coloured lesson tile will open up a two-dimensional interactive concept map linking to content pages. Currently, 10 lessons are available online ranging from the electronic structure of the atom to MRI basics: "NMR" and "Inside a Pixel". Lesson pages include text, images, graphics, equations, quizzes, and interactive animations. USER FEEDBACK: An online questionnaire was emailed to current radiation therapy students at the University of Alberta and alumni regarding the functionality and navigation of the website. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, OpenPhys is the first open education resource specializing in radiation physics and medical imaging. We believe OpenPhys will fill existing gaps in the realm of physics education delivery and could be a component of a blended learning initiative. Future steps will include a formal evaluation of the website and content.