Author Message to Instructors:

Thank you for taking the time to review our textbook!

After many years of using outdated and non-inclusive materials, it was time to create a textbook that would fit our instructional needs for teaching child and adolescent development. Our student voices, and our own, were not represented in most of the published textbooks. This left us searching for supplemental material to fill this gap.

Our main goal in the creation of Understanding Human Development was to provide a textbook that highlights the many ways in which development is impacted by social and environmental factors and how social justice issues create disadvantage for many groups in the United States. We begin this discourse in our Prenatal, Birth, and Postnatal Experiences unit, where we discuss how race and access to services can impact pregnancy and birth outcomes.

One of the primary features of our textbook is the use of case studies, which follow four children throughout their lifespan. With each of their stories, we aim to highlight the ways in which a child’s intersecting identities can impact their quality of life as well as their overall development. The scenarios presented within the case studies are a reflection of our student experiences as well as our own. They cover topics related to racism, classism, access to resources, health, immigration, and many others.

Understanding Human Development is a work in progress. We hope to add chapters on emerging adulthood as well as how policy and social practices that impact children and their families. We also plan to expand on the case studies. Your engagement and feedback will be key in this process.

Warmly,

Christina, Esmeralda, and Terese

Understanding Human Development: Lead Authors

Integrated Openly Licensed Course Materials

This book includes openly licensed course materials that fully integrate with the open textbook. Anyone can retain, revise, remix, reuse, and redistribute them. Best of all, future instructors can build on existing learning pathways that are aligned with textbook and chapter learning outcomes.

You can access openly licensed course materials in two ways:

• Understanding Human Development Instructor Course Packs: A collection of aligned and accessible course materials shared by pilot instructors teaching at multiple Oregon institutions. Instructors designed each course pack with an equity lens in consultation with an instructional designer. In most cases, each course pack was revised with feedback from Oregon students and an advisory board of workforce members. Each course pack includes a complete course map, an instructor guide, and ancillary materials including weekly assignment prompts, rubrics, and suggested activities.
• Understanding Human Development OER Commons Group: An ongoing repository of instructor-created course materials that integrate with the open textbook. Materials may include syllabi, assessments and assignments, lesson plans, activities, and entire course shells. Please note: not all OERC resources are reviewed for digital accessibility.

You are welcome to contribute your own openly licensed course materials that align with this textbook to the OERCommons Group. Thank you for building a more inclusive future for students and future educators!

Licenses and attributions for Instructor Resources

Message to Students by Christina Belli, Esmeralda Janeth, and Terese Jones, is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Integrated Openly Licensed Course Materials by Open Oregon Educational Resources is licensed under CC BY 4.0.