Cover of Human Nutrition 2020 OER textbook

Human Nutrition 2020 Edition is Live!

Guest post by the UHM Food Science and Human Nutrition Program.

The team behind the Human Nutrition OER textbook at UHM is thrilled to announce that the latest edition is now available! Mahalo to the UHM Outreach College and the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources for their support. In our last blog post about the project, we announced a call for photo submissions to be used as our new cover. And thank you to Dr. Noa Lincoln (TPSS) for submitting the winning photo!

This new version of the textbook adds an interactive layer across the comprehensive book, now including 176 embedded learning activities created with the open source quiz tool H5P. Over one hundred flashcards were added at the end of relevant sections to help students review definitions of important terms, and more than fifty drag and drop activities were added to reinforce the learning objectives outlined at the beginning of each chapter. These activities provide valuable engagement with the textbook content, supporting student learning through formative practice and immediate feedback.

Animated image showing H5P interactions inside the book

In addition to the new embedded learning activities, the content of the textbook has been updated and revised since the 2018 edition. Content updates include:

  • “Health at Every Size” (new section in the Nutritional Issues chapter)
  • Nutritional Label Facts section updated to reflect the new guidelines
  • Major and Trace Minerals, Pregnancy and Infancy sections expanded

In celebration of open education and sharing resources, we are proud to unveil the Human Nutrition OER Textbook Instructor Resource Website.  Access to this website is free and available to interested faculty that are interested in using the text in their courses. The site features lecture slides, quiz and exam question banks, assignments, and other resources. To gain access to the instructor site, please complete this form.

Landing page of OER course on human nutrition
Screenshot of OER website for human nutrition
Screenshot of instructor website with guidance for new adoptions
Screenshot of teaching materials website
Screenshot of Instructor Website links to lecture slides and quiz banks

UHM’s Food Science and Human Nutrition department will begin adopting version 2 this Fall. It will also be conducting a study on student perceptions towards embedded learning activities in OER textbooks and whether embedded learning activities in OER textbooks impact student learning.  We look forward to sharing our findings and future OER projects in future posts.

Zoom meeting screenshot of the development team

Left to Right, Top to Bottom: Noemi Caacbay (Project GRA), Kellie Taguchi (Distance Ed. Coor.), Gemady Langfelder (UG Student), Dr. Marie Kainoa Fialkowski Revilla (PI), Ya-Yun Yang (Distance Ed. GA), Ty Lim (Instructional Designer), Jennifer Draper (Instructor), Christina Young (UG Student), Chynna Chun (UG Student), Skylar Hara (UG Student)

The 2018 version of our text is listed in the Open Education Network’s Open Textbook Library, and we encourage interested faculty to consider adopting this text and set of instructor resources as a cost-free and flexible option to better serve students. Enjoy!

Posted by Billy Meinke