New Ebook Release: Introduction to Speech Pathology Practice: Foundational Concepts for Australian First-year Students

 

JCU Library staff are pleased to announce that Introduction to Speech Pathology Practice: Foundational Concepts for Australian First-year Students has now been published as a JCU Open Education Resource (OER). 

 

Congratulations to lead author Frances Cochrane and co-authors Louise Brown, Deborah Denman, Roger Newman and Sophie Vigor on the publication of this ebook. These JCU academic authors are leading the way in developing high quality, peer reviewed openly licensed resources for Speech Pathology students at JCU and beyond.

 

Developed with support from a James Cook University Textbook Affordability Project Grant, the primary aim was to develop a freely available open-access resource for students that covers multiple content areas and interactive learning. The academic authors co-created this ebook in collaboration with first-year speech pathology students to ensure the resource suits a variety of learning needs and styles.

The ebook advocates for culturally responsive practice, outlining strategies for delivering effective and sensitive care to clients from diverse backgrounds. Additionally, the book emphasises the professional foundations of speech pathology, covering ethical principles, evidence-based practice, and the importance of advocacy and lifelong learning.

Designed specifically for aspiring speech pathologists embarking on their professional journey, this ebook provides an overview of the speech pathology profession beginning with a clear explanation of the role and responsibilities of speech pathologists. The text also explores:

• the diverse areas of practice relating to communication and swallowing
• the anatomy involved in communication and swallowing
• linguistics and the structure and function of language, including syntax, pragmatics, semantics, morphology, phonology, and phonetics. 

Introduction to Speech Pathology Practice: Foundational Concepts for Australian First-year Students is freely available from the JCU Open eBooks website.

This development of this resource was facilitated by the JCU Open Educational Resources Program

The JCU Open Educational Resources Program is a project in the Education Division, spearheaded by JCU Library. The aim of the project is two-fold: 

• To support lecturers in adopting, adapting and creating Open Educational Resources including textbooks and workbooks in order to better support the learning of our students at JCU.
• To make information about the people and places of the Tropics more widely accessible and understood. More than 40% of the world's population live in the Tropics and 40% of the world's surface is within the Tropics, but the area is often underrepresented in teaching materials. The JCU Open Educational Resources Program aims to provide more access to knowledge and information about this key region.