Where to find OER

Here is where the hunt begins. This reading lesson will be short and sweet to allow faculty to explore openly licensed content. Searching for OER can be very simple or overly complicated. Numerous websites contain links to repositories containing openly licensed materials. Getting started can feel a bit overwhelming. Depending on your subject area it might be best to search Open Textbook repositories. Using one central resource to support your learning objective is more comfortable for most faculty who are accustomed to using a traditional textbook. Many open textbooks can be adapted to meet the outcomes developed by the faculty. Remember to review the license prior to adopting and altering content!

If an open textbook is not yet available, creating a  cohesive OER course is still possible. Material licensed under the CC:BY license are the easiest to work with when using multiple sources in a course. Under this license, you are free to “remix” content and essentially combine multiple resources into one.

Open Textbooks

College Open Textbooks lists open textbooks by subjects and shares the license information next to the title of the text.

OpenStax open textbooks are peer reviewed and most come with ancillary resources like PowerPoints and test banks.

Saylor offers 100+ open textbooks.

Open Courses

Lumen Learning offers over 50 openly licensed courses across multiple disciplines. Much of the content is licensed under a CC:BY license.

A collection of high quality openly licensed materials stored in google docs.

The Open Learning Initiative provides courses under a CC: BY-NC-SA license.

Other OER Repositories

Explore the Frederick Community College lib guide for additional resources. http://guides.frederick.edu/OER/Where