Open Educational Resources (OER)

Without a doubt, higher education is shifting. Websites, custom courses, YouTube and the like provide individuals with a wealth of information and opportunity to learn something new. As we work to identify ways to eliminate barriers to higher education, cost is a typical consideration. We’re not talking about tuition cost, but the cost of textbooks. The use of open educational resources (OER) is one way to reduce and/or eliminate textbook costs for learners.

What is OER?

According to Creative Commons, “…open educational resources are teaching, learning and research materials that are either (a) in the public domain or (b) licensed in a manner that provides everyone with free and perpetual permission to engage in the 5R activities.” The 5R activities include retain, remix, revise, reuse and redistribute. Through the use of these resources we can eliminate the rework and leverage the power of resources that have been previously created.

OER and Computing

In addition to tuition costs, computing courses often require learners to invest in powerful machines, software licenses and/or expensive textbooks. Lisa Payne, OER Librarian at Brightpoint Community College, was kind enough to compile a list of OER resources that computing faculty may consider using in an effort to reduce the total cost of learning.

Open Texts and OER Repositories

• OER Commons
• The Mason OER Metafinder  
• Digital Public Library of America
• Open Education Network/Open Textbook Library
• LibreTexts
• Merlot
• OASIS
• Open Learning Initiative
• Openverse
• Teaching Commons
• Unglue It
• Wiki Educator

OER For Computing

• Code Yourself Video Playlist
• Computer Science textbooks
• The Missing Link: An Introduction to Web Development and Programming
• Computational and Inferential Thinking: The Foundations of Data Science
• Open Computing
• National Science Digital Library
• InTech Open

OER Authoring Tools

• OER Commons Open Author Tool – Free text editor with features to remix and customize materials for groups and courses.
• StoryMap – StoryMapJS is a free tool that allows you to create a story highlighting the locations of a series of events. You can tell stories with images and add text and other content within your map locations.
• GitBook -Created by GitHub, GitBooks is an Open source tool created by GitHub that allows you to create a textbook that is hosted in a GitHub repository. You can create your content in Markdown or embed rich, multimedia content. Free for open source projects.
• Creative Commons Licensing
• The OER Starter Kit – New to Open Education? This starter kit provides an introduction to the use and creation of Open Educational Resources. Provides sections on Copyright, Finding OER, Teaching with OER, and Creating OER.
• Authoring Open Textbooks – This guide, published by the Open Textbook Network, is for faculty authors, librarians, project managers and others who are involved in the production of open textbooks in higher education and K-12. Content includes a checklist for getting started, publishing program case studies, textbook organization and elements, writing resources and an overview of useful tools.
• A Guide to Making Open Textbooks with Students – This first edition handbook, published the The Rebus Community for Open Textbook Creation, is intended for faculty interested in practicing open pedagogy by involving students in the making of open textbooks, ancillary materials, or other Open Educational Resources.
• Modifying an Open Textbook: What You Need to Know – This is a five-step guide, also published by the Open Textbook Network, for faculty, and those who support faculty, who want to modify an open textbook. Step-by-step instructions for importing and editing common open textbook file and platform types are included.
• Textbook Writing Tutorial – From the EduTechWiki, an open resource about Educational Technology and related fields. Hosted and built at TECFA, an educational technology research and teaching unit at the University of Geneva.
• Developing a Textbook Structure – This section of the Open Textbook Publishing Curriculum provides a general orientation to textbook elements and structure, and can be useful for textbook authors looking to organize content. Use the arrows at the bottom of each page to navigate through the curriculum.
• Open Pedagogy Notebook – Resource for educators looking to use open educational practices in the classroom. Includes examples of open pedagogy practices and ideas.