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Open Educational Resources

This guide will help faculty select and use open educational resources.

Why OER?

“Content is not the problem. Learning how to learn is the future of education.”

Ray Schroeder, “It’s Time for Open Educational Resources”, Insider Higher Ed, April 21, 2021. https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/online-trending-now/it%E2%80%99s-time-open-educational-resources

HBCU OER portal

What are Open Educational Resources?

 " Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions."

(source: UNESDOC)

On using TSU library resources

Don't forget that in addition to using OERs, you can reduce materials costs by including resources that the library accesses through a subscription, such as journal articles, or by using free online materials. Consult your subject librarian for suggestions.

 

Also consider consulting this item from the library collection:

Using open educational resources

Open Pedagogy Approaches: Faculty, Library, and Student Collaborations (2020) / Alexis Clifton and Kimberly Davies Hoffman.
Open Educational Resources: policy, costs, and transformation / Fengchun Miao, Sanjaya Mishra and Rory McGreal, Editors -- A 2016 report from UNESCO Digital Library (UNESDOC)
Achieve OER Rubrics -- A guide to aligning OERs with standards
WAVE Web Accessibility Tool -- evaluate the accessibility of websites
Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for OpenCourseWare  / Center for Media & Social Impact -- a 2009 guide to applying fair use
A Guide to Making Textbooks Open With Students -- One of several titles available from the Rebus Institute on using OERs
OER world map -- A network and map of projects and other activities about OERs;  hosted by the North-Rhine-Westphalia Library Service Centre (hbz)

Videos on OER

MERLOT and TSU EXCEL4ed

MERLOT is a one-stop source for locating and creating educational resources.  

A TSU-specific version of MERLOT is TSU-EXCEL4ed.

Creative Commons license

This guide is based on the AffordaCreative Commons Licenseble Learning Solutions: Open Educational Resources by College from San Jose State University, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Under this license, you are free to copy and redistribute the material it contains in any medium or format. Also, you may remix, transform, and build upon the material. Authors of the original include Adriana Poo, Linda Crotty, Ann Agee, Christina Mune, Cory Laurence, Markita Dawson, Marva Tomer, and Michelle Chimento.

Creative Commons Licenses

It's important to understand the different  Creative Commons licenses.

Some OER collections allow searching by type of license.