OER

OER is defined as teaching, learning, and research resources that are free of cost and access barriers, and which also carry legal permission for open use. Generally, this permission is granted by the use of an open license (for example, Creative Commons licenses) which allows anyone to freely use, adapt, and share the resource-anytime, anywhere." (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition)

Simply put, an OER is an educational resource that incorporates a license that facilitates reuse, and potentially adaption, without first requesting permission from the copyright holder.

They are comprised of a wide variety of materials and come in many forms:

• Activities & Assignments: labs, homework, and assessments
• Class Guides: syllabi and student guides
• Courseware: lectures, modules, and full courses
• Instructor Materials: lesson plans and teaching strategies
• Mixed Media: illustrations, games, videos, podcasts, simulations, and interactive materials
• Reading Materials: case studies, data sets, lecture notes, primary sources, textbooks, and other readings

Texas Learn OER, a set of openly licensed modules for faculty, staff, and administrators. Carrie Gits, Head Librarian and Library Services OER Team Leader at Austin Community College, adapted for a wider audience modules she created for ACC as a part of her capstone project for the 2018-19 SPARC Open Education Leadership Program. 

As with anything on the internet OER's vary in quality, so it is important to evaluate before using. Responsibility for assuring the quality of OER typically reside with the institution, program/course coordinators, and individual educators responsible for delivery of education.

Quality of an OER will depend on which resources you choose to use, how you choose to adapt them, and how they will integrate into your teaching and learning activities. Some considerations to keep in mind when evaluating OER:

1. Does it cover the content you would like to present to your students?
2. Is the content appropriate for your students (not too challenging or not challenging enough)?
3. How can you use the content? What are the restrictions and requirements outlined in the license?
4. Based on what's permissible, how do you plan to use the content? Can portions be remixed with other content?
5. How do the open resources you are collecting align with your learning objectives and lessons?

Additional resources for Assessing OER

• ACC Library OER Evaluation Criteria
• Iowa State University Evaluation OER Guide
• Open Textbook Review Criteria

Most resources you will want to find for your course will be grouped by format. Open textbooks have a library, open images are in image databases, open videos are on video sites, and so on. There is no one single repository for all OER due to people posting new materials all the time with all sorts of licensing terms, so the best thing to keep in mind is to bookmark a few good places to search and go from there.

Recommended Places to Start

The following sites have already done the work for you, listed OER under different categories or focus on a specific resource database. If you can't find what you are looking for contact the Brazosport College Library.

Remember, when searching for OER, they are teaching, learning, and research resources that are free of cost and access barriers, and which also carry legal permission for open use. Generally, this permission is granted by the use of an open license (for example, Creative Commons licenses) which allows anyone to freely use, adapt, and share the resource-anytime, anywhere."

• OER Commons Open Educational Resources (Multiple OER formats, use filter and search to narrow options)
• OER Commons Open Textbooks
• Open Textbook Library
• The LibreTexts.org (open-access texts to improve secondary education)
• University of Pittsburgh Library System (multiple categories of OER)
• University Libraries, Nevada, Reno (multiple categories of OER)
• University of Minnesota Libraries (content is released under CC license and free to download, share, and reuse)

This section is under development.