Open Educational Resources (OERs) for Faculty

Contact

John Schoppert
Dean of Library Services
jschoppert@cgcc.edu, (541) 506-6080

Paula Ascher
Virtual Campus Coordinator
pascher@cgcc.edu, (541) 506-6035

CGCC OER Key Stats

Since June 2011: 

  • 62 faculty have adopted or created
  • 140 Low-ER or OER courses
  • saving 4,559 students $469.000.00

 Open Oregon OER resources

A searchable resource for OER created by CGCC & Oregon faculty

What are Open Educational Resources?

Open educational resources are materials that are available online for anyone to use. "Open" means the creator has chosen to grant certain uses to anyone, such as distribute and remix their work for free, as long as you credit them for the original work. The library can help you find OERs for your class.

About the Licenses

The key distinction about open resources is their use of an alternative to copyright called a Creative Commons copyright license.

CC-BY Attribution

CC-BY-SA Attribution-ShareAlike

CC-BY-ND Attribution-NoDerivs

CC-BY-NC Attribution-NonCommerical

CC-BY-NC-SA Attribution-NonCommerical-ShareAlike

CC-BY-NC-ND Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivs

Just getting started with OERs?

Here's a good OER basics video from the Open Oregon site.

Evaluating Open Textbooks and OERs

Quality Considerations

Attribution

How do I properly attribute material offered under a Creative Commons license?

Downloads - Creative Commons

CC license logos for print and web publications

OPEN Attribution Builder

An application to help you cite open materials, from Open Washington

Find Open Educational Resources

Books

Ebooks

Google Books Citations and previews of books and magazines, full text is available if for public domain items
Project Gutenburg - Full text of over 45,000 free ebooks in the public domain, available to read online or download
Wikibooks - Instructional textbooks that editable by anyone. It is NOT a repository for literature or published texts.

Textbooks, Free

BCcampus - From British Columbia, Creative Commons licensing, available as free ebook or printed books at cost
OpenStax College - Peer-reviewed science and math textbooks, available free online or low-cost print, customizable by instructors
Open Textbook Library - Peer-reviewed multiple subject textbooks, PDF versions available for free, printed books available at cost

Textbooks, Low Cost

Boundless - Textbooks in many subjects, optional customization by instructors, all textbooks cost $20.00
Flat World Knowledge - Digital textbooks in many subjects, able to be personalized by instructors, print versions available

Courses and Curricula

Online Courses Available to Everyone

Khan Academy - Free online classes in many subjects, using video lectures, also keeps statistics and earn badges
Lumen Open Courses - Free access to CC BY-licensed classes, which include readings and videos
Open Learning Initiative - Free online courses in math, science and technology

Curriculum for Use by Faculty

Academic Earth - Searchable listings of free online college courses available from U.S. universities and colleges
MIT Open Courseware - Created by Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Open Course Library - Course materials, including syllabi and activities, Creative Commons licensing, from WA State
Open Michigan - Course materials in many subjects, Creative Commons licensing
Saylor.org - Free peer-reviewed online courses in many subjects

News, Discussion and Promotion of OERs

Open Oregon - Oregon's OER website for faculty resources, news, and discussions.

Open Washington - OER materials for faculty, including testimonials, created by WA SBCTC

College Open Textbooks (COT) - Initiative to campaign for and increase awareness of OERs, also has peer-review open textbooks
Curriki - Online community focusing on OERs for K-12 education
Jorum - UK repository of OERs for higher education

Open Education Consortium - Worldwide community to advance open education, includes webinars, projects, news and events

WikiEducator - Online community for instructors to plan, use and develop OERs supported by OER Foundation

Other Resources by Subject

Images and Video

Flickr: Creative Commons - Photographs with Creative Commons licenses
Openclipart - Images in the public domain, available even for commercial use
TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Talks - Videos of experts in a multitude of fields giving short talks on a given topic

Language and Social Sciences

BBC Learning - Covers many subjects, includes clips from BBC programs
Duolingo - Learn Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese and Dutch for free online, phone apps available
Library of Congress American Memory Project - Documents, images, maps, sound recordings and more chronicling the American experience

Math

CK-12 - 2000+ free quizzes to practice science and math
Math Blog - Scottsdale Community College - Open education resources for teaching college math
MyOpenMath - Online quizzes, also includes self-study courses for anyone

PhET: Math Simulations - Free interactive math simulations, uses Flash and Java, from University of Colorado at Boulder

Science

Neuroanatomy Laboratory - 360° images of the brain
National Science Digital Library - Educational resources for teaching science, math, engineering and technology
PhET: Chemistry and Physics Simulations - Free interactive science simulations, uses Flash and Java, from University fo Colorado at Boulder

Search Engines of Resources and Books

Creative Commons - Access searches for images, music and videos from sites like Fotopedia, ccMixter and SpinXpress
MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resouce for Learning and Online Teaching) - Seach for various types of resources in many subjects
OER Commons - Tools, training and support services
Open4Us - Help with seaching for OERs
Orange Grove - Digital repository of resouces from Florida
Wikiversity - Learning resources and projects, targeted at educators; however, anyone can edit