The resource guides are divided to correlate with the Pathways, and they include resources for topics that fall under the Pathway. For example, you can find resources for Economics under Business, Entrepreneurship, and Law.
"OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge." [1]
The terms "open content" and "open educational resources" describe any copyrightable work (traditionally excluding software, which is described by other terms like "open source") that is licensed in a manner that provides users with free and perpetual permission to engage in the 5R activities:
from opencontent.org
A good place to find OER resources is Canvas Commons. You can find complete courses, modules, and other resources already formatted for Canvas. Just be sure to check the licensing of the resource before downloading it. Here is a guide showing how to use Canvas Commons.
MERLOT offers a way to "Search for Materials Related to a Book" by ISBN (International Standard Book Number).
OERSI (Open Educational Resources Search Index), created in 2023, offers a search index for OER in higher education.
The ALPA OER Repository, offered through PALCI and Affordable Learning PA, is a way to search for OER being used at institutions in Pennsylvania. (2023 pilot)
Other places:
Q: As a faculty I depend on the test banks that publishers provide with a textbook adoption. Do OER or Open Textbooks provide test banks? And if they're open, what's to prevent a student for getting access to them?
A: Many open resources do provide test banks (PowerPoint lectures, and other supplementals we're used to getting from a publisher). To answer the question about "protected resources" we went to Nicole Finkbeiner, Associate Director of Institutional Relations, Rice University's OpenStax College: Finkbeiner says "In terms of 'protected' resources such as test banks, you have to find a way for students to not be able to access these. And, you don't want to openly license these because then you have no way to combat them being published. At Rice University’s OpenStax College, our website is set-up so faculty have to first register for an account and then request faculty access prior to being able to download them. We check every single account to ensure the right official email is used, they are in fact teaching a course where they would need the resources, etc. Sometimes we even call the department chair directly to make sure we should be providing access, so this is definitely a labor-intensive process, but I think it is worth it to protect the resources."
Q: I am nervous about letting go of my textbook because I don't know if OER/Open Textbook authors will keep the resources up to date. How can I trust that the resources I select will be kept current and accurate?
A: It's true that adopting open resources in place of a traditionally published textbook involves a change in how you think about your course textbook. Adopting OER involves a feeling of ownership of the course resources that you might not experience with a traditional textbook. Because of the open licensing you are free to update the material as you see fit, as long as it has the appropriate Creative Commons licensing. Due to the open nature of these resources, collaboration with other instructors (within or outside this institution) or with your students to improve the open resources you use is a common occurrence, and means the work of updating is spread across many people instead of sitting solely with you. Yes, it's a shift of perspective, but it's an exciting one, full of potential.
*Read more FAQs at Kirkwood Community College Libraries, Cedar Rapids, IA.
