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A Guide to Open Educational Resources (OER)

Steps to OER/Low Cost Adoption

  1. Set aside time: Searching for OER takes time & persistence, just like research.
  2. Look at your current text: Is your current textbook available through the library databases?
  3. Locate an OER text: Check to see if a whole OER textbook already exists for your course.
  4. Browse open repositories: Browse several repositories to see what content is available
  5. Supplement: Look at your learning objectives and find different materials for different topics.
  6. Ask for help: Call a librarian to get help. You can do this at anytime!
"Six Steps to OER" by Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) Librarians, used under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License / Modified text from original by Lesley University Library

Guides to modifying/adapting OER

Modifying an open textbook

Modifying an Open Textbook: What You Need to Know is actually two guides in one, the Quick Guide and a collection of Format Guides. The Quick Guide is for evaluating the open textbook you’d like to modify or edit, and determining how you’ll share the results of your work. The Format Guides are for getting started with editing common open textbook file and platform types. The truth is that while most open textbooks are legally licensed to be modified, the real-life work involved can sometimes be tough because of technical issues. We offer this guide as a way to help.

6 Steps to Modifying an Open Textbook by BCcampus

Creative Commons Licenses

   Attribution CC BY This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon the work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials.

Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA

 This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit the creator and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to “copyleft” free and open source software licenses. All new works based on the original work will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use. This is the license used by Wikipedia, and is recommended for materials that would benefit from incorporating content from Wikipedia and similarly licensed projects.

Attribution-NoDerivs CC BY-ND

 This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to the creator.

Attribution-NonCommercial CC BY-NC

 This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge the creator and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as they credit the creator and license their new creations under the identical terms.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND This license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses, only allowing others to download the original works and share them with others as long as they credit the creator, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.

 

Other resources:

Can't find OER for your class?

Contact your librarian for additional assistance.
 
Consider placing one or more copies of required course texts on Course Reserves.