2.2 Finding Open Resources
Lauri M. Aesoph
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- Recognize the different sources/areas to find Open Educational Resources.
- Conduct an effective search for Open Educational Resources.
Collections
There are a number of sites dedicated to archiving and collecting open textbook collections. Here are a few sites that can help you find an open textbook to meet your needs.
- OpenStax publishes high-quality, peer-reviewed textbooks written by subject experts. OpenStax also makes it easy to customize their textbooks and host content in your LMS.
- Open Textbook Library from the Center for Open Education at the University of Minnesota is a curated repository containing hundreds of open textbooks.
- Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) is a joint effort between individual community colleges, regional and statewide consortia, the Open Education Consortium, the American Association of Community Colleges, the League for Innovation in the Community College, and many other educational partners to develop and use open educational resources, open textbooks, and open courseware to expand access to higher education and improve teaching and learning.
- Pressbooks Directory is a free catalog of open access books created using the Pressbooks publishing platform.
- GALILEO Open Learning Materials brings together open educational resources throughout the University System of Georgia, including open textbooks and ancillary materials.
- Lumen Learning offers affordable access to learning. Their mission is to enable unprecedented learning for all students.
In addition, there are a few more general-purpose OER repositories that you might find useful when searching for open textbooks. These repositories may contain open textbooks in addition to many other types of open educational resources. To explore more resources, the Stewart Library has compiled a list in our OER Collections A/Z.
Searching for Openly Licensed Content
While we are focusing specifically on finding open textbooks in this chapter, there are ways to conduct more general searches for openly licensed content using search engines. You can find more information on “Resources: Search and Find” in the BcCampus’ Self-Publishing Guide.
Other methods to find open textbooks or other OER:
- Connect with your subject librarian or try our Syllabus Review service.
- Ask your colleagues what OER they use.
- Conduct an advanced Google search.
- Encourage your students to find open resources, have them do a content review, and post the results to your course website or Learning Management System (LMS).
