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Open Author helps you build and publish Open Educational Resources for you and for the benefit of educators and learners everywhere.

Learn more about creating OER

Groups provides a flexible environment to organize, create, share, and discuss resources with others in your network. Collaborate with group members, tag and add resources to shared folders, create your own collections, all within a public or private group.

Groups

Search through collections curated by our digital librarians

Collections

Common Core resources organized for your needs

Common Core

Hubs

A Custom Resource Center

Projects, districts, states, and initiatives make use of Hubs to bring groups of educators together to create, organize, and share OER collections that meet their common goals. Explore Hubs

Microsites

Custom Digital Libraries

Microsites are custom, flexible sites that include all the features available on OER Commons. Microsites allow your users to search resource collections using a custom taxonomy at a unique URL. Contact Us

Our award-winning OER Professional Learning programs support instructors and curriculum specialists to gain the necessary skills required to find, adapt, and evaluate high quality open materials.

In-person and virtual OER workshops help focus instructors to develop a "commons" mindset, to experience the benefits of open processes using the platform's tools, collaborative features, and workflows. This can include using Open Author for creating, remixing, and publishing shared curriculum.

Learn More

How to Search OER Commons

View all How-to videos

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OER Commons is a dynamic digital library and network. Explore open education resources and join our network of educators dedicated to curriculum improvement.

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Open Educational Resources (OER): Resource Roundup

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An educators’ guide to open educational resources with information about online repositories, curriculum-sharing websites, and sources for lesson plans and activities.

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Rethink Education

Academic Earth was launched on the premise that everyone deserves access to a world-class education. In 2009, we built the first collection of free online college courses from the world's top universities. The world of open education has exploded since then, so today our curated lists of online courses are hand selected by our staff to show you the very best offerings by subject area. We also make sure there is something for everyone: whether you want to explore a new topic or advance in your current field, we bring the amazing world of academia to you for free.

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AcademicEarth.org - Free Online Courses From Top Colleges

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Find free online courses, lectures, and videos from the best colleges in the country. Take online classes from schools like Yale, MIT and Stanford.

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Coursera | Degrees, Certificates, & Free Online Courses

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Learn new job skills in online courses from industry leaders like Google, IBM, & Meta. Advance your career with top degrees from Michigan, Penn, Imperial & more.

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Discover thousands of offerings - from free courses to full degrees - delivered by world-class partners like Harvard, Google, Amazon and more.

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A personalized learning resource for all ages

Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. We tackle math, science, computing, history, art history, economics, and more, including K-14 and test preparation (SAT, Praxis, LSAT) content. We focus on skill mastery to help learners establish strong foundations, so there's no limit to what they can learn next!

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Learn for free about math, art, computer programming, economics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, finance, history, and more. Khan Academy is a nonprofit with the mission of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.

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From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository

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HippoCampus - Homework and Study Help - Free help with your algebra, biology, environmental science, American government, US history, physics and religion homework

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The best multimedia instruction on the web to help you with your homework and study.

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Teaching Resources & Lesson Plans | Teachers Pay Teachers

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A community of millions of educators who come together to share their work, their insights, and their inspiration with one another.

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Free practice questions for teachers and students - Learningpod

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We have over 0 free practice questions from trusted sources like Kaplan Test Prep. You can author questions, create question sets and see how you perform.

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Examples

Repositories - OERs include data and studies placed outside the usual university or publisher firewalls. Yale hosts two such sites: EliScholar, an open access repository for Yale scholarship (note: some materials are restricted to Yale personnel, and none are available under a Creative Commons License); and Yale University Open Data Access (YODA), a project that shares clinical research data not integrated into published or disseminated findings. The Registry of Open Access Repositories maintains a searchable list of institutional data sets. While digitized archives typically do not maintain adaptable content, they are usually free and under Creative Commons licensing: major databases include the Library of Congress, New York Public Library, Smithsonian Libraries, and Yale's and Harvard's digital collections.

Recommendations

Implement Slowly - OER options are overwhelming, and can take time to sift, adapt, deploy, and assess. Instructors can consider starting by introducing one element per semester - a lesson plan, an assignment involving a repository, a textbook for one course - and ramping up as they feel more comfortable.

Think About Textbooks - Research suggests that while electronic textbooks do not significantly diminish nor enhance student learning outcomes, students tend to prefer physical books because of the ease of notetaking, focus, and recall (Weisberg, 2011, and Junco and Clem, 2015). Instructors should consider the immediate needs of their course content, the socioeconomic makeup of their students, and the hopes for their classroom activities.

Adopt New Teaching Practices - OERs are flexible enough to use as supplementary materials. When instructors feel comfortable with resources they have selected, they can also consider: shifting their syllabus to rely on OERs; inviting students to help adapt or create with OER material; teaching about the ethics and debates surrounding OER materials; and modeling open practices in class, including peer review, discussion, and collaborative work.

Attend Open Access or Open Education Week - Instructors can check if their institution will host events for International Open Access Week or Open Education Week, each held annually. Events at Yale typically include informational tables, lectures, and workshops.

Consider the CPT +10 - The Cape Town Declaration provides ten strategies for engaging with OER, including teaching with OER, empowering student knowledge, and connecting with local OER initiatives.

Check the OER World Map - The OER World Map charts locations for local OER-friendly initiatives, programs, groups, and individuals. When clicked, points on the map deliver descriptions, links, and dates.

Consider Accessibility - OERs can be a powerful resource for making course content accessible. Instructors can consider how OER content might defray costs to balance socioeconomic status where possible, provide alternative media for print-disabled students, and enhance classrooms that share values with Universal Design for Learning.

References

Hilton, J. (2016). Open educational resources and college textbook choices: a review on research on efficacy and perceptions. Educational Technology Research and Development 64: 573-590.

Islim, O., Koybasi, N., and Cagiltay, K. (2016). Use of Open Educational Resources: How, Why and Why Not? International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 28.2: 230-240.

Junco, R., and Clem, C. (2015). Internet and Higher Educatin 27: 54-63.

Kaatrakoski, H., Littlejohn, A., and Hood, N. (2017). Learning challenges in higher education: an analysis of contradictions within Open Educational Practice. Higher Education 74: 599-615.

McKenzie, L. (2017). A Big Publisher Embraces OER. Inside Higher Ed: 10 October, 2017. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/10/10/cengage-offers-new-oer-based-product-general-education-courses#.WdzGTzDX3Ig.email.

Sheridan, Victoria. (2017). Savings and Student Success. Inside Higher Ed: 23 August, 2017. https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2017/08/23/tidewater-cc-saving-costs-boosting-student-success-oer.

Shuttleworth Foundation, and Open Society Foundations. (2008). The Cape Town Open Education Declaration. http://www.capetowndeclaration.org/.

Weisberg, M. (2011). Student Attitudes and Behaviors Towards Digital Textbooks. Publishing Research Quarterly 27: 188-196.

Winitzky-Stephens, J., and Pickavance, J. 2017. Open Educational Resources and Student Course Outcomes: A Multilevel Analysis. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning 18.4: 35-50.

Yale University Office of Cooperative Research. Yale University Copyright Policy. Yale University: Faculty Policies. http://ocr.yale.edu/faculty/policies/yale-university-copyright-policy

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Repositories - OERs include data and studies placed outside the usual university or publisher firewalls. Yale hosts two such sites: EliScholar, an open access repository for Yale scholarship (note: some materials are restricted to Yale personnel, and none are available under a Creative Commons License); and Yale University Open Data Access (YODA), a project that shares clinical research data not integrated into published or disseminated findings.

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Open educational resources (OERs) are online resources that are available for anyone to use. These resources include curriculum, activities, worksheets, testing materials, supplemental videos, interactive modules, and more.

While most people understand that OERs are "freely available" for wide use, there are more to OERs than most people realize. In fact, there are many copyright rules to keep in mind, and just because they're free doesn't mean you can use materials any way you want. Many authors still want credit for their time and effort-and the law is on their side.

Still, there's no reason to fear OERs, especially once you understand the ins and outs of these useful resources.

OERs versus Free Resources

OERs, while free, are not the same as free resources. Free resources are any educational products available on the internet at no cost. These may be provided as teasers by publishers or put online by generous instructors. They may be free, but you don't necessarily have the right to use them, let alone change them.

For example, you may only be allowed to use them for certain purposes and may not be allowed to take a screenshot of the artwork or a diagram to paste into another worksheet you make on your own. Though the resource comes at no cost, it's part of a whole package that you don't have the right to alter.

OERs, on the other hand, are unique because they are open. This means that instructors and students have the right to copy and adapt the resources as they wish, perhaps adding to them or completely changing them. This gives educators a great deal of freedom to cobble together the perfect course or activity from a variety of sources and to tweak resources to make them work for their needs.

A Brief Look at Creative Commons and the Types of OERs

If you're still feeling confused about the difference between OERs and other free resources, understanding Creative Commons licenses may help. Creative Commons licenses make it easy for creators of any online work to keep the copyrights to their material while still allowing others to use it.

For example, if a photographer takes a photo of a ladybug, she may choose a traditional "all rights reserved" copyright approach that doesn't allow for any reuse of her work. She may also choose to publish her work with a Creative Commons license that lets others use the photo as long as they follow her chosen guidelines. In this case, anyone who uses her photo has to attribute it to her, perhaps in a caption on a worksheet or blog post.

Image from Wikipedia
As you can see in the chart above, there are many different combinations of the rules, from the open license described above to more restrictive ones that allow people to use the work for educational but not commercial purposes. Other licenses allow use of the work but stipulate that it cannot be altered for any reason.

Understanding the licenses your OERs fall under will help you make smart choices about using these materials in a way that's legal and fair for everyone.

The Pros and Cons of Using OERs

The Internet, for better or worse, has revolutionized the way instructors gather materials for their work. As with any new tool, there are pros and cons to using OERs in your practice.

The Pros

Enhance Course Content-With little to no extra investment, instructors can supplement existing textbooks and courses with additional material.

Keep Up-to-Date-Rapidly changing fields like science and technology can be hard to keep up with, but OERs allow teachers and students to stay on top of new developments.

Expanded Access-Because OERs are available to anyone, barriers like age, mobility, and socioeconomic status are less likely to keep students from getting the education they deserve.

Increased Creativity-The ability to remix and reuse OERs can be a boon to student creativity and can help instructors turn traditional assignments into fun, multi-faceted activities.

The Cons

Copyright Confusion-As detailed above, fear of misusing copyrighted material or misunderstanding Creative Commons licenses may hamstring otherwise enthusiastic instructors.

Quality Concerns-The open nature of OERs means that anyone with a computer can create and publish new resources. With few organizations serving as gatekeepers, there's little quality control.

Vetting Time-Instructors may sift through many OERs to find ones of high quality. There's also no central database, making the time investment in finding great OERs a challenge.

You can minimize the drawbacks of OERs by utilizing trusted OER providers such as CK-12 and Merlot, as well as paying careful attention to best practices as you implement them.

Getting Started Finding and Evaluating OERs

How do you know that an OER is worth your time? Fran Kompar, Director of Instructional Technology and Digital Learning, suggests beginning to curate your resources by answering a crucial question: what gap do you need to fill with your OER? Once you can articulate your purpose, it's much easier to plan your search at various OER sites.

Next, you'll need a strategy to curate the OERs you find. It is recommended to look at several sources in order to compare and evaluate them, perhaps tagging them with Google Keep or Pinterest to bookmark your research. When you have a good organizational system in place, you can pull up your ideas and synthesize the best pieces into one perfect piece for your purposes.

Then there's the C.R.A.A.P. Test ...

What's the C.R.A.A.P. Test and How Does It Work?

To help decide which resources are worth earmarking for future reference, it's helpful to use the C.R.A.A.P. Test. This mnemonic stands for the key features you should look for in any OER to make sure it's worthwhile for your purposes, including:

Currency-Is the material up to date?

Relevance-Is the material closely tied to your needs and coursework?

Authority-Is the author and/or publisher a reputable, knowledgeable source?

Accuracy-Is the material factual and on point?

Purpose-Is the material for education, or advertising? Check for bias before passing it along to your students.

Using OERs in an Online Learning Environment

Now that you know how to evaluate OERs, watch as Director of Educational Strategies Adam Larson walks through the process of using OERs in a digital learning environment, in this case, Schoology's LMS. This video will give you a better understanding of what the process of incorporating OERs into your everyday can look like.

While OERs are a relatively new and unfamiliar terrain for many educators, they can be powerful resources for saving time and enhancing learning experiences. But with great power comes great responsibility. By understanding the basics shared in this article, you're well on your way to making OERs work for you.

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Getting Started Using Open Educational Resources (OERs)

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Open educational resources (OERs) are online resources that are available for anyone to use. These resources include curriculum, activities, worksheets, testing materials, supplemental videos, interactive modules, and more. While most people understand that OERs are "freely available" for wide use, there are more to OERs than most people realize.

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The Importance of Open Education Resources: Introduction to Open Education Resources: A 20-minute Course

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Curriki - Shaping the Future of Learning

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We welcome you to join in Curriki's mission to make the creation and distribution of engaging learning content accessible to everyone. Your contribution helps us develop new technologies and services that enable users across the globe.