Open Educational Resources (OER): Getting Started

This guide has been created to assist Cincinnati State faculty in locating, evaluating, and adopting course materials that are available at no cost to students. These materials may include:

- Open Educational Resources (OER),

- Articles, e-books, & digital films from the library's collection, or

- A combination of open resources and library resources.

What are Open Educational Resources?

OER are "teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or that have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others" (Hewlett Foundation).  OER may refer to open textbooks, articles, learning activities, and even entire courses. While OER are available on a wide range of topics, faculty in Arts, Humanities, Sciences, Social Sciences, & Business will likely have the greatest number of sources to choose from. 

What do I need to consider when switching texts?

• Will you adopt a new source as a whole or combine material from several different sources?
• How will students access the source?
• Is the new source accessible for students with disabilities?
• Is the new source licensed with any limitations (i.e. Does it carry a open license? Can you revise or adapt it? etc.)?
• What supplements (powerpoints, teacher's guide, test banks) are available?

Where can I find more information on OER and their use in higher education?

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