What are OER?
Open Educational Resources
OER are openly available educational resources such as textbooks, articles, videos, audio, images, simulations, games, software packages, lessons plans, etc. that are free to use and free of most use restrictions and requirements.
Why use OER?
Openly Available – Free – Accessible – Variety – Inclusive
Openly Available and free to use, your course resources become more accessible to a variety of learners without financial burdens and fewer access issues. In addition, offering a variety of course materials, as opposed to one textbook from one perspective, you are including previously excluded voices and perspectives creating a more inclusive learning experience.
Where to find OER?
Open Educational Resources are often housed in searchable online repositories. The repositories are often organized in categories such as grade-level, topic, type, etc. Knowing the best place to start and the proper searching techniques can speed your searching process.
If you are new to OER, you are encouraged to schedule a consultation with a CLI Team Member.
OER Repositories
Click the + next to each category to reveal searchable repositories.
Textbooks
- OER Commons
- EdTech Books
- Open Textbook Library
- OERTX Repository
- Oasis
- Pressbooks
- OpenStax
- LibreTexts
- CUNY Manifold (scholarly editions of historical texts)
- Milne Open Textbooks
- Routledge
- PBS Learning Media
- National Academies Press
Faith-Based Resources
Open Courses
Articles
- Chronicling America (newspapers)
- JSTOR
- Google Scholar
Videos/Audios
Simulations/Games/General Repositories
- Merlot (interactive simulations)
- OERTX Repository
- H5P (HTML interactive content)
- PhET Simulations (interactive simulations)
- PBS LearningMedia
- The Orange Grove
- Astronomy Guide for Beginners
- Constellations for Kids
- Home Science: Backyard Astronomy Basics
- PurposeGames
- Anatomy Arcade
- Science Interactive Body
- Free Anatomy Quiz
- Real BodyWork
- Real Bodywork Mobile Apps
- Visual Anatomy Free Mobile App