LibGuides: Open Educational Resources: Finding and Evaluating OER

Where to Find Open Educational Resources

In addition to the resources on the Open Access Publishing page, there are many open access repositories directed specifically at providing free educational resources to students and faculty. We have listed several popular repositories below.

Have you found a resource that we should include on this page? Please email Library@umo.edu and let us know!

Popular OER Repositories

OER Commons
Open Stax
OENC Find a Textbook Resource Page
Open Textbook Library
CC OER, Big List of Textbook Repositories
Includes textbook repositories for K-12 and higher education

Open Materials by Content Type

The contents of this box do not represent an exhaustive list. These are just some suggestions for getting started. If you are looking for an OER on a particular topic or in a specific format and are having trouble finding what you need, please contact Moye Library.

Creative Commons Search
Search for free content in the public domain and in the creative commons.
World Digital Library
primary source documents, images, and other media from all over the world
OERs by Subject, from CCOER
a list of OER sites by subject, geared towards K-12 and higher-education

These eBook repositories offer free, full-text eBooks for reading online and downloading. Many of these materials are library materials that are now in the public domain. The text and layout are not always easily navigable, so please preview works before assigning them.

Additionally, many of the eBooks available via Moye Library are licensed for unlimited use, meaning multiple individuals can use them at once. If you would like to use more recent eBooks in the classroom, please check to see if Moye Library's eBook collections have what you need.

Pexels
freely usable images, mostly photographic
Unsplash
searchable database of photographs, optional artist credit is offered and recommended for these images
Getty Images
searchable image database, search using the "Royalty Free" filter under "License Type"
British Library Image Collection
NOAA Photo Library
Public Domain Vectors
searchable database of vector images
The Visible Human Project
The NLM Visible Human Project has created publicly-available complete, anatomically detailed, three-dimensional representations of a human male body and a human female body. Specifically, the VHP provides a public-domain library of cross-sectional cryosection, CT, and MRI images obtained from one male cadaver and one female cadaver. The Visible Man data set was publicly released in 1994 and the Visible Woman in 1995.

Mutopia
sheet music published under Creative Commons licensing, please reuse and attribute in accordance with the the license criteria

ADE Toolkit OER Hub, Common Core for Educators
Adult Learning Zone: A Designers for Learning Project, OER Hub
CC OER, Open Courseware Repositories
K-12 and higher ed repositories with open courseware and LMS tools
EdHub: The Educators Resource Network OER Hub
Media Literacy Education and Youth Media OER Hub
Merlot
The MERLOT system provides access to curated online learning and support materials and content creation tools, led by an international community of educators, learners and researchers.
MIT Open Courseware
Open source courseware and classroom tools provided by and used by MIT.
The Visible Human Project
The NLM Visible Human Project has created publicly-available complete, anatomically detailed, three-dimensional representations of a human male body and a human female body. Specifically, the VHP provides a public-domain library of cross-sectional cryosection, CT, and MRI images obtained from one male cadaver and one female cadaver. The Visible Man data set was publicly released in 1994 and the Visible Woman in 1995.
WikiEducator
an open and constantly growing Wiki on open pedagogy and open teaching resources

OER Commons, Videos for the Classroom

Selection Criteria and Evaluation of OER

Evaluation of Open Educational Resources is subjective because only you know the needs of your specific course, class, and instructional plans. Several guidelines on evaluating OER have been published openly to assist in resource evaluation. Below are a few of our favorites.

Checklist for Evaluating Open Educational Resources (OER)
"Checklist for Evaluating Open Educational Resources (OER)" by ACC Office of Instructional & Faculty Development is licensed under CC BY 4.0
OER LibGuide, Central Michigan University
Includes questions to help with OER evaluation.
Faculty Guide for Evaluating Open Education Resources
This guide is a creation of the BCOER, a group of BC
postsecondary librarians working together to support the
use of quality Open Educational Resources (OER). For
more information about BCOER and its activities, go to
open.bccampus.ca.
OERs and Accessability
This resource gives tips on evaluating OERs for accessibility as well as creating accessible OERs.