Library Guides: Open Educational Resources: Finding OER

Three Steps to Finding OER

1. Identify Keywords
Start with broad keywords and narrow them down to fit the scope of your needs.

2. Compile a List of ALL available OER materials related to your keyword
This should be a kitchen sink list that includes ALL of the available OER that matches the keyword search above.

3. Evaluate the sources in your list
Once you have a list of all the available matches, it's time to narrow your list down by evaluating the sources.

(reused and adapted from Abby Elder CC by 4.0)

This work ([Scholar seated at reading table], by Razi, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya), identified by the National Library of Medicine, is free of known copyright restrictions.

General OER Resources

Faculty Select This link opens in a new window
Faculty Select is for SU faculty only. Faculty Select is a single, easy-to-use interface, where you can easily find and access quality Open Educational Resources (OER) to support your courses, and search and request access to relevant e-books from top academic publishers. NOTE: If you see an error page when attempting to access this link, click the "Sign In" button in the top right corner and sign in with your SU login.
Description provided by the vendor:
EBSCO Faculty Select empowers academic libraries to directly support textbook affordability efforts. Through a single interface, faculty can search and access quality open textbooks, Open Educational Resources (OER), EBSCO’s eBook Open Access (OA) Collection and request access to unrestricted library e-books from top academic publishers. By leveraging free open materials and low-cost library-licensed resources, faculty can transform their courses and reduce the cost burden for students.

Before searching subject-specific OER (which has been pulled from various sources on the internet which may or may not be updated regularly) you may want to try to the following OER repositories and search tools.

OER Commons
An online library of OER and other freely available instructional materials
OASIS
Openly Available Sources Integrated Search (OASIS) is a search tool from SUNY Geneseo's Milne Library that "aims to make the discovery of open content easier." With a repository of 115 different sources and 455,492 records this search tool won the 2019 OER Curation Award for Excellence.
Mason OER Metafinder
This search tool from George Mason University is allows real-time, federated, simultaneous searches across 22 different sources of OER. Mason OER Metafinder searches the common repositories, OpenStax, OER Commons, and MERLOT as well as website such as HathiTrust, DPLA, Internet Archive, and the NYPL Digital Collections.
Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.) Commons
Sponsored by the University System of Maryland, this "is an online space designed to support faculty and staff in discovering materials, collaborating with colleagues, and contributing OER to improve curricula."
MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Online Teaching and Learning)
Includes tens of thousands of learning materials, learning exercises, and Content Builder webpages for creating teaching and learning materials

Finding OER

"How to Find and Evaluate OER" by Abbey Elder is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 International license:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/