LibGuides: Faculty Resources: Open Education Resources (OER)

Useful links

LibGuides home page
Browse through all CNU library guides here.
CNU Library home page
Reach all of our library services and resources, as well as the CNU homepage.
A-Z Database page
Browse a full list of our library databases here.
Catalog
Browse CNU's physical collection of books.

Contact us

Email: library@cnsu.edu -- All questions and suggestions are welcome. We're eager to help.

Quick help: Walk-up hours (generally M-F) are posted in the library.

Schedule an appointment: Meet with a librarian on the topic of your choice.

What is OER?

Open Education Resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials available publicly and for free. The OER movement is dedicated to minimizing the cost of educational materials in order to create more equitable opportunities for learners around the world.

UNESCO: Open Education Resources
Learn more about OER here: what they are, who is involved, and what UNESCO plans for the future of OER.
YouTube Playlist: UNESCO on OER
This series of animated YouTube videos by UNESCO further explains OER and how OER can be used.

OER Collections

OER Commons
The tens of thousands of open resources on OER Commons are free to use in education. Find textbooks in the life sciences, physical sciences, and mathematics here.

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OER Commons forges alliances between trusted content providers and creative users and re-users of OER. In addition to content partnerships, OER Commons, and its creator, ISKME, builds strategic relationships with organizations, consortia, states, districts, and others, in order to develop innovation and new research focused on OER, to advance the field of open education, and to build models for its sustainability.

Supported in part by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, ISKME, the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education, created OER Commons as part of the Foundation’s worldwide OER initiative. From content, to infrastructure, to policies, many individuals and organizations work to make open content for all a reality.
MIT Open Course Ware
Since 2001, MIT OpenCourseWare has been creating new opportunities for millions of learners and educators, sharing Open Educational Resources (OER) from MIT and helping to lead a global revolution in free access to knowledge. MIT OpenCourseWare is a free and open collection of material from thousands of MIT courses, covering the entire MIT curriculum. Use OCW to guide your own life-long learning, or to teach others. MIT does not offer credit or certification to users of OCW – and asks for nothing in return. No enrollment or registration. Freely browse and use OCW materials at your own pace. There's no signup, and no start or end dates.
Merlot
The MERLOT collection consists of tens of thousands of discipline-specific learning materials, learning exercises, and Content Builder webpages, together with associated comments, and bookmark collections, all intended to enhance the teaching experience of using a learning material. All of these items have been contributed by the MERLOT member community, who have either authored the materials themselves, or who have discovered the materials, found them useful, and wished to share their enthusiasm for the materials with others in the teaching and learning community.

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The MERLOT project began in 1997, when the California State University Center for Distributed Learning developed and provided free access to MERLOT. Under the leadership of Chuck Schneebeck, CSU-CDL's Director, MERLOT was modeled after the NSF funded project, "Authoring Tools and An Educational Object Economy (EOE)". Led by Dr. James Spohrer and hosted by Apple Computer, and other industry, university, and government collaborators, the EOE developed and distributed tools to enable the formation of communities engaged in building shared knowledge bases of learning materials.