LibGuides: Open Educational Resources: Overview

Contact Us

Library Services

Ask a Librarian: Library@csmd.edu

La Plata: 301-934-7676

Amy Spitz
Instruction & OER Librarian (Faculty)
aspitz@csmd.edu

Leonardtown: 240-725-5360

Mary Johnson
Interim Library Director
mbjohnson@csmd.edu

Prince Frederick: 443-550-6060

What are Open Educational Resources (OER)?

Open Educational Resources are educational materials (including lesson plans, textbooks, etc.) that are freely and openly available, often with open licenses that allow anyone to use, customize, and share the content.

OER materials include:

Learning Content
- Full Courses
- Course Material (syllabi, activities, assignments, quizzes or tests, homework, etc.)
- Content Modules
- Learning Objects (infographics, videos, charts, graphs, etc.)
- Collections
- Journals
Tools
- Software to develop content
- Learning Management Systems
- Software for organizing and searching content
Implementation Resources
- Creative Commons Licenses
- Other intellectual property and copyright resources

Why use OER?

Encourages collaborative, engaging, and participatory teaching and learning opportunities
Low cost, especially compared to traditional textbooks
Flexibility in content and format

Learn More

Open Educational Resources (Bay View Analytics)
Reports on OER in relation to online/distance learning, curriculum, and experiences of faculty and students.
Open Education (Creative Commons)
"The Open Education program at Creative Commons works to minimize barriers to effective education."
Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC)
"SPARC is a non-profit advocacy organization that supports systems for research and education that are open by default and equitable by design."
Open Knowledge Foundation
A non-profit organization dedicated to pursuing an open future for knowledge through policies, partnerships, and support for people, organizations, and industries.
Open Education Week
"OE Week raises awareness and highlights innovative open education successes worldwide." It occurs annually, usually in early March.
Cape Town Open Education Declaration
"A worldwide effort to promote open educational resources that anyone can use, customize, improve and redistribute without constraint."
Make Textbooks Affordable (Student Public Interest Research Groups)
Campaign by Student PIRGS dedicated to improving access to affordable high quality learning materials.
Open Textbook Alliance
"The Open Textbook Alliance is a nationwide project of the Student PIRGs uniting student leaders who are working to bring open textbooks to college campuses and protect students in the textbook market."

Online Communities for Open Education

Community College Consortium for OER (CCCOER)
"CCCOER promotes the awareness and adoption of open educational policies, practices, and resources" and functions "as a community of practice for open education [providing] resources, support, and opportunities for collaboration."
M.O.S.T. Commons Groups
Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.) Commons has groups for resource-sharing based on locations, subjects, and grade levels.
Open Professionals Education Network (OPEN)
Created to support winners of Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College & Career Training (TAACCCT) grants. This website includes resources, best practices and supporting documents, suggestions for finding OER, and definitions of multiple types of "open" initiatives.
Open Education Global
"Open Education Global (OEG) is a global, members based, non-profit organization supporting the development and use of open education around the world."
WikiEducator
Community with resources for building OERs, networking, free content for e-learning, and more.
OpenContent
Blog and other resources (including an open textbook savings calculator) about OER and Open Access in academia.