Open Educational Resources (OER) by Olga Perkovic and Denise Smith is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Benefits to Faculty
- Materials are accessible and available in many formats
- Low or no cost means students won't forego purchasing required course material and may perform better as a result
- Ability to customize course materials and publish them under a Creative Commons License
- Facilitates online or digital learning
Finding OER
See OER Collections.
Creating OER
If you would like support on how to use OER in your course or if you're interested in adapting, adopting or creating an open textbook, contact Joanne Kehoe oer@mcmaster.ca. You can also use these faculty toolkits and resources to get started.
- Adaptation GuideThis practical resource from BCcampus Open Education provides information on how to adapt or revise an open textbook so that it better fits an instructor's course needs.
- Faculty OER ToolkitThis toolkit from BCcampus Open Education is an introductory resource for faculty interested in adapting, adopting and evaluating OER.
- Getting Started with OERThis webinar presented by Cheryl Cuillier, Open Education Librarian, University of Arizona, shares a wealth of resources on adopting, adapting or creating OER.
- A Guide to Making Open Textbooks with StudentsA handbook for faculty interested in practicing open pedagogy by involving students in the making of open textbooks, ancillary materials, or other Open Educational Resources.
- Modifying an Open Textbook: What You Need to KnowThis is a five-step guide for faculty, and those who support faculty, who want to modify an open textbook. Step-by-step instructions for importing and editing common open textbook file and platform types are included.
- The OER Starter KitThis starter kit has been created to provide instructors with an introduction to the use and creation of open educational resources (OER). The text is broken into five sections: Getting Started, Copyright, Finding OER, Teaching with OER, and Creating OER.
- The OER Starter Kit WorkbookThe OER Starter Kit Workbook includes worksheets to help instructors practice the skills they need to confidently find, use, or even create open educational resources (OER).
- OER ToolkitThis toolkit, available from The Learning Portal, College Libraries Ontario, provides information and tools to help faculty and library staff across all publicly funded colleges in Ontario to understand, engage with, and sustain OER in their work and practice.
- Pressbooks User GuideThis guide will familiarize users to Pressbooks, an online software that enables authors and publishers to format any kind of book or similar resource e.g., textbooks, style guides, workbooks, etc.
- The Rebus Guide to Publishing Open Textbooks (So Far)This guide offers concrete, practical steps to go from the idea of a textbook (or other OER) to the creation of a quality OER.
Anastassiya Yudintseva
Claire Coulter, Scott Cowen, Emma Gooch
Jenni Hayman, Olga Perkovic, Nada Savicevic
- 10 Myths About OER (Accessible)Accessible PDF document about the 10 myths of open educational resources