What are OER? And Open Textbooks?
OER stands for Open Educational Resources, and is a term that refers to any educational resources that are typically:
- Free to access online
- Low cost to get a print copy
- Licensed by the author/creator with rights that are less restrictive than copyright (i.e. all rights reserved). This license typically (though not always) includes the right of any user to copy (digitally) & print the text as well as the right to adapt it as desired for use in a course, as long as authorship is attributed and use is non-commercial.
Open Textbook is a specific type of OER that is designed to be a free or low cost substitute for a traditional textbook.
A great place to get a lot of basic, general questions answered is here: Open Education Handbook 2014.
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For those new to Open Textbooks
- 7 Things You Should Know About Open Textbook PublishingWritten by a leader in the community college open textbook movement, a great intro to the main concepts behind open textbooks.
- Taming the Textbook MarketLibrarian Steven Bell's commentary on the price of textbooks and the options open textbooks offer.
- "Janet Spencer"(Video) The basic concepts and process behind use of open textbooks.
- Erik Christensen, physics professor(Video) Testimonial on adoption of open textbook.
- Lisa McDonnell, sociology professor(Video) Testimonial on adoption of open textbook.
- Creative Commons Videos(Video) There are several here, each explaining different aspects of licensing and how it works
- College Open TextbooksGreat way to tap into a community of educators interested in and using open textbooks.
- Community College Consortium for Open Educational ResourcesLike the link above, a community of educators in support of use of open textbooks.
Helping Students Use Their Digital Textbook
- Getting to Know a Digital Textbook Article written by Dr. Terence Cavanaugh, professor at the Univeristy of North Florida detailing ways to make your open digital textbook more familiar and helpful to students by showing students how they can use free online programs to create their own audio textbooks, create study notes from their text and more
Author of this Guide |
 Kate Hess |
OEC - Open Education Consortium
Resource Files & Worksheets
- Finding & Selecting OER webinar May 2012: Webinar Archive and Slides are both available.
Other Helpful Resources
- Automated Text Readability RatingType or paste a portion of the text and you'll receive a rating on readability, including an approximate grade level
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