After reviewing how to prepare to use OER, you're now ready to search for high quality instructional and learning materials for your course. There are several options for how to find OER:
You may also search by specific OER type, e.g. courses and related materials, textbooks, journals, images, or multimedia. To help you with your search, a compilation of OER for higher education across multiple disciplines, organized by type, is listed in this guide below.
IMPORTANT: All collections listed here offer access to their content for free. However, usage rights vary and may require individual assessment to identify parameters for use. Materials may be open access, use different types of Creative Commons licenses, or be in the public domain.
OER repositories contain a variety of materials that can extend beyond textbooks to include lectures, videos, activities, and other types of content. These repositories act as a one-stop source of general educational content offered for free.
These repositories are suggested as a starting point for researching OER, and include the most rigorously reviewed materials.
OER search engines serve as tools to help discovery of relevant, high quality open resources. Suggested search engines follow:
Browse or search the collections below for OER focusing on complete courses. They may also include lectures, readings, and other course materials.
Open textbooks are free educational materials made available through Creative Commons licensing. Collections below may host some of the same books, but focus on different fields or disciplines.
With abundant textbook options to choose from, try beginning your search with the suggested resources below; these consist of the most commonly used collections for OER.
Open SUNY Textbooks
"Open SUNY Textbooks is an open textbook publishing initiative established by State University of New York libraries." Collection consists of high-quality, peer-reviewed textbooks for use in higher education instruction and learning.
Open journals and databases are less numerous than other types of OER, but can still be found. These can supplement research of periodicals found in the Compton College Library databases.
The collections of OER images listed here may include stock and community contributed photos, graphics, illustrations, art, and works from museums and U.S. government agencies.
These collections are suggested as a starting point for image research due to their overall diversity, breadth and quality of content.
The OER audio collections listed here contain a variety of complete audio files and clips that cover songs, sound effects, remixed works, beats and instrumentals.
These OER video collections include a diverse range of video works. Materials may include educational videos, films, commercials, presentations, and more.
Critical Commons
"Critical Commons is a public media archive and fair use advocacy network that supports the transformative reuse of media in scholarly and creative contexts." Videos posted are primarily presented under Fair Use guidelines.