No Cost Resources

Introduction to OER/Free Materials

Described below is an overview of the process to search for and implement free Open Education Resource (OER) materials. For assistance, contact your Librarian. 
 

Researching OER and other free materials is going to take some time and some work. We recommend planning for time to search during the Summer break as the Winter break does not provide enough time. 

Listed below are some OER repositories from the University Library and CSU Chancellor's Office. It may get pretty overwhelming so we recommend doing a quick search to see which repository you like best. 

  • If you are able to utilize one OER material for your whole class, then great!
  • If you need a combination of OER materials for your class, we recommend searching up each learning objective to see if there is an OER available. 

OER Repositories 

  • Cool4Ed: Search for over 400 free and open textbooks from across 97 unique courses.
  • CSULB Library Guides: Use the library catalog to link to articles, book chapters, and journals.
  • LibreTexts: Multi-institutional collaborative venture to develop the next generation of open-access texts for STEM, Social Sciences, and the Humanities.
  • Mason OER Metafinder (MOM): Real-time federated search for OER content. 
  • OER Commons: Public digital library of OER materials
  • OpenStax: Non-profit from Rice University whose mission is to give every student the tools they need to be successful in the classroom. 
  • Open Textbook Library: Make a difference in your students' lives with free, openly-license textbooks.
  • Skills Commons: Free and open digital library of workforce training materials.

If you are able to utilize one OER material for your whole class, then go ahead and list it in your syllabus. 

If you have a combination of OER materials by week, then make sure to keep track of all the different OER you found worthy for each learning objective for your class. Afterwards, compile them together for your syllabus. 

For Example:

  • Week 1: Description and URL/Link to OER
  • Week 2: Description and URL/Link to OER
  • Week 3: Description and URL/Link to OER

If you plan on incorporating the OER materials into Canvas in multiple weekly modules instead of just linking out from your syllabus, please make sure they are accessible. For more information, visit the Accessible Course Design webpage. 

 

Begin teaching knowing that not only are you saving students money, but that every student has access to the material on the first day of classes.