Finding OER
OER search engines
- OER metafinderThe Mason OER Metafinder (MOM) searches across multiple OER textbook repositories
- OASIS Search for openly available contentAn OER textbook search engine from SUNY Geneseo
- EBSCO Discovery OER SearchSearches across multiple open textbook sites for OER.
- Creative Commons Image SearchSearch online for images that can be used for free (with attribution)
You can also do a Google Advanced Search and set the Usage Rights to "Free to use, share, or modify" to locate OER.
OER subject guides
- OER by Subject - OASISSearch for OER by subject via SUNY-Geneseo's search tool
- Discipline-Specific Resources from VC/UHV LibraryA list of large, popular repositories of OER separated by subject.
- OER guides by subjectGoogle Docs made by Portland Community College librarians in response to requests for help from instructors.
OER Textbook Collections
- OpenStaxAn initiative of Rice University, this site provides access to peer-reviewed titles in a variety of fields.
- Open Textbook LibraryHundreds of complete, open college-level textbooks. Many include peer-reviews.
- BC OpenEdA curated collection of open textbooks, many reviewed by British Columbia faculty.
- Saylor.orgSaylor offers full courses online. Their texts and content may be useful in your own courses.
- CSU COOL4EdMaterials from the California Open Online Library for Education (COOL4Ed)
- Boundless (Lumen Learning)Free online textbooks, now somewhat dated.
- American Institute of Mathematics TextbooksA list of open textbooks in various subdisciplines of Mathematics approved by the AIM editorial board.
- Open Access TextsOER textbooks in Mathematics and Physics
- Libre TextsA collection of OER from across the U.S.
- WikiBooksA collection of open-content, collectively written textbooks (similar to Wikipedia).
Broader Open Access Book Collections
(Note: these are free to access, but not necessarily available to revise and remix as OER are)
- OAPEN: Open Access Publishing in European NetworksFreely accessible academic books, primarily in the humanities and social sciences.
- Springer Open Access BooksOpen access academic books and chapters.
- IntechOpenHigh quality academic books in the sciences
- National Academies PressFreely available books in the sciences, engineering, and medicine.
- DOAB: Directory of Open Access BooksA central site for accessing open books
- Project GutenbergThe full text of more than 50,000 classic public domain works.
- Google BooksA massive collection of scanned books, with full-text available for those in the public domain.
OER Courses
- CourseraLarge library of MOOCs, some of which have material freely licensed for re-use.
- EdXLibrary of college-level courses from a variety of high-profile universities. Some materials are freely licensed for re-use.
- Johns Hopkins School of Public Health Open CoursewareOpen public health courses and materials.
- Lumen LearningOffers complete courses composed of mostly open materials that can be copied and adapted for free. Lumen also offers partnering with institutions to manage and adapt resources for courses at a cost to students.
- MIT Open CoursewareOpen access courses from MIT.
- Noba - Psychology ModulesA series of modules in the field of Psychology from Introductory courses to more advanced topics.
- Open Course LibraryThe WA Open Course Library project offers 81 of Washington's most enrolled courses. There are a lot of great readings in these course files.
- OpenLearnOpen Learning initiative from the Open University in the UK.
- Open Learning InitiativeComplete courses from Carnegie Mellon University.
- Open MichiganOpen courseware from the University of Michigan.
- Open Yale CoursesOpen access to a selection of introductory courses taught at Yale University.
- Oxford University PodcastsOpen Oxford U audio and video series.
- Saylor.orgSaylor offers full courses online. Their texts and content may be useful in your own courses.
OER Repositories
- MerlotThis repository is one of the biggest and best known places to find and share teaching resources.
- OER CommonsSeeks to collect and distribute a variety of OER at various levels and in many subject areas.
- Library of Congress Digital CollectionsA large and growing collection of digitized historical material
- Digital Public Library of AmericaImages, text, video, and sounds from across the U.S.
- Galileo Open Learning materialsOER from throughout the University System of Georgia.
- Open CultureA repository of free resources on culture and education, in all formats.
- Community of Online Research Assignments (CORA)A place to find open access educational resources for library instruction.
Multimedia OER Collections
- Creative Commons SearchSearch online for images that can be used for free (with attribution)
- Critical CommonsMany media clips for use in teaching, mostly available under Fair Use guidelines.
- DnaTubeFree science and medical videos
- HippoCampusA repository of multimedia academic content developed primarily for high school and college students.
- JamendoRoyalty-free music available to use in videos.
- Khan AcademyHundreds of short educational videos covering many subjects; especially strong collections in science and math
- Moving Image ArchiveFree films and videos from Internet Archive
- PhETInteractive simulations for science and math (mostly OER).
- PRIMOPeer-reviewed instructional materials online, "created by librarians to teach people about discovering, accessing and evaluating information in networked environments."
- Public Domain Review Images, Films, and AudioCollections in the public domain.
- TEDA well-known collection of CC-licensed talks on topics of all sorts.
- VimeoA wide variety of video content, some of which is open access.
- Wikimedia CommonsFree, high quality images for research.
Need help with OER?
Carmichael Library can help you locate more information about OER, including where to find relevant resources. Contact Charlotte Ford (by email or at 205-665-6100) or any of the other librarians at UM.
We also welcome your suggestions for additional OER resources for this guide!
The UM Bookstore
The UM Bookstore is committed to helping faculty find and use OER that will work for them. Barnes and Noble Courseware has been developed to support OER in various classes across disciplines. Contact Marleigh Campbell for more information (via email or by phone at 205-665-6575).
This guide adapts and reuses major portions of the University of Pittsburgh and University of Illinois libraries' OER guides, with permission.
