Open Educational Resources (OER)

OER can be created as original content from scratch by you or by adapting and remixing other OER and openly licensed materials. 

OER Tools: Documentation for Instructors
This guide includes a detailed list of content creation, editing, and documentation tools along with annotation, collaboration and homework assessment tools. 

Remixing OER is one of its most promising benefits for instructors. Remixing means adapting the OER for your needs by editing content, reordering it, and combining it with other material.

Useful resources to consult:

• Review the Creative Commons page to learn more.
• Consult the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Open Educational Resources for guidance on how to interpret Fair Use in the development of OER.
• Review the OER Adoption workflow document

• LibreTexts Remixer

  These tutorials provide information about how to remix textbooks using the LibreTexts platform

• Creating a Remix on OER Commons

  Learn how to create remixes on the OER Commons platform.

• Modifying an OER Textbook: What You Need to Know

  This guide from the Open Education Network (OEN) walks you through the process of editing and remixing OER.

• IssueLab: Remixing OER: A Guide to License Compatibility

• Authoring Open Textbooks
  This guide is for faculty authors, librarians, project managers and others who are involved in the production of open textbooks includes a checklist for getting started, publishing program case studies, textbook organization and elements, writing resources and an overview of useful tools.
   
• Rebus Guide to Publishing Open Textbooks (So Far)

  A living repository of collective knowledge, written to equip all those who want to publish open textbooks with the resources they need. Representing two years of collaboration, innumerable conversations and exchanges, and a wide range of collective knowledge and experience, the Guide is a book-in-progress and will evolve and grow over time. Join the project discussion and help shape its development.

• Guide to Developing Open Textbooks
  How to guide to assist teachers, teaching support personnel and educational technology administrators to: understand the value of open education, OER and open textbooks for teaching and learning; appreciate the potential value of developing an open textbook platform; select appropriate technology to build an open textbook platform, using either existing services offered free on the Internet or open-source tools, based on local needs and resources; and build, manage and maintain an open textbook platforms.

• Libertext -  online platform for the construction, remixing, customization, and dissemination of open educational resources (OER). Need to register and create an account in subject collections to access tools. 
• OpenAuthor - OER Commons 
  Easy to use basic editor, drag-drop capabilities.
  • Overview of tool
  • Help Center 
• PubPub -  provides infrastructure for each part of the publishing process, from drafting documents, conducting peer review, and hosting entire journal and book websites to collecting and displaying reader feedback and analytics. OU has a community stated on this platform. 
• Scalar - Alliance for Networking Visual Culture 
  A free, open-source authoring and publishing platform that’s designed to make it easy for authors to write long-form, born-digital scholarship online.
• WikiBooks - open wiki editor 
  • Using Wikibooks Guide

Content on this page adapted from the University of Texas Libraries and Iowa University Libraries.