Open Educational Resources (OERs) are teaching and learning materials that exist in the public domain or have been released under an open license (such as a Creative Commons) that permits no-cost access, and allows for use, adaptation and redistribution with no or limited restrictions (Definition adapted from UNESCO and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation).
Open Educational Resources can be accessed by anyone for free, helping keep education costs more affordable for students and creating learning opportunities for those who cannot afford the costs of higher education. Remember that as a GBC student, you also have FREE access to all of the Library's resources, which are specifically selected to support the programs and courses at GBC.
Explore more OER texbooks, journals and other resources in the following collections:
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization with the goal to make it easier for creators to share their work and/or build upon the works of others consistent with the rules of copyright. Creative Commons offers standard, easy to use and understand copyright licenses that anyone can apply to their work to allow others to share, remix, or use the work without having to contact the copyright owner to ask for permission. Creative Commons licenses can allow creators to share their work for free, while protecting their work from being sold for profit by someone else.
Each creator can choose which parts of the CC license to apply to their work. The optional components are:
BY: credit must be given to the creator.
SA: Adaptations of a work must be shared under the exact same type of CC license.
NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted. Someone else cannot profit from this work.
ND: No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted.
For example, a CC BY-SA-NC license would require users to credit the creator of the work, release any adaptations of the work under the same CC license, and only allow non-commercial sharing of the work.
This information is adapted from the the CC website, where you can learn more about CC license types: https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses/
Find information about the making of an OER ebook or textbook in the front matter of the resource. Front matter is any content before the introduction and main body of the book. Sections commonly found in the front matter include “preface”, “forward”, acknowledgements”, “attribution”, “publication information”, “usage rights”, and “copyright”.
Use information in the front matter to find who created, contributed to, and/or revised the content of the OER. Who are they? What is their experience as a professional, academic or educator in this field? What other life experience gives them reliable knowledge on this topic? Front matter may include information about the author such as their professional role or bio. Other times, additional research on the author may be needed (google them!). OERs are often produced collaboratively, so the front matter may include information on multiple authors and their relationships to the work (lead author, contributor, editor, etc.).
There are examples of OERs that have been produced with student contributions, usually as part of a course using open pedagogy. These OER may still contain valuable information but be aware that the experience level of the author will be different than someone who has completed credentials and advanced further in their career.
For OERs that are adapted from other sources, the front matter will include information about the main texts that the OER is based on. These often include other OERs (produced with a Creative Commons license) but can also include other copyrighted texts where the copyright holder (an author or publisher) has given permission for their content to be used in or converted into an OER.
The description or front matter of an OER will usually describe who or what the content was produced for (for a specific college or university course vs. as a more general resource for college or university students vs. as a resource for the public). The intended purpose of the source and its intended audience will influence the content of the source, what subjects are covered, and how are they presented.
Some OERs are described as “living documents”, meaning they may be updated and revised over an extended period of time. Just as with other textbooks, there may be multiple editions and versions of an OER as the content is updated to meet current learning needs.
Check the Contents or Table of Contents to evaluate whether a resource will have the information you need. Scan the titles and page numbers of sections in the OER to get a clearer idea of what subjects are covered and at what length.
