LibGuides: Textbook Alternatives: Open Educational Resources

Open Educational Resources Repositories

MERLOT II
"A free and open peer reviewed collection of online teaching and learning materials and faculty-developed services contributed and used by an international education community."
OER Commons : Open Educational Resources
Contains more than 50,000 examples of learning and teaching materials. The advanced search option allows you to limit to common-core standards, grade level, and primary user (teacher or student).
Open Courseware Consortium
This site serves as a repository for over 70 providers of OERs. Most of the materials target college-level students. Content is arranged by courses and by providers.
Curriki
A large collection of OERs searchable by topic and audience level. This site focuses on K-12 coursework, but does include some materials for college learners. Registration with the site is free, and required.
Khan Academy
Kahn Academy (or KA) provides video lectures on topics from science and math, and some on subjects in the humanities and economics. Many lectures have accompanying interactive activities and practice questions. The collection is searchable and browsable by general area and sub-topic.
iTunes U
Use the ITunes U app to access courses from colleges and universities. Materials include books, lectures, videos, and more. Users need to have an iTunes Store account to access content.
TedEd
Educational videos that can be "flipped" (or tailored) for a lesson plan. Many videos include assessments, links to additional resources, and discussion starters.

About OERs

Open Educational Materials are free digital learning materials that may be reused and/or customized. They often use Creative Commons copyright. OERs can include:

Lesson plans

Textbooks

Learning modules

Lecture notes and slides

Syllabi

Assignments

Podcasts and videos

Training materials

Creative Commons
"Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools," including Creative Commons copyright licenses.
Creative Commons Licenses
This guide provides detailed info on Creative Commons copyright.
Copyright
This guide provides detailed info on copyright considerations, including fair use provisions for educational use of materials.

University Sponsored Courseware

Several universities have made available the educational course materials developed by their faculty.

The educational materials for each course may include syllabi, lectures, notes, powerpoint presentations, readings, assignments, and video or audio lectures, depending on the course, the semester, and the professor.

Subject Specific OER Sites

Ilumina
iLumina is a digital library of sharable undergraduate teaching materials for chemistry, biology, physics, mathematics, and computer science