Finding OER

Finding OER: A Step by Step for Subject Specialists

UTSA Libraries has compiled some great starting points for OER searches, below.  Select from any of the following options, depending on the type of material that your faculty need and their course(s). Follow this process all the way through to the end in order to find the best matches for the course(s).

OER for UTSA Programs and Courses

UTSA Librarians have done a lot of the footwork already to match OER to high enrollment UTSA courses. Check these guides for OER matches as a first step.  You can link to the URL on each page when sharing with faculty or share links to individual resources.

1. OER at UTSA . Explore OER at UTSA to find specific OER and disciplinary discovery points for UTSA-specific programs.
2. UTSA OER: Course Matches.UTSA OER: Course Matches compiles OER for specific UTSA courses.

OER Metafinders

Mason OER Metafinder

Mason OER Metafinder “performs a simultaneous search of open educational materials.” Mason Metafinder is a real-time, federated search, which means your results will continue to update and populate after you have get your results page.  Mason Metafinder searches 21 major OER repositories, including OpenStax, OER Commons, and MERLOT and also includes open access resources from Hathitrust, DPLA, Internet Archive, and NYPL Digital Collections.

With the OASIS OER Metafinder, developed and launched by SUNY Geneseo’s Milne Library, you can narrow the scope of your search to textbooks, courses, course materials and more. The ability to filter by CC license, simulations, and by reviews are also unique features of this discovery tool.

 

OERTX: Texas Core Courses

Is the course a Texas Core Course? If so, OERTX is an OER hub that has been tailored to contain materials especially for these courses. OERTX is a meta-site that serves up resources from OER Commons that are being used in Texas Core Courses. Search or browse for OER by keyword or subject. Browse OER by repository or by Texas institution. Opportunities for collaboration  are also available through groups; OpenAuthor is an easy-to-use OER authoring tool available through OERTX.

Search OERTX

CC-Licensed Exercises and Assignments

If faculty need assignments and exercises that are CC-Licensed, OER Commons has a rich collection for all courses. If faculty are teaching a Texas Core Course, OERTX will be a great resource for ancillaries. Keep in mind that these won’t be a plug and play type of ancillary with integrated technology; they are stand-alone assignments and exercises with Creative Commons licenses that can be re-used and remixed.

Search OER Commons

Search OERTX

Pressbooks Directory: OER for Cloning and Tailoring on UTSA Pressbooks

UTSA Libraries partners with Academic Innovation to support UTSA’s instance of Pressbooks: UTSA Open Textbooks.  As an institutional Pressbooks subscriber, UTSA faculty can search the Pressbooks Directory in order to discover OER textbooks across all PressbooksEDU networks. The beauty of these OER is they can be easily cloned on the UTSA Open Textbook network, depending on the level of Creative Commons licensing, and can also be tailored for a course. The Pressbooks Directory will indicate the Creative Commons License for each book, indicating how and if the book can be cloned. Pressbooks will also show the number of H5P activities in a book if faculty are interested in engagement questions.

Search the Pressbooks Directory

Still Nothing. What Next?

If after searching the above repositories, OER are still eluding you, try these additional steps, below.

Identify OER in Development

ALA SPARC Libraries and OER Google Group

When OER searches come up empty, librarian and faculty on this distribution list are awesome.  OER advocates across the nation and globe participate in discussions on the ALA SPARC Libraries and OER Google Group.  UTSA Subject Specialists can reach out for assistance with pretty much anything OER-related: from finding OER for a specific course to help with any OER-related topic.

Rebus Community Contributor Marketplace

The Rebus Community Contributor Markeplace is a great place to find calls for open textbook projects that are in development, respond to those calls, see and respond to calls for reviewers, and so much more. If you aren’t able to find existing OER that faculty can adopt, the next best thing is letting them know that open textbooks in their areas are in development and provide them with an expected completion date for a project.

Find Library Resources

If you have exhausted all of the options above, the next step is to to offer library resources that are available at no additional cost to students. While library resources don’t meet the strict definition of OER because they lack the copyright flexibility inherent with true OER, which have Creative Commons licenses, many faculty find library resources to be a great fit for their curriculum.

1. Search Library Quick Search first to find resources that we already have access to.
2. Verify that unlimited simultaneous user access is available for any titles that you share.
3. Save the permalinks for any potential resources.
4. To check for institutional access for books we don’t have, log in to Gobi.
5. Search the title of the book and select e-book as the format.
6. Check for e-books with simultaneous, multi-user access.
7. The best options for simultaneous multi-user access are databases that provide digital rights management free e-books where chapters are available as PDF downloads: Wiley, ScienceDirect, JSTOR, Project Muse, and Taylor and Francis are databases that typically have a DRM-free model for e-books.

Recommend Grants

Regardless of whether you were successful or not in finding OER, always share grant information with faculty.  Faculty can apply for Adopt a Free Textbook grants from the UTSA Libraries if an OER search is successful.  If the search is not fruitful, sharing information about Development Grants from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and information about soon to come Innovation Grants from the UTSA Libraries are a great way to incentivize faculty to contribute to the OER landscape for sparse areas. Since authoring an OER is a considerable undertaking when compared to adopting an existing OER, these grants provide the much needed funding for faculty to hire teaching assistants to code in Pressbooks, find teaching materials, tailor existing OER, and more.