Textbook Alternatives & Open Educational Resources (OER): More Guides and Resources

"This review provides a summary of all known empirical research on the impacts of OER adoption (including our own). The version originally published here in February 2015 was abstracted from of an article submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal."

A large scale study at the University of Georgia that showed switching from commercial textbooks to OER resources improved students' grades.

A study of over 22,000 students found that 64.2% of students did not purchase the required textbook / course materials solely due to cost.

Provides information and examples of library support for open educational resources (OER) development and distribution.

"helping to improve teaching and learning through digital materials"

"Open Education Global is a member-based, global, non-profit supporting the development and use of open education around the world."

"Our mission is to expand access to education by promoting awareness and adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER). Over 100 colleges are members of our consortium and many more participate in our activities and use the resources posted here."

This site suggests methods and offers templates for approaching a search for OERs.

"This toolkit is intended as a guide for students who are engaging in open pedagogy. The toolkit defines open pedagogy, the benefits of open pedagogy, and the rights and responsibilities that come with being a student creator. Instructors may wish to use this toolkit as a resource to scaffold conversations about open pedagogy with their students and to appropriately prepare them for working in the open."

"A working group from Iowa OER just put together a list of tools used for creating or working with OER, based on the OEN's Open Pedagogy tool list. This includes software, apps, etc broken into use categories, with an index of documentation/tutorials on their use. The tools are also labeled to show if they are free/paid/freemium, and whether they are open or proprietary."
(Email from Abbey Elder (she/they)
Open Access & Scholarly Communication Librarian, Iowa State University
Statewide Open Education Coordinator, Iowa OER)

"Open Author helps you build and publish Open Educational Resources for you and for the benefit of educators and learners everywhere."