Open Access at Duke University Press

Why Use OER?  OER has been shown to increase student learning while breaking down barriers of affordability and accessibility. Feldstein et al. (2012) conducted a research study at Virginia State University, where OER were implemented across nine different courses in the business department. Researchers found that students in courses that used OER more frequently had better grades and lower failure and withdrawal rates than their counterparts in courses that did not use OER. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, 7 in 10 students didn’t purchase a textbook because it was too expensive. One in five college students has skipped or deferred a class due to the price of the required learning resources. The cost of textbooks is rising at a rate of 4 times inflation. 60% of students have delayed purchasing textbooks until they’ve received their financial aid.

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OERs give faculty the ability to customize course materials, creating the “perfect” course packet or textbook instead of being bound to a traditional one-size-fits-all model. Customization gives faculty control over the quality of their course materials as well as the type and timing of updates to textbooks and other resources.  (Source: Penn State the benefits of OER)

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                                                     OPEN EDUCATION RESOURCES

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https://openstax.org/subjects     OpenStax - Rice University   From Rice University - "Our textbooks are being used in 48% of college and universities in the U.S. and over 100 countries, but there’s still room to grow. Alongside our efforts to expand our library, we have been taking steps toward improving student learning and advancing research in learning science. Access is just the beginning – we want to make educational tools better for a new generation of learners."

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University of Minnesota Open Textbook Library These books have been reviewed by faculty from a variety of colleges and universities to assess their quality. These books can be downloaded for no cost, or printed at low cost. All textbooks are either used at multiple higher education institutions; or affiliated with an institution, scholarly society, or professional organization. The library currently includes 670 textbooks, with more being added all the time.

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Saylor Academy Open Textbooks   Saylor Academy’s courses are built from curated OER and are openly-licensed for reuse — you can adopt and adapt our materials to meet your needs.

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OER Commons    Start with pre-written texts and modules, edit freely, and create learning modules through OER Commons.

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https://oertx.highered.texas.gov/   OERTX is a free digital repository of open educational resources (OER) for Texas students and educational institutions. The repository is searchable. You can also contribute to the repository and collaborate with others.

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Merlot  Over 93,000 learning materials available. The MERLOT project began in 1997, when the California State University Center for Distributed Learning (CSU-CDL at www.cdl.edu) developed and provided free access to MERLOT (www.merlot.org).

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deepblue.lib.umich.edu - Deep Blue provides access to the work that makes the University of Michigan a leader in research, teaching, and creativity.

 

https://oer.psu.edu/psu-created-oer/  Browse Penn State’s collection of faculty-created open textbooks and courses