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Faculty Library Guide

Open Access and Open Educational Resources

Open Access

Content made publicly and legally accessible and freely usable and shareable. This designation takes many forms: research publications- like books, articles, and texts- software, data sets, and even media like video, music, lectures, or art. 

Open Education 

Teaching, learning, and research resources created within the philosophy of open access. These materials, usually called open educational resources (OER), are aimed at reducing barriers to educational content and tools, and creating a wider and more robust pool of information available for all. 

 

What are the benefits?

  • Faster transmission of ideas
  • Greater visibility for authors 
  • Larger pool of sources for students/researchers
  • Helps to reduce inequalities in information access
  • Professors have access to current information
  • Access to academic research beyond a degree
  • Increases sharing among researchers

Please consult our Open Access/Open Educational Resources Research Guide

 

Open Access Resources: Open Education Resources:
Peter Suber's Open Access Overview What is Open Education? (from The Open University)
"What is Open Access?" by Charles W. Bailey Jr. What is Open Education? (from Opensource.com)
Budapest Open Access Initiative Why OER? (from Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources)
Open Access 101 (video by Karen Rustad) Open Education Resources Introduction (video by Brendan Walsh)
Open Access Explained! (video by PHD TV) Open Educational Resources at Santa Fe College

Where Do I Find OER Materials?

Textbooks

Thousands of academic-quality textbooks from numerous publishing sources can be found in the links outlined on our OER Textbooks page, arranged loosely by subject area. 

 

Teaching Materials

Many educators have made materials such as slides, tutorials, graphics, handouts, presentations, and assessments available for others to use in their campus or virtual classrooms, and to help students master specific contents frequently found in your courses. Some of the more robust collections include:

 

Research Materials

Additionally, there are millions of open access journals, books, and different types of media that can be used as course materials. The range of sources is extremely large and varied, so you might wish to start by reviewing the lists published on our OER Research Guide