College of Education: Library and Research Resources
This Education Subject Guide contains general library, information literacy and library research information for the College of Education. It also links to more specific information on College of Education departments.
What are Open Educational Resources
“OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. Open educational resources includes full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge” A report from the Hewlett Foundation’s Education Program. (http://www.hewlett.org/programs/education-program/open-educational-resources).
Open Educational Resources (OER) are materials and resources offered freely and openly for anyone to use and, under some licenses, to re-mix improve, and redistribute. OER include textbooks, courses, course material, learning modules, learning objects, collections and journals. Most of OER are under terms of Creative Commons.
Open Access SPARC There are four primary mechanisms that can be used to enable Open Access. Check this out!
Discussion about Open Textbooks
There is much discussion on the growth of online textbooks. Below are some suggestions for learning about this controversy.
- Textbooks vs Tablets
As tablets have become more prevalent, a new debate has formed over whether K-12 school districts should switch from print textbooks to digital textbooks on tablets.
Post Secondary Open Education Resources
Be sure to visit the Utah OER for OER resources AND UEN PRESSBOOKS to access software to create your own OER books.
- The UALC and UEN Symposium 2023 website contains recorded OER sessions and examples of OER textbooks being designed and developed in Utah
- Affordable Learning GeorgiaA University System of Georgia (USG) initiative to promote student success by providing affordable textbook alternatives. A one-stop service to help USG faculty and staff identify lower-cost, electronic, free, and Open Educational Resources, building on the cost-effective subscription resources provided by GALILEO and the USG libraries. A California State University-MERLOT partner benefit service
- California Learning Resource Network (CLRN)Learning Resources for the "free textbooks" link. Intended for k-12 and higher ed. Need to set up an account.
- Community College Consortium of Open Education ResourcesThe primary goal of the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) is to create awareness of OER and help colleges to identify, create and/or repurpose existing OER to improve teaching and learning and make education more accessible for all learners.
- Community College Open Textbook CollaborativeGo to Open Textbook Content.
- Education PortalOur expert instructors cover Math, Science, English, History, Test Prep and more for high school and college.
- Flat World KnowledgeFlat World Knowledge is the college textbook publishing company that is committed to personalization and affordability. By using technology and innovation business models to lower costs, we are increasing and personalizing learning. Some cost incurred.
- Free E-Book Sites from RRUTRRUT stands for Reading Resources You can Trust. We blog about websites that allows you to download free eBooks. Recommended websites allows you download ebooks in epub, pdf & zip format.
- GeoScience LibretextsLook to the Blue Banner to find the wiki you need.
•BioWiki
•ChemWiki
•GeoWiki
•MathWiki
•PhysWiki
Solarwiki
•StatWiki - Global Text ProjectDigital texts available in Chinese, English, and Spanish for subjects in business, computing, education, health, science, and social science.
- Mathispower4uWelcome to Mathispower4u! This site provides over 3,200 free mini-lessons and example videos with no ads. The videos are organized by course and topic. You can browse the video by course and topic on this site. To search for a specific video it is recommended to search the Mathispower4u YouTube Channel or the Mathispower4u blog.
- MedEdPortalMedEdPORTAL Publications promotes educational scholarship and collaboration by facilitating the open exchange of peer-reviewed health education teaching and assessment resources.
- OER CommonsA digital library of open education resources.
- Open Course LibraryThe Open Course Library is a collection of expertly developed educational materials – including textbooks, syllabi, course activities, readings, and assessments – in 81 high-enrollment college courses. The courses provide faculty with a high-quality, affordable option that will cost students no more than $30 for textbooks. Unless otherwise noted, all materials are shared under a Creative Commons (CC BY) license.
- Open Educational Resources at Michigan StateOpen Educational Resources (OER) are courses and learning materials at all educational levels that are freely available online for use by educators and learners worldwide. These resources offer access for those not affiliated with formal educational programs plus opportunities for sharing and collaboration among educators. The sites on this page focus on OER materials and issues in higher education. Also access is provided to a recent article about OER.
- Open Stax ConnexionsA dynamic digital educational ecosystem consisting of an educational content repository and a content management system optimized for the delivery of educational content. Its more than 17,000 learning objects or modules in its repository and over 1000 collections (textbooks, journal articles, etc.) are used by over 2 million people per month. Its content services the educational needs of learners of all ages, in nearly every discipline
- Open Textbook Reviews from University of MinnesotaIf you are a faculty member from any institution, you can support this project and help your peers evaluate the textbooks in this catalog by writing a review of an open textbook in your field.Only experts like you can determine quality.
- Open Textbooks Library from the University of MinnesotaInstructors can customize open textbooks to fit their course needs by remixing, editing, and adding their own content. Students can access free digital versions or purchase low-cost print copies of open textbooks. By building up a peer-reviewed collection of textbooks, available to instructors anywhere, Minnesota officials hope to provide some of the same quality control that historically has come from publishers of traditional textbooks. If you are a faculty member from any institution, you can support this project and help your peers evaluate the textbooks in this catalog by writing a review of an open textbook in your field.Only experts like you can determine quality.
- PhET Free online physics simulationsPhET provides fun, interactive, research-based simulations of physical phenomena for free. We believe that our research-based approach- incorporating findings from prior research and our own testing- enables students to make connections between real-life phenomena and the underlying science, deepening their understanding and appreciation of the physical world.
- Project GutenbergHumanities e-books
- WikibooksThe open-content textbooks collection that anyone can edit.
- Writing CommonsWelcome to Writing Commons, the open-education home for writers. Writing Commons helps students improve their writing, critical thinking, and information literacy. Founded in 2008 by Joseph M. Moxley, Writing Commons is a viable alternative to expensive writing textbooks. Faculty may assign Writing Commons for their composition, business, technical, and creative writing courses.
K-12 Open Educational Resources
- UEN Open Textbook Resources for K-12 EducationUtah Education Network has developed a wide variety of resources for K-12 educators and students.
- CK-12 FoundationWelcome to CK-12 Foundation, a non-profit organization that creates and aggregates high quality, curated STEM content. Pick a topic, and choose a "FlexBook." Mostly middle and high school offerings.
- Hippo CampusFree educational resources for middle, high school and college students and instructors, including video presentations, worked examples and simulations.
- Khan AcademyKhan Academy is an organization on a mission. We're a not-for-profit with the goal of changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education for anyone anywhere.
- AP Central Course Home PageIn this area you will find teaching tips, information, resources, and other helpful content for every AP course.
- MITOpenCourseWare for High SchoolHighlights for High School features MIT OpenCourseWare materials that are most useful for high school students and teachers.
- National ArchivesThe National Archives provide educators and students with opportunities to teach with and learn from primary sources documents.
- National Geographic & the Common CoreSupporting K-12 educators with common core resources
- Open Education GroupProvides research information about OER textbook studies and also information and examples for Open Pedagogy Practice.
- Saylor.org Free EducationSince 2008, the Foundation’s free education initiative (www.saylor.org) has focused on exploring the promise of the Internet to drive the cost of education to zero and expand access to quality open educational resources (OER). Toward this end, we have built over 270 free, self-paced, online courses, with many more on the way.
- Project Shareprovides an interactive and engaging learning environment that includes opportunities for disseminating information, joining common interest networks, accessing state-adopted and approved materials, including electronic textbooks and other materials,accessing educational resources, and developing and sharing ideas and resources.
- WikijuniorThe aim of Wikijunior is to produce non-fiction books for children from birth to age twelve. These books could take the form of macropedias, textbooks, or primers.
- WikieducatorView this new initiative.
- Iowa State OER libguideThe OATs Libguide provides access to descriptions and links to known initiatives and organizations that support the development and promotion of Open Access textbooks, and to OA and low-cost e-books and textbook catalogs and databases.
Sources for Historical Textbooks
- Textbooks and Schoolbooks: Resources for Scholars and ResearchersA number of libraries in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and other countries have outstanding collections of schoolbooks and textbooks
- Historical Textbooks at HarvardHarvard's historical textbook collections reflect the evolution of reading instruction in Europe and the United States.
- Center for Research Libraries TextbooksThe textbook collection includes U.S. imprints of primary and secondary schoolbooks, textbooks for post-high school non-degree schools such as business and trade schools, and foreign language grammars and readers through college level.
- MERLOT, the multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online TeachingFind peer reviewed online teaching and learning materials. Share advice and expertise about education with expert colleagues. Be recognized for your contributions to quality education. Not always textbooks. Includes lesson plans.
Rubrics for Evaluating Quality
Below are a few sites to begin understanding how to evaluate Open Education Resources, but there are many more on the open web.
