Open Access Educational Resources (OERs)
What are Open Educational Resources (OERs)?
OERs are teaching and learning materials that you may freely use at no cost. Unlike traditional copyrighted resources, OERs have been authored or created by an individual or organization that chooses to license them in a way that allows reuse, revision, remixing, redistribution and retention of the work.
Several more materials, licensed under slightly more restrictive terms may allow reuse, which means you can download and share it with colleagues and students, but not revision. The license terms of each item will guide you on what uses are allowed without additional permissions.
GATEWAY OER/DIGITAL OBJECT SITES
- MerlotSearchable database of openly licensed discipline-specific learning materials begun by California State University in 1997.
- OER - Open Educational Resources: Big List of ResourcesUniversity of Pittsburgh created guide on OER resources and databases.
- OER CommonsA digital public library and collaboration platform developed by the independent non-profit ISKME, that offers a comprehensive infrastructure for curriculum experts and instructors at all levels to collaborate around their adaptation, evaluation, and use to address the needs of teachers and learners.
- Open Educational Resources (OERs)University of Nebraska, Omaha created list of OER resources.
- Galileo Open Learning MaterialsGALILEO Open Learning Materials brings together open educational resources throughout the University System of Georgia, including open textbooks and ancillary materials.
This repository is administrated by Affordable Learning Georgia, an initiative of GALILEO and the University System of Georgia which aims to reduce the cost of textbooks to students and contribute to their retention, progression, and graduation. For more about Affordable Learning Georgia, visit Affordable Learning Georgia's website.
Educational Openly Accessible Videos
- Khan Academy on YouTubeIncludes videos on everything from geometric constructions to guided meditation to help students with test anxiety. Videos include closed captioning options for viewers.
- Library of Congress Film and Video CollectionsPart of the American Memory Digital collections,includes historical primary source videos related to work, vaudeville, entertainment, and historical markers like civil rights history or the great earthquake of San Francisco. Most videos are silent movies from the late 80's up to the 1920's.
- Moving Image ArchiveA subset of the non-profit Internet Archive an open access comprehensive digital archive founded by Brewster Kahle in May 1996. Viewers of the film archive can turn on closed captioning for the videos.
- Nova (PBS)Includes documentaries from the frontlines of science and engineering. Closed captioning available on videos.
- Open CultureA privately sponsored site, it offers 1,150 free films, free online courses, audio books, and e-books for iPad, Kindle and other devices. Closed captioning available.
- OV: The Open Video ProjectA repository of digitized video content for the digital video, multimedia retrieval, digital library, and other research communities. Created and sponsored by UNC's School of Library & Info Science. Archival videos include storyboards but no closed captions.
- Ted TalksA clearinghouse of free knowledge from the world's most inspired thinkers. Includes closed captioning options.
- Frontline PBS Documenary SeriesIncludes documentaries on criminal justice, religion, social issues, politics, terrorism, war and conflict, environment, education, health immigration, world, and more.
- National Film Board of CanadaIncludes films, documentaries, animations, and interactive web experiences.