Open Education Resources (OER)

Open Textbooks offer an affordable, high-quality alternative as a class textbook. Open textbooks are commonly made available as PDF, ePub, Word, or html files, supporting accessibility for learners.

Below is a selection of Open Textbook Repositories offering peer-reviewed textbooks under Creative Commons or other open licenses:

• BC Open Campus
• Openstax
• Open Textbook Library
• Pressbooks Directory

General OER can include open syllabi, assignments, assessment tools, and other web resources related to teaching and learning. Below are a list of some resources for finding general OER:

• Multimedia Exchange Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT)
• OER Commons
• Open Course Library
• The Public Domain Review
• Campus Alberta Open Educational Resources (ABOER)

There is a wide breadth of open educational resources available; however, you still want to make sure that you are finding high-quality resources that are made available using best practices in Open Education.

When evaluating an open resources, you should be looking for:

• An OER that has been peer reviewed
• A fully accessible resource that is made widely available in accessible formats  
• An OER that has been maintained and updated

An OER that includes clear instructions for use, including:

• Has the OER been licensed using a creative commons license

For more information, visit BC Campus’ Faculty Guide for Evaluating Open Educational Resources.