What are Open Educational Resources (OERs)?
Open Education encompasses resources, tools and practices that are free of legal, financial and technical barriers and can be fully used, shared and adapted in the digital environment. Open Education maximizes the power of the Internet to make education more affordable, accessible and effective.
Textbook facts
Did You Know...
- The high cost of some course materials can impede students’ academic success.
- The College Board estimates that the average undergraduate can budget $1,220 - $1,420 for textbooks and supplies in 2017–18.
- The cost of textbooks is rising at a rate of 4 times inflation.
- Seven out of 10 students don’t purchase a required textbook during their academic career because of cost.
Open Textbooks
Open textbooks can help alleviate the burden of textbook costs for students and provide faculty with content that can be customized for their course. Open textbooks are full, real textbooks, used by many faculty across the country, and licensed to be freely used, edited, and distributed.
Open Textbook Library
The Open Textbook Library provides access to open textbooks that have been funded, published, and licensed to be freely used, adapted, and distributed. 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 Open Textbook Library provides a growing catalog of free, peer-reviewed, and openly-licensed textbooks. It is supported by the Center for Open Education and the Open Textbook Network.
Other OER Resources
Finding OERs
- Mason OER Metafinder - Simultaneously search several OER repositories
- BCcampus Open Textbooks
- EdTech Books
- Merlot
- Milne Open Textbooks
- OER Commons
- Openstax
Copyright Information
Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Open Educational Resources, available at auw.cl/oer is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.
Open Knowledge & Research Impact Librarian
Open Education Mini-grants
When funding is available, Randall Library awards mini-grants to support faculty adoption of open educational resources (OERs). All UNCW faculty members teaching undergraduate or graduate classes during the academic year are eligible to apply.
Randall Library has awarded 17 mini-grants with a cumulative savings to students of $187,458.
An informational UNCW Canvas course on OERs is available for anyone interested in pursuing this opportunity.
Awarded Mini-Grants
| Year | Instructor | Course | Semester(s) Taught |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-2022 | Indranil Ghosh | STT 215, STT 315 | Summer, Fall 2021; Spring 2022 |
| Emily Homer | CRM 376 | Summer 2021 | |
| Beverley McGuire | PAR 373 | Fall 2021 | |
| Monica Rother | EVS 414/514 | Fall 2021 | |
| Peter Schuhmann | ECN 221 | Fall 2021, Spring 2022 | |
| Blevin Shelnutt | ENG 110 | Summer 2021 | |
| 2020-2021 | Vance Durrington, Dennis Kubasko, Angelia Reid-Griffin | EDN 301 | Fall, Spring 2020 |
| Joanne Halls | GGY 215 | Spring 2021 | |
| Michaela Howells | ANT 346 | Fall 2020 | |
| Yeoun Soo Kim-Godwin | NSG 582 | Summer, Fall 2020; Spring 2021 | |
| Richard Pond | PSY 225, PSY 264 | Summer, Fall 2020 | |
| 2019-2020 | Lance Cummings | ENG 312 | Spring 2020 |
| Kathy R. Fox | EDN 340, LIC 540 | Summer 2019, Fall 2019 | |
| Huili Hao | EVS 518 | Fall 2019 | |
| Tracy Y. Hargrove | EDN 322 | Fall 2019, Spring 2020 | |
| Colleen Reilly | ENG 393 | Fall 2019, Spring 2020 | |
| Ann Rotchford | CRM/SOC 300, CRM/SOC 301 | Fall 2019 |
UNC System Course Collection Libraries
The UNC System Course Collection Libraries is a set of OER collections that have been curated by faculty teams from across the UNC System during Summer 2020 to support and enhance both face-to-face and online instruction. Each collection complements a high-demand course commonly offered across most UNC System institutions, including anatomy and physiology, introductory statistics, and much more. Extensive implementation guides and how-to videos make implementing these resources into an LMS like Canvas easy and straightforward.
Also view the OER Collections Webinar Series which features expert presentations on topics including:
- Customizing OER Materials and Integrating into Your LMS
- Copyright, Fair Use, and Building/Remixing OER
- Open-Enabled Pedagogy
- Using OER to Build More Inclusive Materials
NC LIVE Open Education Initiative
Open Education North Carolina is an initiative that aims to reduce the cost of higher education for North Carolina students by providing free, open e-textbooks for 30 of the most frequently-taught courses across North Carolina’s 2 and 4-year colleges and universities.
View curated collections, join groups, and view tutorials through Open Education North Carolina's hub at the OER Commons.
OpenUNC
OpenUNC was founded in 2020 by the UNC University Library Advisory Council (ULAC) to increase access to open research and educational resources that are being created across the UNC System. The goal of OpenUNC is to bring together the diverse open access initiatives created and shared by each individual UNC System institution to ensure that this important suite of scholarship and resources is freely accessible worldwide. Access the platform at OpenUNC.org.
Using OpenStax Textbooks in Canvas
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