Finding appropriate OER can be a challenge. There isn't a single catalog or index from which to search for OER, and those that are available have varying coverage and search features. The time it takes to search for possible OER candidates is often cited as an obstacle by faculty who would otherwise be interested in adopting OER. However, you can get help from your subject librarian! Contact the subject librarian for your department or college with your syllabus and any other relevant information (any texts you hope to replace, what material the OER should cover) and they will try to provide some initial OER candidates for you to review.
Here are some of the more popular places to look for OER, with short descriptions of their coverage, search features, and peer review or ratings.
These search across many repositories of Open Resources:
https://open.bccampus.ca/find-open-textbooks/
Open textbooks, searchable by subject, many reviewed by educators.
Open textbooks in many subjects, browsable, with tools for remixing into custom texts.
https://lumenlearning.com/courses/
OER-based courses, keyword search or browse by subject, no reviews.
Many kinds of materials, advanced search features including ISBN search, all material is reviewed in some way.
Large and varied collection of resources at all levels, good search features, includes user ratings.
http://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/
Open textbooks, limited search features, many are reviewed by faculty experts.
Open textbooks for a variety of courses, browsable by subject, all are peer-reviewed.
(Adapted from Open Educational Resource Repository Coverage created by the Library Juice Academy Intro to OER Course, Summer 2019. Visit the link for more sources and more detail.)
If you do adopt OER for your course, either as additional materials or as a replacement for traditional textbooks, please let us know! The Center for Faculty Excellence tracks use of OER at Fresno State. Contact:
Mario Banuelos
OER Faculty Fellow
mbanuelos22@csufresno.edu
or
David Drexler
Scholarly Communications Librarian
ddrexler@csufresno.edu