VCCS's "Pathways" Course provides faculty with an introduction to the laws that influence the use, re-use, and distribution of content they may want to use in a course. Activities include finding openly licensed content for use in a class and publishing openly licensed works created by faculty. At the end of the course, students will have openly licensed content that will be ready for use in a course.

As faculty, you assess textbooks against a set of criteria that reflects your long experience and knowledge of student needs. You do the same with Open Textbooks, but there are a few additional considerations.

As faculty, you assess textbooks against a set of criteria that reflects your long experience and knowledge of student needs. You do the same with Open Textbooks, but there are a few additional considerations.

This report presents the results of a biennial independent survey done by the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME) commissioned by the Digital Higher Education Consortium of Texas (DigiTex), in collaboration with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), to examine the landscape of Open Educational Resources (OER) programs, policies, and practices at higher education institutions in Texas.

A five-minute video tutorial on Creative Commons Licenses, the five “R’s”, and where to find Open Educational Resources.

This course is a guide for OER specialists who are looking to establish a workflow, locate openly licensed resources, create accessible content, and produce openly licensed materials--especially textbooks--in an organized format. The course was developed under an Open Textbooks Pilot grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education.

A Guide for Authors, Adapters & Adopters of Openly Licensed Teaching and Learning Materials

Differentiating open access and open educational resource can be a challenge in some contexts. Excellent resources such as "How Open Is It?: A Guide for Evaluating the Openness of Journals" (CC BY) https://sparcopen.org/our-work/howopenisit created by SPARC, PLOS, and OASPA greatly aid us in understanding the relative openness of journals. However, visual resources to conceptually differentiate open educational resources (OER) from resources disseminated using an open access approach do not currently exist. Until now.

This one page introductory guide differentiates OER and OA materials on the basis of purpose (teaching vs. research), method of access (analog and digital), and in terms of the relative freedoms offered by different levels of Creative Commons licenses, the most common open license. Many other open licenses, including open software licenses also exist.

Education for a Digital World contains a comprehensive collection of proven strategies and tools for effective online teaching, based on the principles of learning as a social process. It offers practical, contemporary guidance to support e-learning decision-making, and instructional choices, as well as program and course planning, and development.

This book is the result of a co-design project in a class in the Masters of Education program at the University of Calgary. The course, and the resulting book, focus primarily on the safe and ethical use of technology in digital learning environments. The course was organized according to four topics based on Farrow’s (2016) Framework for the Ethics of Open Education.

This resource serves as a resource for those engaged in exploring open at Oklahoma State University.

"What is this field?" "Where have we come from as a discipline, and where are we going?" "What do I want to study?" These and other questions are typical for new students in the field of Learning and Instructional Design Technology. This textbook is designed to help answer these questions and provide the quickest route to understanding the history and current trends in the field. After surveying classic theories and writings, as well as more recent applications of theory and practice, students will be better prepared to chart their own course and careers within the discipline. This book is designed to support foundations courses common in departments, as well as seminars on current trends and issues.

This report presents the results from the third biennial Texas OER Landscape Survey, administered in 2023 and commissioned by the Digital Higher Education Consortium of Texas (DigiTex) and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). The survey aimed to explore the open educational resources (OER) landscape, policies, and practices at 169 higher education institutions, including 11 health-related institutions, across the state.

The 2023 Texas OER Landscape Survey revealed an OER landscape marked by institutional commitment, diverse adoption goals, and the instrumental role of OER champions on campus. This report not only highlights areas for improvement but also underscores the necessity of ongoing collaboration and faculty support. The trajectory observed in OER adoption is institutionally driven, placing a growing emphasis on student learning impacts and resource quality alongside financial considerations. As librarians and other key stakeholders play pivotal roles, the landscape unfolds organically, showcasing the self-sufficiency of institutions in advancing OER use and development to reach their goals for student success.

Across the country, districts are choosing to #GoOpen and transitioning to the use of openly licensed educational resources to improve student learning in their schools. Openly licensed educational resources enable districts to reallocate significant funds currently spent on inflexible, static learning materials to resources and activities that accelerate the transition to digital learning. These include implementing new professional learning programs for teachers, developing a robust technology infrastructure to support digital learning, and funding new leadership roles for educators who curate and create openly licensed educational materials.
The #GoOpen District Launch Packet is designed for districts that have decided to implement a systematic approach to incorporating openly licensed educational resources into their curriculum by becoming a #GoOpen District.

Open Education Week is an ideal time to hear from our community members who are leading open education initiatives on their campuses and across their states to reduce costs for students and empower faculty to enhance learning in their classrooms. We will hear from two OER librarians and a faculty member who are successfully growing awareness and adoption of open educational resources. They will share the successes and challenges of coordinating statewide efforts and influencing their colleagues to adopt OER in their courses.

Brief video describing where and how to find Open Educational Resources, including specific repositories and licences to look for.

Learn more about how to create and use Hubs and groups on OERTX. 

This book is designed to serve as a textbook for classes exploring the nature of learning in the digital age. The genesis of this book is a desire to use OERs in all my teachings, coupled with the realization that the resources that I was looking for were not available and as such I needed to contribute in creating them. It is thus a small attempt to contribute to the vast repository of Open Educational Resources. When discussing learning in the digital age, most focus on the technology first. However, the emphasis made in this book is that it’s about the learner not just the technology. One of the things that is easy to lose track of when talking about learning in the digital age is the learner. Technology is important and it has significant impact but it is still about the person who is using the technology. Many people conflate learning in the digital age with technology in today’s age. This important misconception is common and results from our failure to examine our understanding of what “learning” really is.

This book will introduce you to the idea of Open Educational Resources (OER), where to find them, why we recommend using them, and how to go about creating your own.