Getting Started with OER

Get started by learning how to navigate the site, find training materials, explore curated collections, collaborate in groups, and share resources.

About

This hub has everything you need to know about getting started with OERTX.

Watch informational videos about using the tools and features of OERTX for course development and student engagement. Learn about upcoming training and information sharing events. Explore collections of professional development resources. Join groups to collaborate with colleagues to use OER. Discover the history and impact of OER work at Texas institutions through research.

 

What is OER?

An open educational resource (OER) is a teaching, learning or research resource that is in the public domain or has been released under an intellectual property license that permits the free use, adaptation, and redistribution of the resource by any person.

Texas OER Research

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Professional Learning Collections

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Best of Texas

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OER Course

Texas OER Core Elements

 

    The 12 units can serve as an introduction to open educational resources (OER) as well as an opportunity for further exploration and discovery of OER and open education practices. Throughout the units there are opportunities for you to test your knowledge or further explore a concept.

    The modules allow you to learn at your own pace. While you can follow the modules in any order, it is recommended that you start with Unit 1 and progress through in order. 

    The Texas OER Core Elements Course is adapted from Texas Learn OER, with revisions that include the addition of a unit on Open Pedagogy and extensive updates to the original Texas unit, which has now been divided into two, one on history, policy, and research foundations, and another on statewide practices and supports

    Access the course in OERTX.. 

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    OER Voices in Texas

    Get to know faculty and librarians who have been leading OER Projects on their campuses throughout Texas.

    Amy K. Petros, Senior Lecturer, Department of Chemistry, University of North Texas

    Creating engaging Chemistry Modules with simulations and interactives

     

     

    Heather Syrett, Associate Professor & Assistant Department Chair, General Studies & Staff Development, Austin Community College

    Collaborating with faculty to create, pilot, and revise an Effective Strategies for College Success Book

     

    Anthony Palmiotto, Editorial Director, OpenStax

    OpenStax is part of Rice University, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable corporation. Their mission is to improve educational access and learning for everyone. They do this by publishing openly licensed books, developing and improving research-based courseware, establishing partnerships with educational resource companies, and more. Check out the OpenStax course materials on OERTX

    Carrie Gits & Ursula Pike, Texas Learn OER

    Learn how Carrie Gits, Head Librarian, Austin Community College created an OER course ACC Learn OER and collaborated with Ursula Pike, Associate Director, DigiTex to remix the course for Texas Learn OER, highlighting modules around Adapting, Creating & Sharing OER

    Jim Ross-Nazzal, Professor of History, Gender and Ethnic Studies Programs, Houston Community College

    Authored a US history textbook with his students that examines some traditional some non-traditional aspects of American social, cultural, gender, racial, political, and military history. Most chapters include content provided by community college students. Our Story: An Ancillary to US History, From Pre Contact to Post Factual America

     

     

    Zoe Wool, Assistant Professor at Rice University and the University of Toronto

    Coordinated the Anthropology Mini Lecture Project - a collection of mini lectures created by anthropologists and those in conversation with anthropology as supplemental material to assist college and university instructors who were made to shift their courses online because of COVID19.

    Dr. Erica Warnick, Professor of Education, South Plains College

    Leading the collaborative creation of Reading & Writing Open Educational Resources

    Dr. Pamela Rogers, Associate Professor Management & Marketing, Stephen F. Austin State University

    Summer 2021 OER Core Elements Academy participant who is creating Operations Management OER

    Groups

    Training Videos

    How to use Open Author

    Open Author helps you build and publish open educational resources on your own or collaboratively. Watch this video tutorial to learn more. 

    Leveraging Open Educational Resources (OER) for Courseware Improvement

    Watch this webinar recording to learn about an exciting new grant opportunity to adopt, modify, redesign, or develop courses using Open Educational Resources (OER) and get to know our recently launched OERTX library. This engaging webinar will provide faculty, librarians, and instructional designers with an opportunity to explore, create, and collaborate with our dynamic OER community, which is dedicated to improving teaching and learning throughout Texas. Participants will discover how to utilize OER tools for courseware improvement, including design, authoring, and remixing. We will also explore exemplar resources and use cases from Universities and Colleges in Texas, and discuss workflows for peer review, reflection, and refinement of resources.

    Bring Your Own OER Session

    To celebrate our first year of OERTX, we offered a special training to share our best resources. Participants were invited to bring a resource to share, it could be your course syllabus, an activity, module, or any other resource that they have created and are interested in sharing with our dynamic OERTX community. We walked through some examples and show how to get started contributing course materials in our digital authoring tool, Open Author. Participants are invited to join our Bring Your Own OER Group