No Textbooks Required With OERs

Open Educational Resources refers to any online teaching and learning material that has an open licence making them free to use, adaptable and can be redistributed without restrictions. At any one time, millions of students all over the world are using OERs 24/7. 

So why should OERs matter to you? 

Open Educational Resources are making life easier for students in several ways:

• There is no cost to access them
• There are few restrictions regarding their use under their Creative Commons licencing
• The information OERs contained is high-quality and up-to-date; not out-dated
• When updates do occur, OERs can reflect that information almost immediately
• OERs can complement and enhance your learning process
• OERs are able to be shared with fellow classmates and teachers
• OERs are customizable meaning your instructors can prioritize the information you need to know thus avoid the unnecessary content

Over the past few months, the Paterson Library has been actively involved in the College’s promotion and development of Open Educational Resources across the Confederation curriculum and accessing OERs has never been easier. A great place to start your journey to OERs is to visit some of the more popular OER sites listed below. 

• The Learning Portal (about OERs):  https://tlp-lpa.ca/oer-toolkit/about

• Creative Commons: https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses/

• (BC Campus) What are OERs?:  https://bccampus.ca/projects/open-education/

• eCampus Ontario Hub (Open Library): https://openlibrary.ecampusontario.ca/

• Open Textbook Library: https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks

• OER Commons: https://www.oercommons.org/

• Upsplash Image Library: https://unsplash.com/

• Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/

One of the more popular sites, OER Commons. 

For further assistance, contact [email protected] and discover how OERs can start benefiting academic success!