Sheridan Library & Learning Services has a new guide on finding and evaluating Open Educational Resources (OER): http://sheridancollege.libguides.com/OER
OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that are freely accessible on the Internet and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. OER are becoming increasingly important for post-secondary institutions. The steep rise in textbook prices and the need for faculty to have more control and flexibility in using and adapting content for their instructional needs are some of the reasons as to why OER are being recognized as an alternative to traditional textbooks.
Many faculty at Sheridan are adopting or interested in adopting open textbooks and other OER for their courses. The OER guide includes links to reputable online sources for finding open textbooks, open access journals, teaching & learning materials, and Creative Commons licensed images. It also suggests several guidelines and checklists that faculty can use to evaluate OER.
Also, SOURCE, Sheridan’s institutional repository, is always available for those faculty who have created OER and wish to make them available to the worldwide teaching community through the Internet.
Library & Learning Services will continue to explore opportunities to engage faculty in the conversation on OER and to support their use and development of these resources. Stay tuned for more news and events from us! In the meantime, if you have any questions about the guide and OER, please contact your Liaison Librarian. You can contact the Library’s SOURCE team at source@sheridancollege.ca.