LibGuides: Open Educational Resources: Open Educational Resources

Open Educational Resources

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What are Open Educational Resources?

Open Educational Resources are openly licensed materials that are freely accessible for educational distribution. Examples of OER include textbooks, syllabi, lectures, assignments, games, etc. These are web resources that users may share if attribution is given to the original author. Remixing and adapting of the material may also be possible depending on the type of Creative Commons license applied to the work. (A Creative Commons license releases some of the copyright restrictions that would ordinarily apply.) At the item level, find this information under "license" or "terms of use." As an author, you can license your own original work with a Creative Commons license, or you can license a work you have derived from other appropriately licensed works. The most common Creative Commons (CC) license is the Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY). This license lets others remix and reuse the work if the user gives attribution to the original creator and provides a link to the original work.
For more information about how Creative Commons licenses are used, visit creative commons.org

OER vs. Open Access vs. Library Resources

Open Educational Resources: Teaching and learning materials that can be altered and reused by anyone under the conditions of the Creative Commons license of the work.

Open Access Resources: E-books and articles that the publishers make freely accessible to anyone.

Library Resources: Resources that are affordable and accessible to current students and faculty because the institution has paid for access.

Compare Resources
FEATURES	OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES	OPEN ACCESS RESOURCES	LIBRARY RESOURCES
The work can be saved	yes	yes	yes
The work can be altered or scaled	yes	no	no
New content can be added to the work	yes	no	no
A new version of the work can be distributed	yes	no	no
The work is free to user	yes	yes	yes
User has perpetual access to the work	yes	maybe	no

Using Library Resources

Library resources, which are free to students and faculty, are affordable options for textbook replacement. Here are some of the links you might use when assembling course materials:

CU Search This link opens in a new window
Use this finding tool on the library webpage to search many of Montgomery Library's databases simultaneously for print books, journal articles, e-books and more.
eBook Collection This link opens in a new window
Search EBSCOhost's e-book collection containing over 180,000 books in electronic format covering a broad range of academic subjects.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR is an online archive of full-text academic journals and e-books in all fields.
Films On Demand: Master Academic Collection This link opens in a new window
The Master Academic Package from Films on Demand contains nearly 40,000 films that will both educate and entertain students and faculty on a wide range of subjects including history, biology, business and economics, engineering, computer science, technical and trade skills, art and architecture, music and dance, philosophy and religion, geography, environmental science, anthropology, language and literature, mathematics, psychology, sociology, political science, and more.

Using Library Links in Moodle

Instructions for creating links to online library resources:

Locate the item using CU Search.
Click the underlined title of the item.
Click on the Share icon.
Copy and paste the link into your Moodle course section.

Users are prompted to enter their Moodle credentials for access to library resources.

Please contact the library staff for assistance with creating links for your courses.