LibGuides: Open Educational Resources (OER): Finding OER

OER Repositories

Open Textbook Library
An online library for finding and browsing OER textbooks. The Open Textbook Library (OTL) provides reviews of OER texts from faculty.
Pressbooks Directory
A searchable catalog of over 7,000 OER textbooks published on the popular Pressbooks platform. Many books include interactive learning activities.
OpenStax
A popular publisher of OER textbooks and learning technologies. All OpenStax textbooks are peer-reviewed and cover a range of disciplines.
OASIS
An integrated search tool for finding OER from multiple sources. OASIS currently contains over 400,000 records.
GALILEO
A repository of OER from the University System of Georgia, including textbooks and ancillary materials.
LibreTexts
Founded at the University of California, Davis, LibreTexts contains open textbooks and other learning materials, including interactive modules and homework sets.
OpenALG
Affordable Learning Georgia's (ALG) collection of open textbooks and learning resources. These resources are digitally interactive and include features such as multimedia and annotation tools.
Milne Open Textbooks
A collection of OER textbooks authored and peer-reviewed by State University of New York (SUNY) faculty and staff.

Evaluating OER

Evaluating OER is similar to evaluating any other resource: you need to critically assess expertise, accuracy, and currency.

For OER specifically, it is also important to ask the following questions:

How does this textbook or resource align with the learning outcomes for my course?
Is the written material and content appropriate for my students' learning level?
Do I want to use the whole text, or parts of the text? Do I want to modify or change this resource in any way? Does the Creative Commons license allow for modifications?
Are there open activities or assessments available to supplement this resource, or do I want to use my own?

Additionally, consider how accessible the OER is for different learning styles and for students with disabilities, and whether the OER can be updated for greater accessibility. The OER Accessibility Toolkit provides best practices for improving the accessibility of OER.

Here are some rubrics for evaluating OER:

OER Selection Criteria (Affordable Learning Georgia)
Criteria for evaluating the instructional quality of open textbooks and ancillary materials.
Open Textbook Library Review Rubric
The rubric used for the Open Textbook Library's reviews of OER textbooks.