5 OER Supports
Institutional/College
- WTCS OER Lead Contact – (Links to WTCS Repository, see ReadMe tab.) This individual will be able to point you in the right direction from the beginning. Think of it as a concierge service!
- College/School Library – Libraries and librarians have been long-time supporters of the promotion of free and open information, and are key players in open education. As a bonus, their specialty is locating and providing access to information.
- College Bookstore – Bookstore support can vary, depending on potential contracts. In some institutions, such as Nicolet Technical College in Wisconsin, OER is led by the bookstore (see Cindy Domaika’s CCCER post). In other institutions, the bookstores may be privately owned or a contracted partner and tend to be less involved.
Wisconsin
- WTCS OER Network– Network and resources geared towards Wisconsin technical colleges.
- Community for Open Wisconsin – Wisconsin’s statewide organization for open education, membership includes K-12, CESA, Wisconsin Technical Colleges/System, University of Wisconsin/System, and Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
- Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction – Includes resources especially helpful for K-12.
National Support
- Community College Consortium of Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) – a community of practice organization. CCCOER provides resources, support, and opportunities for collaborative learning. Emphasis on community and technical college. Some Wisconsin Technical Colleges, such as Chippewa Valley, Fox Valley, Lakeshore, and Nicolet, are members of this organization.
- SPARC – Specializes in policies and practices encompassing open education. Their powerful advocacy has resulted in the Department of Education’s Open Textbooks grant, of which Chippewa Valley Technical College and partner technical colleges are recipients. Some Wisconsin Technical Colleges, such as Chippewa Valley and Fox Valley, are members of this organization.
E-mail Listservs
There are a variety of listservs available for support. Listservs are invaluable tools for learning from others, especially in regards to policies, processes, and – of course – helping find resources. I recommend you refer to your library or other OER contact before you sign-up for a listserv – they can be very overwhelming! Sometimes, less information is more.
OER Repositories (an abbreviated list)
WTCS OER Repository is a spreadsheet that summarizes OER textbook adoptions across our system. In addition, you can find your college’s OER point person in the ‘Read Me’ tab.
ASCCC OERI: Brand new OER textbooks and ancillaries, from California Community College faculty
LibreTexts (UC Davis): Browse collections by discipline (click “Explore the Libraries” at the top).
OpenStax (Rice University) – Peer-reviewed, openly licensed textbooks and accompanying ancillary materials, such as slides and test banks. OpenStax textbooks have been adopted at numerous universities throughout the world. In the 2017-2018 academic year, use of OpenStax textbooks saved $145 million for students at over 4,000 schools.
Open SUNY Textbooks – An open access textbook publishing initiative established by State University of New York libraries. All textbooks are faculty-authored and peer-reviewed.
Open Textbook Library (UMN) – A well-curated, peer-reviewed collection of over 400 open textbooks in 14 subjects. Standards for inclusion are fairly rigorous, making the collection a high quality resource.
BC Campus (British Columbia, Canada) – Open textbook collections for adult education, general education, career and technical education, etc.
ZTC Textbooks (College of the Canyons): Highly-relevant collection of free online textbooks written by California Community College faculty.
Cool4ED – A CSU, UC, and CCC collaboration, Cool4ED has Showcase Reviews (Links to an external site.) which offer a quick place to look before an extensive search. The reviews by California faculty are thorough and include a detailed accessibility report.
OER Commons – A large repository, OER Commons is easy to search.
OASIS – This user-friendly tool helps you search for OER from 73 different sources and contains nearly 200,000 records. Developed by SUNY Geneseo’s Milne Library.
MERLOT – Browse or search over 40,000 discipline-specific learning materials contributed by the member community.
Open Oregon – With an extensive list of resources, Open Oregon offers information about the actual classes using the OER, including the institution, course name, links to materials, and instructor information.
This chapter adapts content from Student Success with Open & Affordable Resources (OER 101) from Vince Mussehl, provided under CC-BY 4.0