Affordable Learning PA

Welcome to the Library’s Open Education Resources (OER) page. This page is designed to introduce faculty to the options available if they wish to adopt OER.  Penn Highlands is a member of the Affordable Learning PA network.

Affordable Learning PA (ALPa) provides faculty with the opportunity to participate in professional development and networking all connected to implementing OER resources into courses and programs.

What are the benefits to adopting OER? 

  • Faculty can re-purpose, edit, or add to OER textbooks to customize for specific classes
  • OER guarantees that all students will have access to the textbook on the first day of any class
  • Textbooks only change when faculty want them to change, no automatic new editions
  • OER textbooks can be downloaded and printed for students who need to have paper copies
  • Some OER textbooks come with support materials such as test banks and PowerPoint slides

The following links will take you to collections of Open Educational Resources. If you have questions about using any of the resources below, please contact a librarian.

Open Textbook LibraryOpen Textbook Network – This OER collection is hosted by the University of Minnesota and is part of the Open Textbook Network (OTN). Penn Highlands is a member of the OTN so faculty will have additional access to materials and reviews.  This collection consists of free textbooks created by college faculty.

Openstax.org – Openstax is a collection of high quality textbooks created by Rice University.  These texts are also accompanied by online resources (PowerPoints, for example) to help instructors.  Openstax focuses on general education classes.

OASIS – This is a large collection of a variety of OER materials, such as, textbooks, course materials, and sometimes entire online courses that faculty have made available for others to use. It’s being developed by SUNY Geneseo’s Milne Library.

OER Commons – Power Library Lesson Plans (K-12) – The POWER Library OER Commons hub is designed to serve educators across the Commonwealth with high-quality, customizable lesson plans, and other resources, that directly correlate Pennsylvania’s elementary and secondary content standards to the resources provided in POWER Library. 

Learning About OER

As you consider entering the world of Open Educational Resources (OER), there are many things to consider and new concepts to learn. To help facilitate your learning, there are several resources listed below that will take through understanding OER, Creative Commons, and how to begin to create your own OER.

 

These resources have been put in an order that builds on fundamentals; however, you are able to view them in any order you need.

Once you review these, you then be able to take better advantage of the links listed on the OER page. 

Lesson 1: Understanding Open Access and OER – Learn how items placed in open access repositories support research and shared knowledge. Learn how open education resources provide learning. Learn how library resources factor into OER

Lesson 2: Copyright- Understand the basics of copyright

Lesson 3: What is Creative Commons? – Learn about Creative Commons (CC) and why it will help you navigate the language of copyright.

Lesson 4: Creative Commons Licenses – Learn the four elements of a CC license and the six CC license combinations.

  • CC license by Junie Hayashi from Creative Commons Certificate Course June 2019, licensed CC BY 4.0
  • CC Bakery by Barbara Zaborowski, from Creative Commons Certificate Course is licensed CC BY 4.0

Lesson 5: Using Creative Commons licenses – Learn how to apply the correct CC license to a work that you create, adapt, or remix.

Edit OER – The final step is using Pressbooks to create, adapt or remix an existing OER textbook. Contact the library if you need assistance with this process.

Pressbooks LogoFaculty who want to create, edit, or adapt OER textbooks can use Pressbooks.