Where to find Open Education Resources, Tools, and Support
Finding appropriate OER, be it course modules, lesson plans, textbooks, or teaching tools, can be difficult given how widely it's dispersed across the web. This catalogue compiles some of the sources or collections we've found in our searches that we think are good starting points for you. Where applicable, we've indicated the kind of content you're likely to find in each location, as well as the faculty or faculties that are most likely to be served there.
The B.C. Open Collection includes course packs and open textbooks released or curated by BCampus.
OERs are available particularly in the form of open textbooks. Covers a multitude of subjects, including art and design, engineering, social sciences, math and statistics. Books give information on the original source, such as author and institution, and if the textbook is linked out, such as those available on OpenStax.
To learn more about the functionality of the new collection site, read the blog post Creating a Better User Experience for the B.C. Open Collection.
Available at: Chemistry for Engineers.
This course is designed to provide engineering students with a fundamental knowledge of physical chemistry and to demonstrate the relevance of that knowledge to the practise of a variety of engineering disciplines. Some of the topics are: states of matter, equilibrium in non-reactive systems, and equilibrium in electrochemical systems.
Available at: Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources.
With members from colleges from North America, CCCOER share best practices and resources to promote OERs. Contains links to access OER repositories, open textbooks, courseware, journals, and digital media.
Available at: CACHE teaching resources.
These resources include syllabi, schedules, computer-aided tools, interactive simulations, screencasts, concept questions, textbook information, useful links, and in some cases, complete course notes.
Available at: eCampusOntario Open Library.
eCampusOntario offers open courses and textbooks in a variety of disciplines.
Available at: EOL – Encyclopedia of Life.
Hosted by the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian), EOL aim to create a global open resource about life on earth. It partners with other museums, libraries, universities, research centres, etc. to build and share information, such as datasets, tools, and other content. While lesson plans go up to grade 12, other content may be suitable, from podcasts, biodiversity cards, google earth tours, biodiversity articles, and a biodiversity, observational platform.
Available at: InTech Open Books.
Open access books published in a variety of disciplines with a focus on physical sciences, engineering, and technology. Focused on books broadly, so the content may not be structured to suit 1:1 textbook replacement.
Available at: JHSPH OpenCourseWare.
Offers over 90 courses from the John Hopkins University (Bloomberg School of Public Health), complete with lectures and course material. License allows for free and open use, reuse, adaptation and redistribution of material, provided the source (JHSPH) is attributed and material is shared alike.
Available at: LearnChemE.
Developed by the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Boulder, this OER contains hundreds of interactive simulations, interactive self-study modules, and videos on the topic of chemical and biological engineering.
Available at: LibreTexts.
LibreTexts hosts open courses and textbooks developed by a number of institutions. LibreTexts is an organization that was initiated by the University of California, Davis, and has since received support from the U.S. Government, as well as from a number of universities across the U.S. In particular, LibreTexts Engineering and Chemistry have been highlighted as containing particularly good resources.