Top picks for finding OER materials:

• Open Textbook Library
• OER matched with General Education Courses in California 
• Pressbooks Directory
• Open SUNY Textbooks
• OASIS

Meet with a librarian to learn more about search strategies and special OER repositories in your discipline. 

OER are a great alternative to traditional textbooks, which present a variety of challenges to both students and instructors:

• OER are legally customizable, which means that instructors can add, edit, or delete content to fit their unique students’ needs
• Instructors can build a custom OER and then teach with it in perpetuity, retaining the ability to make edits or create new editions
• In addition to benefiting a UCSC class, instructors can publish their OER for others to use

OER are also free to students, come in a variety of digital formats, and can be printed, so students can learn in the way that works best for them. Unlike other course materials, students can access OER after graduation and continue consulting the materials.

Are you continually frustrated with the lack of representation and critical conversations in existing course materials?

One OER, Psychology 2nd Edition, was updated to improve EDI. First generation students’ sense of belonging was compared between this updated edition and the first edition, with students’ reduced sense of belonging ameliorated more significantly when they read the version that emphasized diversity.

Customization of OER allows instructors to edit or mix and match texts. This lets instructors present concepts in the way that works best for their particular class.

In order for something to be an OER, it must be shared under a Creative Commons license (look for these symbols!), which means that it can legally be edited. Librarians can help instructors understand what the license allows them to do, tools for editing existing OER, and considerations for accessibility and readability.