Open Educational Resources (OERs)

In this video, EKU Faculty members reflect on their experiences using OERs in the classroom.

Alternative Textbook Grant Program

Consider retooling one or more of your classes to utilize only open textbooks (OERs) and/or library resources. The Faculty Senate Committee to Review Textbook Resources is administering a $50,000 grant from the Board of Regents to incentivize OER adoption. Want to participate in the fall 2021 cohort? Click here to learn more and apply. **Application Deadline is August 15**

Faculty Senate Committee to Review Open Textbook Resources

The next meeting of the Faculty Senate's Ad Hoc Committee to Review Open Textbook Resources will be in September, 2021.

Fall 2021 Learning Opportunities

What is the difference between OA and OER?

Open Access (OA) and Open Educational Resources (OER) are closely related. Both are freely available with no paywalls and are often found in Institutional Repositories, such as EKU's Encompass Digital Archive.

• OA generally refers to scholarly articles that are freely available
• OER refers to teaching and learning materials (textbooks, question sets, materials in the public domain, and other course supporting material) that are free and open with a creative commons or similar license for anyone to reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute.

• Consider using OERs 
• Incorporate existing library resources 
• Write your own OER textbook!
• Follow #OER on social media
• Spread the word! Tell your colleagues about affordable alternatives

Learn more:

Did you know that a 2016 study of students showed that 67% of them had opted out of buying (or renting) a required textbook because of the price? [1]

Did you know that faculty who have adopted open resources in their classes have seen similar or better student outcomes than print textbooks? [2]

OAweek2021

For a great, comprehensive introduction to OERs, please watch David Wiley's TEDxNYED Talk as well as the Introduction from the OER Starter Kit.

Additional resources listed below...