While finding quality, compatible OER resources can sometimes be time consuming, there are faculty benefits to adoption. This includes having an expansive variety of resources to choose from, especially for just in time student learning opportunities.
Additionally, OER resources are not subject to traditional publishing timelines for production. OERs can be created and distributed quickly, which allows course materials to remain current and the material to stay fresh.
Need a little help? ANU librarians can be a valuable resource to you. With our background in research and instruction we can help suggest some open source resources in your discipline. Contact us to discuss further ideas.
1. Start small: Choose one or two OERs to supplement a current text you are using. Think about a difficult concept students are struggling with and search for an OER on the topic to embed in your course.
2. Adopt a peer-reviewed textbook: The Open Textbook Library includes faculty reviews of open source texts in their Library. A textbook library affiliated with a major university (Rice), like OpenStax, is also a good starting point for identifying quality open source textbooks.