Adopting OER is when you find open content and reuse it in a variety of ways, including downloading, copying and distributing it to your students either in print or digital format (Retain and Reuse). It is essentially the first step in incorporating OER into your teaching. Faculty may choose to not go any further than adopting since it is often easier and less time confusing than adapting or creating new OER.
Where do I start?
If you are ready to adopt OER for your course, follow these initial steps:
Step 1. Think about the learning objectives for your course. Instead of focusing on the textbook you want to replace, focus on what you would like students to learn.
Step 2. Contact the Stafford Library. Although this guide provides a lot of information and resources, it will help to have an initial consultation with a librarian so they can recommend specific OER repositories in order to ensure that you are finding high quality material.
Step 3. Set aside some time to search and review the OER material you find. Adopting OER may not take up as much time as adapting or creating OER, but it will take some time to review the material and make sure it fits with your course learning objectives.
There are several OER repositories, however, we highly recommend that you use the suggested library OER Services first since they can provide assistance with integrating and implementing content into the LMS.
Begin your search with OER Commons.
What if I didn't find anything?
If you didn't find anything in the Open Textbook Library then explore some of the other options provided under the Repositories tab.