OER at Mesa

Faculty Resources

About OER

Overview of Perceptions and Effectiveness of OER College Textbooks

Original Research Study

One of the most widely used definitions of OER for education comes from UNESCO,

“Open Educational Resources (OERs) are any type of educational materials that are in the public domain or introduced with an open license. The nature of these open materials means that anyone can legally and freely copy, use, adapt and re-share them. OERs range from textbooks to curricula, syllabi, lecture notes, assignments, tests, projects, audio, video, and animation.”

Discussion about open educational resources (OER) has been increasing among faculty, administrative, and student groups. The additional expense of a homework system can skyrocket the previous low cost of a textbook. Additionally, shipping fees, out-of-stock notices, or out-of-date content can all make selecting the right textbook a challenge. OER allows the flexibility to read the text online or print a page, chapter, or entire book at no cost. 

Along with cost savings, another benefit is that faculty are in complete control of what their students are learning and how they are learning it. Faculty have the ability to edit, adapt, and remix OER to meet the localized and unique needs of their students, including ensuring that the diversity of perspectives and voices of their students are represented in course materials. The ability to fully customize course content allows for full academic freedom. 

The key benefits of OER are accomplished through Creative Commons licensing which allows the creator of a piece of work to share it with the world and allows the world to adopt and adapt that work. Great works are now more easily accessed by faculty and students than before! This provides the opportunity to share content with colleagues from around the world and engage students in learning opportunities such as providing feedback on their textbook and learning materials for continuous improvement.

Take a look at this video from Qatar which summarizes Creative Commons Licensing.

Meet Creative Commons

Get Started with OER

The CTL offers a self-paced Canvas OER Workshop that you can enroll in and learn more about OER and Creative Commons licensing. Zero-Textbook-Cost or Z Courses are also being developed to create Z Degrees.

The Library offers an OER Resource Guide to assist faculty in finding OER content, including entire courses, books, videos, music, and more. 

Several OER courses have been developed through the Maricopa Millions Project and are available for you to remix, reuse, and redistribute. Search Canvas Commons with tag “MMOER” to access these OER Courses.

Maricopa Sponsored OERs

Maricopa Open Digital (MOD) Press facilitates the creation and sharing of high-quality ebooks both for publication and classroom use.

Maricopa Open Educational Resource Learning System (MOER), formerly known as MathAS. MOER is a web based STEM assessment and course management platform.

OER Committee

OER + You = AWE$OME

The MCC OER Committee was formed in Fall 2019 and is comprised of faculty and staff from across the college. The committee is sponsored by the eLearning Department.

Purpose Statement

Increase faculty participation in the adoption, creation, use, and adaptation of OER in order to promote student access, affordability, and success.

Members

Student Resources

Maricopa Faculty have been working diligently to provide Open Educational Resources (OER) for our students. Saving students money, while using quality resources is a goal of the OER community at MCC.

Why does OER Matter?

Do you want to find classes that are using OER materials, are low cost or no cost to you, or part of the zero-cost-textbook degree program?

Watch this video for instructions. Join the OER movement!

Increase OER Awareness