Open Educational Resources and Zero Textbook Cost (OER and ZTC)): Using Open Access Works

Welcome

What is OER?

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Open Educational Resources (OER) are free educational resources. For the resource to be true OER it must be FREE in one of two ways:

• There is no cost to use the resource.
• The resource is not protected by copyright and has an open license to allow for users to legally and freely remix, adapt, and shared the materials to fit the needs of the learning environment.

Examples of OER

• Textbooks
• Videos
• Images
• Animations
• Courses
• Books
• Journals
• Tests
• Tutorials

Why Use OER?

Affordability - FREE FREE FREE! The rapidly rising costs of college textbooks are forcing some students to look at required texts as "optional". Using free resources in the classroom makes education more available and accessible while promoting success and completion.

Flexibility - Faculty have the ability to customize many OER materials to fit the needs of their course. 

The 5 R's of OER

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