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Social Sciences - OER and Alternative Course Materials

Finding OER

Openly licensed content is more widely available than ever, and it can be a challenge to know where to start when searching for high quality OER for your course. Luckily, there are a couple of go-to locations that we recommend when starting your search. 

As we say when helping a student with the research process, it is important set your expectations. Understand that you might not find one single source that meets all of your research requirements. You may end up finding one text that covers a majority of your course objectives, but will probably need to supplement that text with additional resources. The wonderful thing about OER is that most open licenses give you the freedom to remix sources into a single source that meets those needs.

Let's take a look at a few places to start your search for OER. Start your search using one of the embedded a few discovery boxes or repositories linked below. These search tools have been developed to aggregate open content from across OER repositories.  

OASIS

Openly Available Sources Integrated Search (OASIS) is a search tool developed by SUNY Geneseo's Milne Library that aims to make the discovery of open content easier. OASIS currently searches open content from nearly 100 sources. 

GMU MetaFinder

MOM iconMason OER Metafinder (MOM)
 
Advanced Search

The OER Metafinder launches a real-time, simultaneous search across 21 different sources of open educational materials as you hit the Search button. The GMU OER Metafinder searches well-known OER repositories like OpenStax, OER Commons, MERLOT but also sites like HathiTrust, DPLA, Internet Archive and NYPL Digital Collections where valuable but often overlooked open educational materials may be found.

OER Commons

oer commons

The OER Commons MI OER hub contains resources curated by colleagues throughout Michigan. Join the SC4 OER Commons Group to submit or create your own OER.

Search Open Access resources using SC4 Library One Search

OneSearch OER

Search Open Access content indexed by SC4 Library

 

 

 

Our library's discovery search tool has been customized to search open access content indexed by the discovery provider. This content includes journal articles in addition to ebooks. Please note that some open access content has been included in databases that the college pays to subscribe to. While using this tool, if you hit a log in wall, let the library know, and we can find a barrier free means of accessing the title. 

Other OER and Open Licensed repositories

Interactive learning tools

Inclusive design

Platforms

OER Basics

Open Courses

Many of these courses and associated content are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license. Use and sharing of resources of any content must be attributed to the source. Please evaluate any content and licensing on a case by case basis when considering use.

Licensing

Open Access Finding Aids

Attribution

Except where noted, Open Education & OER is licensed CC BY 4.0 and is adapted from "The OER Starter Kit" by Abby Elder  licensed under CC BY 4.0