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Open Educational Resources
Licensing
This work by http://library.raritanval.edu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Options for OER
In its purest form, "open educational resources" refer to materials that are free of cost and free of copyright restrictions. However, the development of a "No cost course" can take many forms if your goal is primarily to reduce the cost of course materials for students.
A distinction should be made between "open" materials - those with a creative commons (CC) or public domain license which can be remixed, reused, and redistributed without restriction - and "free" materials - those which do not cost the student anything but might have copyright restrictions and/or be funded by the library/institution.
Materials in a No cost course can take the form of:
- a single open textbook fully adopted as a replacement for a commercial textbook (Open Textbook example)
- a "remix" of chapters and content from several different open textbooks, organized to create a customized open textbook (Remixed Open Textbook example)
- a combination of open textbook chapters and other free, openly licensed online materials (Curate Open Materials example)
- a combination of free online materials and library subscription content (ebooks or articles accessed through the library's electronic resources) (Free Curated Materials example)
Pressbooks
RVCC faculty can use Pressbooks, an e-book creation platform, to create your own open textbook or adapt an existing open textbook to be suitable for your students.
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RVCC Pressbooks NetworkBrowse the Pressbooks that have been created by RVCC faculty.
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Pressbooks DirectoryBrowse or search all available Pressbooks to see if an existing one will match your needs or can be adapted for your course. Existing Pressbooks can be imported to RVCC's Pressbooks platform so you have a unique URL to your ebook and can customize it to fit your course.
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RVCC Pressbooks User GuideEbook with RVCC-specific detailed instructions on how to get started with Pressbooks.
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Pressbooks YouTube ChannelVideos created by Pressbooks to learn how it works.
Notify the bookstore
Be sure to notify the bookstore that are you using OER in your course so the following message will be visible when students search the bookstore listings for your course:
Optional print copies
If you are offering an optional print version of your open textbook through the bookstore, be sure it is listed as a Recommended text. Contact Megan Dempsey for more information on print options for your open textbook.
Faculty OER Toolkit
The Faculty OER Toolkit is an information resource about and guide to adapting and adopting Open Educational Resources. Included are definitions and examples, information about Creative Commons licensing, and tips on how to adapt and/or adopt OER for classroom use.
Published by BCcampus