Faculty Resources

Open educational resource (OER) offerings have grown significantly over the last several years, and choosing the right materials can be a challenge. There are a growing number of open textbooks available online for faculty to use.

One of the true benefits of using an open textbook is the ability to adapt the material to meet specific course needs. As well, student feedback on the information that can facilitate instant and continual improvement.

How can the OER Faculty Specialist help?

  • Work with faculty to promote and facilitate adoption and adaptation of OER
  • Work with departments to guarantee course offerings for Z-Degree/OER Degree
  • Design and implement data collection efforts
  • Work with promoting OER courses and efforts
  • Work with advising and student services

How can the OER Student Specialists help?

  • Develop, edit and maintain outreach materials for Open Textbooks and courses that use Open Education Resources (from here on referred to as OER).
  • Assist with all aspects of events, training, webinars, and meetings.
  • Participate in local OER data collection and organization
  • Assist with preparation and planning of campus events around OER, including student/community focused activities.

Guidelines for OER Reassigned Time

Residential faculty may apply for reassigned time for OER-related work in the following categories:

  • New Authoring
  • Rewriting/Expanding
  • Course Management

View the most current specific guidelines for OER@SCC reassigned time for more detailed information.

Getting Started with OER

Start with the OER Faculty Workshop created in 2013 by Maricopa faculty member Matthew Bloom. The course provides an overview of open educational resources, including what they are, how the licenses work, where to find them, how to create and share them yourself, and how to design assignments that leverage the permissions afforded by open licensing.

More than 30 full courses have been developed through the Maricopa Millions project and most are available for you to remix, reuse, and redistribute. Search Canvas Commons using the tag "MMOER" to access these OER courses. Similarly, most OER textbooks published by OpenStax/Rice University are already available through course shells on Canvas Commons and ready to import into your course (search for “OpenStax”). For information about Canvas Commons, course development, and how to import content into your own Canvas shell, contact the SCC Center for Teaching and Learning.

The following links are resources for finding and learning about OER.

Discovery

Information