Faculty and Open Educational Resources (OER)

“There is potential for growth for OER, as many faculty report that they are willing to try these resources. However, while faculty cite cost to the student more than any other factor in selecting educational materials, concerns about the time and effort it takes to find and evaluate these materials remains a significant barrier to wider adoption” (Babson Survey Research Group, Opening the Textbook, 2018).

The Fall 2016 SBVC Faculty OER Survey found that 60% of SBVC faculty expressed an interest in adopting OER but major barriers include the lack of familiarity with OER (49%), availability of high quality OER instructional materials (43%), and time needed to adopt (39%) (Faculty Open Education Resources Textbook Survey Summary Report).

The California Open Online Library for Education maintained by CCC, CSU, and UC systems is a repository mandated by state legislation which hosts open textbooks for 52 of the most popular courses, many which are general education courses. Each open textbook has been peer reviewed by discipline experts using a standardized evaluation rubric. Each open textbook has undergone an accessibility compatibility evaluation by the CSULB Center for Usability in Design and Accessibility. These open textbooks along with open textbooks from other popular OER repositories, have been curated here by discipline to allow for easy review and adoption by SBVC faculty.

Examine open textbooks by discipline.

With the ongoing development of OER instructional materials by disciplinary experts, this website will udergo continual updates, If your discipline is not currently listed, please check here periodically for updates.

You can also participate in some of the professional development modules to learn how to search and adopt OER.

Faculty, Administrators, and Staff: Support Open Textbooks - Make the Pledge