Every School has a designated Librarian who has a deeper understanding of the discipline area. A meeting with your Liaison Librarian will introduce you to the most appropriate open educational resources and how to use them.
Some OER sources are included on this page as a sample of what is available.
Watch this short video which provides an overview of finding and evaluating OER.
Video by Iowa State University Library via Youtube under a Creative Commons Attribution licence.
There are search tools which can help you find OER. We recommend trying these two repositories:
Mason OER Metafinder
You can also search for OERs using the Library Search.
In the search box type in the subject area (e.g. anatomy, physics, economics) then under 'Refine my results' tick 'Open Access' and 'Books' (hint: if you need to do multiple searches you can also lock the filters by clicking on 'Remember all filters').
Open textbooks will display an orange unlocked icon with the text 'Open Access' (see the screenshot below for an example). Click on the title or 'Check for availability' to see the link to the textbook.
Image: Screenshot of Principles of economics open textbook from Library Search results.
You can add this to your Course Readings list or you can reuse, share or adapt (depending on the licence conditions). If you're unsure how you can reuse an OER, contact the Copyright and Open Scholarship Officer.
If you're looking for open textbooks we recommend trying these multi-disciplinary platforms:
For more, see Discipline Specific Resources.
OERs can include more than just open textbooks. If you're looking for other materials such as assessments, case studies, games, interactive resources, lesson plans, and more, then try using OER Commons advanced search.
In OER Commons you can enter a keyword or select your subject area, and then select from the available material types which includes activities and assignments, class guides, courseware, instructor materials, mixed media, and reading materials.
This OER Guide also has links to:
