Introduction

The experience of searching for Open Educational Resources varies widely across different subject areas. In some cases, a single search will yield a near drop-in replacement for the currently used textbook. Other times, it may take a deep dive thorough search to find even one usable passage. This short book serves as a resource for the OER search process.

What to Expect

Preliminary Search Strategy

Before initiating any search, it’s important to set out a plan of attack. On the next page, we’ll go over an example of a preliminary search strategy that you can keep in mind while searching, or while reading the rest of this resource.

Search Methods and Case Studies

While planning the layout of this resource, I felt that one of the most helpful structures would be to offer methods based on the information you’ll have access to for your search. We will go through three methods:

Searching for OER using a previously used textbook
Searching for OER using a Syllabus
Searching for OER using the information in an instructor’s request
This category is most useful for searchers in support roles, like librarians or staff, but it may prove useful for an instructor to read as well.

After each of these sections, I’ll provide a brief case study implementing those search practices for you to review.

Additional Considerations

After our case studies, I’ll go through a few additional considerations, such as the implementation of AI and other tools into the OER search process.

Back Matter

Finally, the back matter of this book will include lists of OER repositories, locations to find openly licensed materials, and a worksheet to assist you in your OER search.