Skip to Main Content

Free, Open, and Affordable Resources: Home

Introduction

Welcome to the NIU Libraries'  Free, Open, and Affordable Materials LibGuide.

Tips for Searching OER

  1. Contact your Subject Specialist librarian
  2. Use the advanced searching feature if there is one. This will save you some time and limit your search.
  3. Start with broad terms (ex. disease instead of cancer) and then narrow.
  4. As you narrow, think about disciplinary language. Is there something else this topic might be referred to as?
  5. If you still aren't getting good results, try to start with the browsing feature (even if it's very broad). Sometimes the term your searching isn't used but you still know it would be under a broad subject like "humanities" or "writing."

Adapted from the University of Illinois https://guides.library.illinois.edu/oer, Northwestern University https://www.northwestern.edu/open-educational-resources/find-oer/index.html and DuPaul University

Why Use Free or Open Materials?

Inforgraphic on NIU textbook costs. A red rectangle on the left features a black and white icon of cash in an envelope; the text to the right of the icon reads: 95% of full-time NIU undergrads received financial aid during the 2019/2020 school year. At dark blue rectangle at the right featured a white circle with the the amount, $1400, at its center; the text to the right of the image notes that this is the average annual cost of textbooks and supplies at NIU. Just below this in the blue rectangle in another circle with an image of a person with a gear for a head and the number 127; the text to the right of the image reads: number of hours working at current minimum wage to cover these costs.

Phares, D. (2021, July 8). NIU Textbook Costs. CC BY 4.0. Information from Northern Illinois Tuition & Cost, CollegeSimply. 

Blue bar graph on a white background delineating the impact of textbook costs on students. 64.25% did not purchase the required textbook; 42.76% took fewer classes; 40.55% did not register for a specific course; 35.62% earned a poor grade because they could not afford to buy the textbook; and 22.91% dropped a course

Florida Virtual Campus. (2019, 8 March). Chart for Key Finding 3: The impact of textbook cost, In 2018 Florida Virtual Campus Student Textbook & Course Materials Survey,  CC-BY.

Advantages of Free & Open Materials

  • Equity—required course materials available for ALL students from day one (or before)
  • Accessibility—many open materials are more accessible than traditional textbooks and can be used with screen-readers
  • Customization—exactly the materials you want for your specific teaching needs 
  • Currency—faculty can find or create materials that reflect the most up-to-date work in their fields; rapid dissemination not hampered by the lag associated with traditional publishing
  • Student Success—unrestricted access to course materials eliminates an important barrier to retention and degree completion
  • Innovation—open materials provide opportunities for creative pedagogy and practice

What is OER?

UNESCO (the Unites Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) defines Open Educational Resources (OER) as "teaching, learning and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions."

OER exist to ensure educational accessibility and equity.

Quality & Effectivness

There are a great many misconceptions about free and open materials, most notably that because they do not go through the same process as commercially published materials, they are not of comparable quality. However, free or open resources are often as good as those produced for-profit publishers. In fact, many works were created for commercial purposes, but are now in the public domain, such as older editions of Shakespeare's plays edited by eminent scholars or images of classic works of art. And the new materials that are produced are frequently the creations of faculty at colleges and universities--the same individuals who are responsible for writing commercial textbooks.

Library QuickLinks

Login to LibApps Admin

NIU Logo

Powered by Springshare.
All rights reserved.