Open Educational Resources / Recursos Educacionais Abertos

Open Educational Resources

Large Databases for Open Educational Resources

These databases are a good starting point to find a wide variety of open educational resources.

• Open Textbook Library

  This database, overseen by the Open Textbook Network, includes books authored by faculty at more universities across the country, and many include peer reviews. You can browse by subject or do a simple search.
• OASIS

  A new database to search hundreds of sources of OERs hosted by SUNY Geneseo.
• Mason OER Metafinder

  Similar to OASIS, it allows you to search other OER databases at once. Run by George Mason University
• OER Commons

  This database of OERs lets you search by education level, learning material type and accessibility. Supported by the not-for-profit group Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education.
• BCCampus

  Browse this collection of 159 textbooks by topics or use a simple search. About half include peer reviews. BCCampus, supported by the government of British Columbia, curates the OERs created by British Columbia academic institutions.
• Teaching Commons

  Browse for OERs in this aggregated database by the creator's institution, material type and subject.
• HathiTrust Digital Library

  Use this database to search a variety of material formats that are in the public domain or were made open from universities across the country. Make sure to use the Full Text search to ensure access to the material.
• Merlot

  Run by the California State University System, MERLOT curates OERs that have been licensed for reuse and materials that are online for free. Search includes audience, language, material type, Creative Commons licenses and accessibility.
• Open Educational Resource 2017 Textbook List

  Although not a database, this in depth list breaks down OERs by discipline.

Other Sources for Open Educational Resources

Although not as well-known as the above databases, these sites can also be good places to find open educational resources, including textbooks and other material.

• Saylor Academy Open Textbooks

  These 100-plus OER textbooks are maintained and vetted by Saylor Academy. No search built in but easy to browse.
• Directory of Open Access Books

  Although not focused on textbooks, this database curates scholarly books that are free and open to reuse.
• OAPEN

  Similar to the Directory of Open Access Books, this database curates free and open scholarly books in Europe.
• National Academies Press Open Books

  Search more than 8,000 books released by the NAP, which publishes the reports of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
• OpenStax

  Although small, this collection of 34 textbooks covers some of the basic introductory classes in the maths, sciences and social sciences. The books have all been peer reviewed.
• OpenMichigan

  This site collects OERs created by University of Michigan authors. Browse by subject.
• OpenSUNY

  Browse by subject or author of OERs created by authors with the SUNY system.
• MIT OpenCourseWare

  Search through OERs created by MIT. Materials include textbooks, audio/visual lectures, lecture notes, assessments and courseware.
• University of Nevada, Reno's open access databases

  The Knowledge Center curates this list of databases that include open material.
• OER for Technical Communication Classes

  A curated list from the University of Kentucky

Open Audio, Video, and Images

Open educational resources don't have to be just textbooks; any material you use in the classroom can be open. These sites focus on other materials - images, videos, and audio - that are free to use and, in some cases, licensed for adaption.

Multimedia

• Digital Public Library of America

  The Digital Public Library of America aggregates more than 14 million items from libraries, archives and museums. Items include text, videos, images and audio.
• New York Public Library Digital Collections

  The New York Public Library has made almost 700,000 items - mostly images, although text, maps, audio and movie files are included - in their digital collections free to the public. Check individual items for any other copyright restrictions.
• USA.gov

  Do a simple search or browse through videos and images from the federal government.
• The Public Domain Project

  Hosted by the stock footage company Pond5, this website curates almost 100,000 image, video, audio and 3D model files in the public domain.
• Smarthistory

  Focused on art and art history, this website includes images and videos based on geography, time periods and styles and themes.
• Library of Congress

  About a dozen collections that include free to use and reuse material.

Images

• Getty Images

  Getty Images has more than 100,000 images that are considered open. This search page is set up to include only those images.
• Wellcome Images

  These images from the Wellcome Trust have a focus on current and historical medical topics.
• Google Images

  This advanced search page for Google Images allows users to search for images that include a Creative Commons license. Use the last filter on the page, Usage Rights, to set your terms.
• Flickr

  Like Google images, Flickr also allows you to search for images that come with a Creative Commons license. This page is set up for that already, but you can also filter any search by click on "any license" in the upper left corner of the page to choose what license you want.
• Visual Hunt

  Millions of images that have been licensed with a Creative Commons license.
• Smithsonian

  Includes 2.8 million images from the Smithsonian's collection that have been released in the public domain.
• Pexels

  Stock photos that have been placed in the public domain.
• Pixabay

  Another site of stock photos, vectors and illustrations placed in the public domain.

Audio

• Internet Archive - Music

  Thousands of audio files curated in the Internet Archive. Includes all types of audio files. Check to see if specific ones are licensed to be adapted.
• Free Music Archives

  Music that's been cleared of copyright issues. Browse by genre or most popular.
• University of Oxford Podcasts

  Open podcasts made for University of Oxford classes. Browse through by topic or do a simple search.
• BandCamp

  These music files uploaded to BandCamp include a Creative Commons license.
• Freesound

  These audio files focus more on snippets, sounds, bleeps, etc. Includes searching by a "sounds like" feature and a help forum to make specific requests. Files should include a Creative Commons license.

Videos

• The Open Video Project

  These free videos are curated by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill but have not been cleared of copyright issues. Many of them come from the federal government.
• Internet Archive - Movies

  This collection features almost 3 million videos archived by the Internet Archive. Check individual collections and movies for copyright status.
• YouTube

  You can specifically search for videos uploaded to YouTube with a Creative Commons license. After you run a search, click the Filter box at the top of your results list. From there, in the Features column, select Creative Commons.