A Field Guide for Faculty

Open education, in practice — not just in theory.

Most faculty don't get stuck on why OER matters. They get stuck on where to look, how to judge quality, what a license actually lets them do, and whether they have time. This guide answers those questions — with a decision wizard, a searchable FAQ, and a Creative Commons decoder.

Start the 5-question wizard →Or browse 25 faculty FAQs
$2.9B+
saved by OpenStax users to date
53.5%
of surveyed students skipped a required text due to cost
5
permissions — Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix, Redistribute

The 5Rs

What "open" actually permits you to do.

Free-to-read isn't open. These five permissions are the difference.

1
Retain
Make, own, and control copies of the content.
2
Reuse
Use the content in a range of ways — in a class, on a site, in a video.
3
Revise
Adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself.
4
Remix
Combine the original or revised content with other material to make something new.
5
Redistribute
Share copies of the original, your revisions, or your remixes with others.

Decision Wizard

Should you adopt, adapt, remix, create — or pause?

Five questions. Honest answers only. You'll get a personalized path and three concrete next steps.

Question 1 of 5

Have you found at least one existing OER that looks close to what you teach?

Skim 3 repositories for 20 minutes. Don't overthink 'close.'

Faculty FAQ

25 questions faculty actually ask — with honest answers.

Open Educational Resources are teaching and learning materials released under an open license (usually Creative Commons) that grants the 5R permissions: Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix, and Redistribute. If a resource is only free to read — but you can't legally revise or share adaptations — it isn't OER.
ZTC means the student pays nothing for materials. OER is one way to reach ZTC, but a course can also be ZTC using library-licensed materials, public domain works, or faculty-authored PDFs. All OER is (usually) ZTC; not all ZTC is OER.
Pick one unit — not a whole course. Search 2–3 repositories (OpenStax, Open Textbook Library, OER Commons) using your topic + course level. Bookmark 3 candidates. Skim one for fit. Decide adopt / adapt / pause. That single loop is the whole practice — the rest is repetition.
Start with the big three: OpenStax (introductory college), Open Textbook Library (peer-reviewed textbooks), and OER Commons (broad, all levels). Then add discipline-specific hubs: MERLOT, LibreTexts (STEM), MIT OpenCourseWare, Milne Open Textbooks, Pressbooks Directory, and your state's OER hub (e.g., OERTX, CCCOER).
Independent studies (Bliss et al.; Colvard, Watson & Park, 2018 — 24,000 UGA students) have found OER produces equivalent or better learning outcomes, with the biggest gains for Pell-eligible and historically underserved students. Quality is a per-resource question, not an OER-vs-commercial question. Evaluate the resource, not the category.
Check five things: (1) Accuracy — is the author credentialed and content correct? (2) Currency — when was it last revised? (3) Alignment — does it cover your learning outcomes? (4) Accessibility — headings, alt text, captions, screen-reader friendly? (5) Representation — whose voices, examples, and case studies are centered? A resource that fails accessibility isn't actually open — some students can't use it.
Framing matters. Tell students explicitly: 'I chose this book because it's rigorous, current, and free — so cost isn't the reason you fall behind.' When faculty name the choice as intentional, students report increased trust, not decreased.
You don't need to overhaul. The lowest-effort path is a full adoption of an existing textbook that already covers your outcomes — this is roughly the same effort as switching between two commercial books. Adaptation and creation cost more; save them for later.
Fit gaps (chapters missing 15% of your syllabus), ancillary gaps (no test bank, no slides, no homework platform), accessibility remediation, and hosting/maintenance. Ask before you commit: who updates broken links next year? Where does the file live? Who owns the version history?
OpenStax offers slides, instructor solutions, and integrations with several homework platforms (WebAssign, MyOpenMath, Lumen). LibreTexts includes ADAPT for STEM homework. Many Pressbooks titles now ship with H5P interactives. Ancillary availability varies wildly — treat it as a required evaluation question, not an afterthought.
Often, yes. Many institutions run OER mini-grants ($500–$5,000 typical), and some states fund larger adoption/creation stipends. Ask your library, teaching & learning center, or provost's office. If your institution doesn't have one, ask them to start one — you're not the only faculty member interested.
BY = credit the author. SA = ShareAlike; your adaptation must use the same license. NC = NonCommercial only. ND = NoDerivatives; no adaptations allowed (which means it's not really OER for teaching remix). CC0 / Public Domain = no restrictions. Use the CC License Explorer below to see what any combination allows.
Use TASL: Title, Author, Source (link), License (link). Example: 'Biology 2e by OpenStax is licensed under CC BY 4.0.' Put attributions where readers will actually see them — bottom of the page, end of the chapter, or a dedicated credits page. Don't bury them in a syllabus footnote.
Sometimes. CC BY works with almost everything. CC BY-SA can only combine with CC BY-SA or more permissive. NC-licensed material can't be mixed into a commercial or non-NC work. ND material can't be remixed at all. When in doubt, keep them side-by-side (linked or excerpted with attribution) rather than merged.
Fair use is a legal defense, not a permission. Short excerpts for teaching often qualify, but posting a full chapter to a public site does not. When you want to remix and share, OER removes the fair-use guessing game entirely.
Adopt when a resource covers 80%+ of your outcomes as-is. Adapt when it covers 60–80% and needs local examples, updates, or reorganization. Remix when you're combining pieces from multiple sources. Create when nothing exists (this is a big project — get help). Pause when the workload doesn't match the time you have this term — that's a legitimate answer.
For textbooks: Pressbooks (WordPress-based, easy) and LibreTexts (deep, wiki-style). For editable documents: Google Docs or Word, then export. For interactivity: H5P. For version control: your institutional repository or GitHub if you're comfortable. Pick the lowest-friction tool that keeps the resource editable by your successor.
Not on your personal drive. Aim for: your institutional repository, Pressbooks Directory, OER Commons, or a state hub. Public, versioned, findable, and someone-else-can-maintain-it are the four tests. If you leave the institution next year, will this resource still exist?
Teaching practices that let students participate in creating, revising, or sharing knowledge rather than only consuming it. Classic examples: students improve a Wikipedia article, co-author a chapter of the class textbook, or build an openly licensed study guide for next year's cohort. It's OER's 'so what' — the materials enable the practice.
An assignment whose product has value beyond the grade — because it will be used by real audiences after the course ends. A traditional essay is disposable; a public annotated bibliography, a translated glossary, or a lab protocol added to a class OER is renewable.
Consent, choice, and alternatives. Offer a public-facing option and an equivalent private option. Let students choose pseudonymity. Let them remove their contribution later. Publicness should be an invitation, never a requirement — especially for students who face safety, immigration, or professional risks.
Your librarian (especially scholarly communication or OER librarian), your teaching & learning center, instructional designers, accessibility specialists, and — for grants — your provost or academic affairs office. Most OER programs are library-anchored. Start there.
Two paths. If you adopted a big-repository textbook (OpenStax, LibreTexts), maintenance is largely on the publisher — check the errata page yearly. If you adapted or created, plan a yearly 30-minute check: broken links, dated examples, new research. Put it on your calendar for the week before the semester starts.
Track: student savings (# students × textbook cost avoided), adoption counts, adaptation scope, downloads or views if hosted publicly, and student feedback. Frame it under teaching, service, and (if you created) scholarship. Many campuses now accept OER creation as scholarly work — ask your dean what evidence they need.

Creative Commons Explorer

Toggle the letters. See what the license actually allows.

Resulting license
CC-BY
Share
Yes — with attribution (TASL)
Adapt / Remix
Yes
Commercial use
Yes
Counts as OER?
Yes

Most permissive attribution license — combines cleanly with almost everything.

Repository Directory

Find the right OER repository before you search inside it.

Filter by what you teach, what kind of material you need, and the level you teach at. Each card links to that repository's own browse or search page — where you know its filters work.

Discipline
Material type
Level
Showing 16 of 16 repositories

OpenStax

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Hosted by Rice University

Rice University's flagship OER publisher. Free, peer-reviewed textbooks with professionally produced ancillaries — slides, test banks, instructor answer keys, and integrations with major homework platforms.

What you'll find: ~70 introductory college textbooks across math, sciences, social sciences, business, and humanities. High production value.
TextbooksAncillariesHomework / Assessments

Open Textbook Library

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Hosted by U. of Minnesota / Open Education Network

Curated, peer-reviewed open textbooks vetted by faculty. Every title includes faculty reviews scoring accuracy, clarity, and cultural relevance — the closest thing OER has to a Consumer Reports.

What you'll find: 1,400+ open textbooks with faculty reviews. Strong across most college disciplines.
Textbooks

OER Commons

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Hosted by ISKME

The largest general-purpose OER hub. Uneven quality, but broad — K–12 through graduate, every discipline, every material type. Use the advanced filters aggressively.

What you'll find: 50,000+ mixed resources: lessons, modules, textbooks, activities, full courses. Ratings and evaluations included.
TextbooksFull CoursesAncillariesInteractive / H5P

LibreTexts

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Hosted by UC Davis + partners

Massive wiki-style STEM library. Every page is remixable — build your own textbook by pulling chapters from different books. Includes ADAPT, a free homework system.

What you'll find: Deep STEM coverage (chemistry, biology, physics, math, engineering, geosciences) plus growing social sciences and humanities libraries.
TextbooksHomework / AssessmentsAncillaries

MERLOT

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Hosted by California State University

Long-running peer-reviewed catalog of learning objects. Strong for finding simulations, tutorials, and multimedia — not full textbooks. Editorial board reviews with star ratings.

What you'll find: 100,000+ learning materials: simulations, tutorials, animations, case studies, open courses. All disciplines.
SimulationsInteractive / H5PVideos / LecturesAncillaries

MIT OpenCourseWare

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Hosted by MIT

Full MIT courses published openly — syllabi, lecture notes, problem sets, and often video. Excellent for course design inspiration and graduate/advanced undergrad material.

What you'll find: 2,500+ courses across every MIT department. Deep in engineering, computer science, math, physics, and economics.
Full CoursesVideos / LecturesHomework / Assessments

Pressbooks Directory

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Hosted by Pressbooks

Discovery layer for open books built in Pressbooks. Filterable by license and subject. Many titles include H5P interactives baked into the book.

What you'll find: 8,000+ open books from institutions worldwide. Especially strong in Canadian and US higher-ed adaptations.
TextbooksInteractive / H5P

Milne Open Textbooks

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Hosted by SUNY Geneseo

SUNY Geneseo's small, high-quality peer-reviewed catalog. Every title goes through a formal editorial process — think university press, but open.

What you'll find: Curated open textbooks across mathematics, sciences, humanities, and education. Small collection, high signal.
Textbooks

MyOpenMath

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Hosted by David Lippman / community

Free online homework and assessment system built for open math textbooks. Auto-graded problems, algorithmic variants, LMS integration. The de facto OER homework platform for math.

What you'll find: Ready-to-use courses aligned to OpenStax and other open math titles, plus a huge item bank.
Homework / AssessmentsAncillaries

H5P.org

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Hosted by H5P Group

Open interactive content framework — flashcards, branching scenarios, interactive video, drag-and-drop, quizzes. Embeds into Pressbooks, Moodle, Canvas, and most LMSs.

What you'll find: 50+ interactive content types you can build, plus a public showcase of examples to remix.
Interactive / H5PHomework / Assessments

PhET Interactive Simulations

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Hosted by University of Colorado Boulder

Research-based interactive simulations for math and science. Free, translated into 90+ languages, with teacher-contributed activities for each sim.

What you'll find: 160+ simulations covering physics, chemistry, biology, earth science, and math. K–12 through introductory college.
SimulationsAncillaries

BCcampus OpenEd

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Hosted by BCcampus

British Columbia's provincial OER collection. Strong in professional programs (nursing, trades, business) and Indigenous-focused resources. Every book adoption-tested in BC classrooms.

What you'll find: 400+ vetted open textbooks with faculty reviews, adoption data, and ancillary lists.
TextbooksAncillaries

OpenLearn (Open University)

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Hosted by The Open University (UK)

The UK Open University's free learning platform. Bite-sized courses (1–100 hours) with videos, activities, and badges — great for supplemental modules or flipped-classroom prep.

What you'll find: 1,000+ free short courses across every discipline, plus articles and interactives.
Full CoursesVideos / LecturesInteractive / H5P

Saylor Academy

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Hosted by Saylor Academy

Complete college-level courses with free certificates. Useful when you need a fully packaged course — readings, videos, and assessments already sequenced.

What you'll find: 100+ full open courses in business, computer science, communications, humanities, sciences, and professional development.
Full CoursesHomework / Assessments

DOAB — Directory of Open Access Books

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Hosted by OAPEN Foundation

Index of scholarly open-access monographs. Perfect for graduate seminars, upper-division reading lists, and finding open scholarly sources to assign alongside a textbook.

What you'll find: 80,000+ peer-reviewed open-access academic books from 700+ publishers.
Textbooks

OASIS

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Hosted by SUNY Geneseo

Meta-search across 100+ open-content sources at once. Fastest way to see what exists on a topic before committing to a single repository.

What you'll find: Aggregated search across textbooks, courseware, videos, audiobooks, simulations, and public-domain works.
TextbooksFull CoursesVideos / LecturesSimulations