Open Educational Resources

The development of open-access textbooks and journals began at least 20 years ago. As textbook costs have become a barrier to education for many students, educators began shifting to open-access textbooks to mediate these costs. In addition, open-access journals allow students and faculty to access quality research materials without a subscription or added fee. I have organized a summarized list of textbooks, journals, and other open-access resources for educators to utilize in their classes. In addition, students can rely upon open-access journals for research options while completing their education.

Click on each tab to find open-access resources to help you meet your educational goals.

PLEASE NOTE: the “Other Resources” tab contains materials that are not purely textbooks or journals. These resources can provide virtual labs or activities, case studies, lesson plans, or a combination of materials that also include textbooks and journals.

Textbooks Journals Other Resources

Textbooks

OpenStax

OpenStax is an open-source textbook site provided by Rice University through philanthropic partnerships and other education resource companies. All textbooks are peer-reviewed and written by experts in their fields. Textbooks cover most college freshman and sophomore-level courses in math, science, humanities, social sciences, humanities, and business, and a few textbooks for high school courses. Textbooks are available in English and some in Spanish. Students can utilize the textbooks via the web, download as pdf to their computers for annotation, or purchase a hard copy through Amazon. Textbooks can easily be included in the Learning Management System (LMS) the instructor uses for effortless student access.

Image obtained from openstax.org

Image obtained from https://libretexts.org/.

LibreTexts

LibreTexts is an open-source textbook site provided by a partnership between California State University, University of California – Davis, Merlot, The National Science Foundation, and the Department of Education. Its mission is to provide quality open educational resources and reduce student textbook costs. Instructors can build textbooks for their courses from the LibreText website’s resources. Educators can mix chapters and sections for the resources provided and edit down to the text level to create the exact textbook needed for their students. No unused chapters or unnecessary sections. Students can interact with the textbook online, download it as a pdf, or order a hard copy from LibreTexts at a reasonable price. Once an instructor has built the textbook for their class, the textbook is then loaded onto a campus bookshelf for easy access by students and other educators. Textbooks can easily be included in the Learning Management System (LMS) the instructor uses for effortless student access.

Journals

PLOS

PLOS is a non-profit, open-access publisher that provides peer-reviewed articles founded in 2001. The focus of their multiple journals are on science and medicine. A screen-shot of their journal list is provided at right.

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)

The DOAJ provides over 18,000 open-access, peer-reviewed journals. The DOAJ is supported by donations from academic organizations and contributors. Journals are available in 8o-different languages and cover a vast area of topics. The directory can be searched just as a library database and provides advanced search settings to refine by subject, language, date added, and more.

Image obtained from https://plos.org/.

Other Resources

OER Commons

OER Commons provides free resources to educators from preschool to graduate school level on various subjects. Users can search materials by keyword, subject, education level, and educational standard. Materials include lecture notes, lesson plans, textbooks, laboratory activities/experiments, and case studies.

Global Health Education and Learning Incubator at Harvard University

This resource provides health resources including reports, online learning opportunities, case studies, infographics, and more for educational levels from middle school to professional. Users can search by topic, location, resource type, and more.

VC3Chem

The Visualizing the Chemistry of Climate Change (VC3) portal provides resources to teach chemistry concepts through the lens of climate science. This website was created using a National Science Foundation grant and a partnership between Purdue University, The King’s Centre for Visualization in Science (King’s University, Edmonton), and the American Chemical Society. Four topics are explored on this website, including acids and bases, isotopes, thermochemistry, and gases. Students are guided through concepts, provided sample problems to solve (with solutions), and encouraged to dive into thoughtful questions about climate change.

Merlot

Merlot was developed to provide free, quality educational resources to educators and students that take the place of a traditional textbook. Merlot offers open-source textbooks, case studies, online-interactive materials, and other resources on various subjects and suitable for K-graduate school educational levels.

The Merlot page also offers a series of faculty development resources from how to have a successful first day of class to information on how to utilize a flipped classroom model.

References

Pence, & Losoff, B. (2011). Going beyond the textbook: The need to integrate open access primary literature into the Chemistry curriculum. Chemistry Central Journal, 5(1), 18–18. https://doi.org/10.1186/1752-153X-5-18

I will update this blog as I find new open-access educational materials. Please check back periodically to find new resources to use in your courses.

This blog is also listed on my Projects page for easy access.

First Posted: July 26, 2022

Last Updated: July 26, 2022