Create Open Educational Resources

Creating OER can be daunting! Below, we've provided a few tips to get started and how to ask for assistance. We are here to support you in your content creation! Feel free to reach out at any time.

Getting Started

TTU OER Textbook Workflow

Additional Resources:

Creative Commons Licenses

If you decide to create a new OER, the most common way to ensure that your content will maintain copyright while also having the capability to be easily shared or modified by others in the future is to create it under a Creative Commons License. When looking at materials under a creative commons license, be sure to keep an eye out for ND (No Derivatives) as these materials are able to be shared, but they cannot be modified!

Here's a short video on combining licenses:

Accessible Formatting

While most OER are created in a digital format, it is important to remember that just because it's digital does not mean that it is automatically accessible to all students. When using or creating an OER, it is important to keep accessibility in mind so that all students are able to use the content in a way that works best for them to be successful.

To assist faculty through the process of locating, using, and creating accessible OER, we have gathered a variety of resources for you to reference.

Openly Licensed Simulations and Labs

Below is a curated list of openly licensed platforms and tools offering interactive simulations and virtual labs for teaching and research.

PhET is a large collection of interactive math and science simulations, all openly licensed
LabXchange offers interactive learning materials tailored to NGSS standards
MyPhysicsLab is a collection of web-based physics simulations under the Apache 2.0 open license
Project Chrono is a robust physics simulation engine in C++ for modeling robotics, multibody systems, fluid-solid interactions, and more
Open Source Physics is a collection of Java based simulation libaries and curriculum tools designed for physics education and research. The website is a little dated, but the simulations are still actively being updated
H5P is an open source plugin that allows interactive media integration within Pressbooks. For a guide on including H5P content into your Pressbooks resource, check out this chapter in our Pressbooks User Guide

Openly Licensed Media

If you are creating or adapting OER, you may want to find media to include in your materials. Below is a list of a few OER friendly sources for images, music, videos, and 3d models; feel free to reach out with any clarifying questions about licenses, usage, or attribution requirements.

Wikimedia Commons is a collection of over 125 million freely usable media files. This includes images, audio, video, and 3d models. Click "more details" to find the licensing information for each item. Licenses will vary
Openverse is a search tool that aggregates results from several public repositories. You can filter by images or audio, and it provides a one-click attribution tool to ensure you're properly crediting the creator
Blue Dot Sessions allows their music to be used under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license. Provided the resource you are creating hasn't recieved funding and won't be used for commercial purposes, you should be clear to use their music. Don't forget to add attribution!
Freesound is a great resource for finding Creative Commons licensed audio. You can find ambient crowd noise, sound effects, music, and more, with the ability to filter based on the CC license you'd like to use
Sketchfab is a library of 3d models that allows you to search filtered by license. Not everything here is openly licensed, so be sure to filter and double check
Creative Commons has a search tool which allows you to search for openly licensed media across multiple platforms. This is handy, as it will automatically apply the CC filter to the internal search of those platforms; selecting YouTube, for example, will yield only videos with a CC license based on your search