Texas Tech University

Create Open Educational Resources

When creating a new open educational resource or editing existing OER you want to make sure that your work is accessible for all students and other scholars who may want to use your content in the future. While the creation of OER or adapting existing material may be daunting, we have outlined a few tips and provided resources below to assist you. 

RAIDER Digital Publishing

RAIDER Digital Publishing aims to publish textbooks and educational resources created by TTU faculty to be used in TTU classrooms. Interested in creating OER? Explore our PressbooksEDU platform to see what other authors have done! For questions about RAIDER Publishing, you can contact our Digital Services Librarian (heidi.winkler@ttu.edu).

Here are some examples of OER textbooks that can be found in PressbooksEDU:

TTU OER Textbook Workflow

A Few Things to Keep in Mind

Creating OER and Combining Licenses: 

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!

Accessible Format:

If you choose to upload your content as a PDF, or you find OER material that is in PDF, be sure that the PDF is machine-readable so that your content is accessible to all students. Creating a copy of the material into a word document (.docx), in addition to a PDF copy, will also assist in making your content easier to be modified by others in the future.

Break Content into Sections:

It is easier to modify and adapt OER if it is broken up into sections as opposed to an overly large document. For example, if you create an OER textbook, section it off by chapters that can be individually accessed, as opposed to a large continuous document. This will make it easier for others to “mix and match” the things that they need from your OER material.

Additional Resources:

Be sure to check out some of these resources to provide you with additional knowledge as you begin your OER creation journey!