Open Educational Resources (OERs) are openly licensed, freely available materials - typically found online - that can be used for educational purposes. These provide instructors with the opportunity to create flexible course content that can be easily integrated into D2L while reducing costs for students.
Click each license icon to view additional information.
The most permissive of the CC Licenses, the Attribution license allows users to reuse, copy, modify, and share the resource so long as they provide attribution to the creator of the original source, giving credit where it is due.
Slightly more restrictive than CC-BY, the Share-Alike license also requires that attribution be given to the creator, while also stipulating that users must also use the same license on their use of the work; this ensures that all further uses of the work will also be OER.
More restrictive still, the Non-Commercial License also requires that attribution be given to the creator of the resource, and additionally stipulates that the resource cannot be used for commercial purposes (such as advertising or profit).
The Non-Commercial/Share-Alike License combines the terms of the three previous licenses, requiring that attribution be given to the creator, that the use of the work be non-commercial, and that the user must use the same license on their use of the work.
The second most restrictive of the CC-Licenses, the No Derivatives License requires that users provide attribution to the creator of the original resources, and also restricts the way that the work can be used - users must use the work as it is, without modification.
When you use a Creative Commons Licensed work, you must provide attribution. Attribution Statements should include the following information:
1) Title of the original work
2) Link to the original work (typically the Title is Hyperlinked)
3) Creator of the original work
4) Creative Commons License of the original work
5) Link to the Creative Commons License (typically the License is Hyperlinked)
Example: "CC License Compatibility Chart" created by Kennisland, CC0
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Open Access Collection presents over 400,000 works of art from around the world available in the Public Domain. Images include various mediums of artwork. Image credit: Dancers, Pink and Green, by Edgar Degas, ca. 1890, Public Domain.
The Art Institute of Chicago offers free, unrestricted use of over 50,000 images of works in the collection believed to be in the public domain or to which the museum otherwise waives any copyright it might have. Image credit: Water Lilies, by Claude Monet, 1906. Art Institute of Chicago.
Smithsonian Open Access allows users to download, share, and reuse millions of the Smithsonian’s images—right now, without asking. This includes images and data from across the Smithsonian’s 19 museums, nine research centers, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo. Image credit: Jar by the National Museum of African Art, pre 1920, CC0.
The Rijksmuseum is the Dutch national museum based in Amsterdam. Images on this site vary in terms of copyright. Check each image's copyright restrictions for Copyright, Creative Commons, or Public Domain statements to know how each image can be used. Image credit: Still Life with Fruit and Oysters by Abraham Mignon, Public Domain.
Getty Open Content includes over 100,000 images, including paintings, drawings, photographs, sculpture, watercolors, and rare prints from the 16th through the 18th century, and 19th-century architectural drawings of cultural landmarks. All are licensed openly, whether with a Creative Commons License or as part of the Public Domain. Image credit: Still Life with Lemons, Oranges, and a Pomegranate by Jacob van Hulsdonck, Public Domain.
With the launch of NGA Images, the National Gallery of Art implements an open access policy for digital images of works of art that the Gallery believes to be in the public domain. Images of these works are now available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial. Image credit: Farmhouse in Mahantango Valley by American 19th Century, Open Access.
accessCeramics is a growing collection of contemporary ceramics images by recognized artists enhancing ceramics education worldwide.Contributors to the Collection own the copyright on images submitted. During the cataloging process, each image is assigned a Creative Commons license. Image credit: Anthozoa gouthroii 'Viridis'detail by Carol Gouthro, 2012, CC-BY-NC-ND.
Europeana collects images, videos, text, and other resources from various archives, libraries, and museums across Europe. Please note that you must use proper filters and check each individual item's copyright status, as not all images in this collection are Creative Commons Licensed or in the Public Domain. Image credit: Naplemente by Hegedüs László, CC-BY.
Stephen Farthing R.A. presents eight practical drawing classes using John Ruskin’s teaching collections to explain the basic principles of drawing. Videos displaying the CC symbol are licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA. Videos not displaying the CC symbol should be treated as resources with All Rights Reserved.
Since OERs are typically digital, the best place to look is online. If you're just getting started, you may want to forgo a Google Search and start looking in well known OER Repositories (listed at the bottom of this page in the OER Collections box). Some of the most common starting places for faculty are the Open Textbook Library, Lumen Learning, and OpenStax.
As OER become more popular, more powerful search tools are being developed. The Mason OER Metafinder (the MOM) and OASIS are two such search engines. These two resources search across a variety of known OER repositories, presenting results from multiple locations in one convenient place.
College and University LibGuides are another great place to look for discipline-specific resources. Librarians take great care in selecting resources that they think best suit the needs of their faculty.
And, of course, when you feel comfortable in your ability to find and recognize OER, Google Searching is always a viable option. Combine subject-specific search terms with recommended OER search terms to get started. Remember when browsing online to always check the license, terms, and conditions associated with a resource to be sure that it is OER!
The resources listed in the OER Collections box below are a great starting place for any OER search!
The Mason OER Metafinder searches across a number of OER databases at once, allowing you to condense your searches for quality resources into one.
Openly Available Sources Integrated Search (OASIS) is a search tool that aims to make the discovery of open content easier. OASIS currently searches open content from 72 different sources and contains 165,592 records.
Recommended Search Terms:
Combine these or other terms with your subject-based terms
Canvas Commons is a learning object repository that enables educators to find, import, and share resources. A digital library full of educational content, including OERs, Commons allows Canvas users to share learning resources with other users as well as import learning resources into a Canvas course.
Available in all Canvas Free for Teacher (FFT) Accounts
A Member of Minnesota State