Open Educational Resources (OER)

Open Educational Resources are teaching and learning resources (e.g., textbooks, powerpoint slides, activities, assessments, etc.) that are openly licensed and free to use. These resources can be adopted and used in the classroom as is or modified as needed to best fit the learning outcomes of a course.

What is OER?

This video is an adaptation of ‘What is OER?’ from The Council of Chief State School Officers under CC-BY-4.0. Featuring Barbara Soots, Layla Bonnot, Katie Steen and Nicole Allen

WTCS OER Network

The WTCS OER Network has over 100 OER champions from all 16 colleges and the system office. Within the Network, we strive to share strategies and resources to advance the adoption of open resources across the WTCS. To join our network, please contact Hilary Barker. Below are a list of resources, developed within the OER Network, to help support OER adoption and scaling across the WTCS:

WisTechOpen

WisTechOpen is a hub for Open Educational Resources (OER) developed collaboratively across our System with the state OER funds. This platform showcases high-quality, openly licensed teaching materials created by and for our faculty. WisTechOpen also has:

  • WisTechFusion: an AI tool for faculty to develop course ancillary materials based on the WisTechOpen OER content
  • WTCS OER Repository in a searchable online database
  • OER 101 training opportunites which are available asynchronously online and are open to anyone interesed in learning more about OER

OER Repositories

  • WISC-ONLINE is a non-profit organization based at FVTC that provides open educational programs, objects, videos, tutorials, games, and in 2020 they are releasing open virtual reality scenarios!
  • WISELearn Resources Library is a OER Commons repository for OER used in Wisconsin’s K-12 schools, and the College and Lifelong Learning group allows for collaboration and sharing of post-secondary resources for WTCS, WAICU, and UWS.
  • Skills Commons Repository provides OER for career and technical education and workforce development
  • LibreTexts provides a collection of open resources and allows for easy remixing of content to create new resources that are tailored to best fit your needs
  • OpenStax provides open textbooks for general education courses and they have a ‘Institutional Partnership Program’ for colleges who are interested in training and guidance in OER
  • Open Textbook Library provides a library of open textbooks with comprehensive faculty reviews.
  • OER by Discipline Directory from BC Campus (Lauri M. Aesoph and Josie Gray)
  • Pressbooks Directory for CC licensed content

Other Resources