Adopting OER is when you find open content and resuse it in a variety of ways, including downloading, copying and distributing it to your students either in print or digital format (Retain and Reuse). It is essentially the first step in incorporating OER into your teaching. Faculty may choose to not go any further than adopting since it is often easier and less time consuming than adapting or creating new OER.
Where do I start? If you are ready to adopt OER for your course, follow these initial steps:
Step 1. Think about the learning objectives for your course. Instead of focusing on the textbook you want to replace, focus on what you would like students to learn.
Step 2. Contact a JCC Librarian. Although this guide provides a lot of information and resources, it will help to have an initial consultation with a librarian so they can recommend specific OER repositories.
Step 3. Set aside some time to search and review the OER material you find. Adopting OER may not take up as much time as adapting or creating OER, but it will take some time to review the material and make sure it fits with your course learning objectives.
Step 4. Fill out the form below. Campus OER Josh Dickinson will contact you. His contact number is (315) 786-2221.
There are several OER repositories, however, we highly recommend that you begin your search with this webpage Open NYS that introduces a variety of sources being used in SUNY and CUNY. Another option is to go directly to the repository for SUNY OER. Both of these resources provide options for LMS integration and support services from Open SUNY.
The online resources that the JCC Library subscribes to provide a wealth of articles, books, videos, audio files and more that can be used for supplementary material when putting together an OER. Linking to database material can be tricky so ask the librarians for help. Also, be aware that vendors occasionally change their offerings for various reasons.
If you didn't find anything in either SUNY OER or Lumen Learning's course catalog then explore some of the other options provided under the OER Repositories tab.