OER Resources for Faculty

Teaching, learning, and research materials that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license permitting free use and re-purposing by others. Open licensing means you can retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute the material at will, for free. Most are available online and may include textbooks, homework systems, and supporting materials.

• For you as a faculty member, this means you can distribute the material to your students at will, and you can change it.
• Customization. You can mix different textbooks, using some chapters from one and some from another, and make minor revisions to improve the material for your students, as long as you do not change it substantially.
• Creation. You may also create your own OER textbook. Consult the BCC Curriculum Committee first to ensure the content is course-appropriate. Some ZTC grant money is available to support this work, with grant requirements attached. Email library@barstow.edu for details.

Definition adapted from Open Education, Creative Commons (opens in a new tab), available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (opens in a new tab).

Why do we use OER?

• Cost savings. OER materials are free to students, which removes the barrier of high textbook costs.
• Inclusivity. Every student has the material from day one, which supports a more inclusive learning environment.
• Flexibility. You can make the material fit your curriculum rather than fitting your curriculum to a publisher's book.

How do I adopt OER?

1. Find materials. Explore our directories of reviewed OER, or review the list of OER already approved for BCC classes. A newer edition may be available in some cases.
2. Ensure course-appropriateness. If the OER has not been previously approved, consult the Curriculum Committee before adopting it.
3. Submit your adoption. Record the textbook and any other course materials in BCC's course materials adoption system so the bookstore can direct students correctly. Provide as much detail as possible, because students must be given accurate information at the point of registration under AB 607 (opens in a new tab).

As defined in AB 607: digital or physical textbooks, devices such as calculators and remote attendance platforms, and software subscriptions.

Courses that do require students to purchase materials, but where the total cost stays below $40. That threshold is BCC's definition of low cost.

Courses in which students incur no costs at all for obtaining course materials. A course can earn the ZTC designation in several different ways.

Instructional resources available primarily in digital form, such as e-books, library database resources, open educational resources, and instructional websites.