Open Educational Resources

What are Open Educational Resources?

According to The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Open Education Resources (OER) are:

"Teaching, learning, and research materials in any media that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits their free use and repurposing by others."

In short, open education resources are all about the sharing of educational information so that everyone has access to learning. 

GRCC Courses/Sections Using OER

The lists below include links to the Open Educational Resource being used in a course at GRCC. Please be advised, OpenStax links will not open in Internet Explorer. Courses in the MTA have course codes marked in bolded text.

Courses with Zero Textbook Costs

These courses have a textbook that can be accessed for free online for all sections and do not have any additional instructional materials to purchase for the course. Courses with a lab component may still have lab fees associated that are not considered here. See also the courses below this list with very low overall textbook costs, or courses with some sections that use OER.

• AN 280 - Native American Culture - Native Peoples of North America
• AS 102 - Introductory Astronomy - OpenStax Astronomy 2e
• AS 103 - Descriptive Astronomy - OpenStax Astronomy 2e
• AS 106 - Solar System - OpenStax Astronomy 2e
• AS 108 - Stars, Galaxies and Cosmology - OpenStax Astronomy 2e
• AT 105 - History of Art Before 1400 - See Instructor (Various Online Resources)
• AT 106 - History of Art Since 1400 - See Instructor (Various Online Resources)
• BA 207 - Business Law 1 - Business Law and the Legal Environment
• BA 208 - Business Law 2 - Business Law and the Legal Environment
• BA 254 - Introduction to Statistics with Applied Models - OpenStax Introductory Business Statistics
• BI 127 - Microbiology - OpenStax Microbiology
• BI 151 - Introduction to Cells, Molecules and Genes - OpenStax Biology
• BI 152 - Biological Diversity - OpenStax Biology
• CHM 110  Chemistry in the Modern World - Introductory Chemistry
• CHM 120 - Survey of General Chemistry - OpenStax Chemistry: Atoms First
• CHM 130 - General Chemistry I - OpenStax Chemistry
• CHM 140 - General Chemistry II - OpenStax Chemistry
• CIS 230 - Programming for Data Science - Hands-On Data Visualization
• EC 251 - Principles of Macroeconomics - OpenStax Principles of Macroeconomics
• EDU 120 - Adult Development - Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective
• GST 200 - Intro to Gender Studies - Intro to Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies
• HS 160 - US History through Reconstruction - OpenStax US History
• HS 161 - US History from Reconstruction to the Present - OpenStax US History
• PH 125 - College Physics I - OpenStax College Physics
• PH 126 - College Physics II - OpenStax College Physics
• PH 245 - Calculus Physics I - OpenStax University Physics
• PH 246 - Calculus Physics II - OpenStax University Physics
• PL 209 - Business Ethics - OpenStax Business Ethics
• PY 201 - Introduction to Psychology - Openstax Psychology 2nd Edition
• TH 248 - Introduction to Theater - Theatrical Worlds

Courses with OER as Primary Textbook

These courses are saving students hundreds of dollars by replacing their primary textbook with an OER, and have supplemented the OER with additional smaller books, workbooks, or online software to provide students a larger set of resources for success in the course.

• AN 210 - Intro to Cultural Anthropology - Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology
• BI 121 - Human Anatomy and Physiology 1 - OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology (several choices for textbook) 
• BI 122 - Human Anatomy and Physiology 2 - OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology (several choices for textbook) 

Courses with Some Sections using OER

The courses below have an OER Textbook as their primary reference text for some sections. In the GRCC Class Finder, the sections would be marked accordingly.

• BA 283 - Business Management - OpenStax Principles of Management
• BA 284 - Human Resource Management - Human Resource Management
• MA 108 - Trigonometry - Precalculus / Trigonometry 3rd Edition
• MA 131 - Precalculus - OpenStax Precalculus
• MA 215 - Statistics - OpenIntro Statistics 3rd Edition
• SO 251 - Principles of Sociology - OpenStax Introduction to Sociology

Further Resources and Links

Journals/Articles

• Fischer, L., Hilton, J., Robinson, T., & Wiley, D. (2015). A multi-institutional study of the impact of open textbook adoption on the learning outcomes of post-secondary students. Journal of Computing in Higher Education.
• Open educational resources and college textbook choices: a review of research on efficacy and perceptions
• How a Browser Extension Could Shake Up Academic Publishing

Repositories

• OpenStax College - Rice University
• Open Textbook Library - University of Minnesota
• Community College Consortium for OER - Open Textbook List
• BC Campus OpenEd Repository
• Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching - MERLOT
• OER Commons

Local Institutions

• Open.Michigan - University of Michigan
• Lansing Community College: OER Overview
• Open Education at Bay College

National and International Associations

• The Open Education Consortium
• Community College Consortium for OER

OpenStax 

• Nicole Finkbeiner Webinar Video Link
• Accessibility Statement

Other Resources

• Open Access Button
• GRCC Classfinder

Faculty Using OER

• "My students are not only saving money, they are getting early access to a quality textbook. A textbook available in multiple formats (Web, PDF, Word and ePub)."
  -Garry Brand, Business Law Professor
   
• "We should be doing everything we can to make education accessible and affordable. Open educational resources are one of the best ways to move toward that goal."
  -Lauren Woolsey, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy