The Iowa State University library offers several avenues for instructors to get help locating OER that are aligned with their course's needs.
Work with your librarian
If you aren't sure where to start, talk to your librarian! Every department at the university has a subject librarian who can provide support for your courses, research, and other information needs.
Your librarian can explore available open textbooks and free materials available through the library and identify if there is something already available that might meet your needs.
Request a consultation
Can't find anything that's quite right for your class? Fill out our simple, one-page questionnaire to connect with our OER experts.
Submit an OER Consultation Request Form
After your request form is received, we will review your request and begin identifying open textbooks, open access materials, and items in the public domain that might meet your needs. We may reach out to ask for a copy of your syllabus, the titles of texts that have been required or recommended for your course in past semesters, and any OER titles you are familiar with or that you have already reviewed for your course with your subject librarian.
Once we have had a chance to review your request in-depth, we will meet with you to discuss the options we've identified. In addition to identifying potential resources to adopt, at these consultations, you can get support:
- integrating OER into your Canvas course,
- accessing rubrics and other resources for evaluating OER, or
- planning a larger OER remix or development project for the future.
Instructors are encouraged to consult with our team at any stage in their exploration of open educational resources.
Want to look for yourself?
Here are three easy steps any instructor can take when looking at integrating OER into their teaching:
1. Identify keywords related to your course and its learning objectives. We recommend using your course schedule as a base for distinguishing keywords and topics to search for.
2. Begin your search. Review major OER repositories and aggregators for any relevant resources available in your subject area. Below are a few recommended tools:
- The Open Textbook Library
- The Pressbooks Directory
- LibreTexts Commons
- BCCampus Open Textbook Collection
You may want to consult the University Library's Open Educational Resources Library Guide, which includes a curated list of OER organized by discipline.
3. Review the resources you found. Many open textbooks have been reviewed by faculty or other subject matter experts. If you want to evaluate the materials yourself, there are some existing rubrics that can guide you. We recommend the Open Textbook Library's rubric.