LibGuides: Regional Training Center at TCNJ: Open Educational Resources

What are Open Educational Resources?

Open Educational Resources, also known as OERs, are web-based, authoritative information and research resources that are available to all, free of charge. In this guide, we will present 3 types of OERs:

New Jersey portals to OERs, such as JerseyClicks! (Require a NJ public library ID number)
Recommended OERs for teachers
OER search engines and portals that can be searched by keyword or topic or browsed to locate additional OERs

What do OERs contain?

Open Educational resources include:

Full courses
Course materials
Recorded lectures
Lesson plans
Learning modules
Textbooks
Learning objects, such as streaming videos or online tutorials
Tests
Software

New Jersey OER Portals

SchoolLibraryNJ
SchoolLibraryNJ provides access to school library resources, including an extensive array of K-12 research databases, free of charge to all New Jersey residents.This project is led by Rutgers University School of Communication and Information; the New Jersey Association of School Librarians, and the New Jersey State Library.
JerseyClicks
JerseyClicks, managed by the New Jersey State Library, provides all residents of New Jersey with free access to a high quality collection of research databases for all ages.
New Jersey Learning Resource Centers
The Learning Resource Center (LRC) Network is a project of the New Jersey Department of Education, Office of Special Education funded through IDEA Part B funds. The materials and resources at the LRC’s are provided to support the education of students with disabilities, helping them to succeed and to achieve in the least restrictive environment.

Recommended OERs for Teachers

OER Commons
OER Commons is a public digital library of open educational resources. Users can explore, create, and collaborate with other educators around the world to improve curriculum.
CK-12
Platform to promote equal access to excellent education resources for all students.
EngageNY
New York sponsored portal of standards-aligned open educational resources.
PBS Learning Media
PBS and WHYY searchable/browseable portal for curated, standards-aligned videos, interactives, lesson plans, and more for teachers.
Smithsonian Learning Lab
The Smithsonian Learning Lab promotes open discovery, creation, and sharing of K-12 education resources. The Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology (OET) created the Lab to facilitate discovery and creative use of the Smithsonian Institution's world class digital materials—millions of images, recordings, and texts.
Khan Academy
Non-profit with a mission is to provide a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere.
Digital Public Library of America
The mission of the DPLA is to empower people to learn, grow, and contribute to a diverse and better-functioning society by maximizing access to our shared history, culture, and knowledge.

OER Search Engines & Portals

MERLOT
MERLOT provides access to curated online learning and support materials and content creation tools, led by an international community of educators, learners and researchers. Browseable and searchable.
Mason OER Metafinder
A powerful search engine that provides the tools to help you locate open educational resources. OER Metafinder performs simultaneous searches across 23 different sources of open educational materials.
OASIS
Openly Available Sources Integrated Search (OASIS) is a search tool that aims to make the discovery of open content easier. OASIS currently searches open content from 114 different sources and contains 440,269 records.