Open Education Resources (OER)

What's OER?

Open Educational Resources (OER) are open-licensed, educational materials that are freely available for use, sharing, and modification. The term OER (Open Educational Resources) was first defined by UNESCO in 2002 as “any type of educational materials that are in the public domain or introduced with an open license” and can “range from textbooks to curricula, syllabi, lecture notes, assignments, tests, projects, audio, video and animation.” This means that OER can include textbooks, teaching materials (like presentation slides), assignments, tests, quiz banks, videos, course shells, and other materials used in education.

These resources are usually online and free to access, although there may be a cost for printing the materials that can be found online or in your course's Canvas shell.

What's ZTC?

ZTC stands for "Zero Textbook Cost," and identifies sections in which there is no cost for a textbook or homework materials.

There may still be a cost for course supplies, such as goggles, calculators (which can be checked out from Library for free: Find out more in the How Do I... Make a Request for Items Online page or go to the front desk), art supplies, or other required course materials that are not textbooks or homework systems.

ZTC Wheel with 6 circles of types of free learning materials around the ZTC icon.

ZTC Wheel by Ame Maloney for Skyline ZTC is licensed CC BY.

Student Resources

Information about OER and ZTC for students.

Which sections are ZTC?
To find what sections have free textbooks, search for:
- (Zero Textbook Cost) and the crossed out money sign icon in the online schedule of classes
- (This section has a Zero Textbook Cost option) in the PDF version of the schedule of classes
Where's my OER?
Once you've decided on a course section that is ZTC, you can get access to the material in a variety of ways:
- Contact the professor or wait until the first day of class
- Find the resource on the textbook look-up on the Bookstore website
- Find your course section on the Bookstore's Zero Textbook Cost Links page, which is called "Course Materials at No Cost" under the Textbook banner on the Bookstore website

Research on OER

If you're interested in learning more about the impact of OER, check out the information on the Research on OER page.

Faculty Resources

Faculty should go to the Faculty Resources page for opportunities, resources, and information for learning about, finding, curating, and/or evaluating OER.