Beverly Bennett, Social Sciences
Jo Zalea Matias, Anthropology
Alicia Anzaldo for Biology 121
Mira Kolodkin, Noah Marshall, Erin Lambers, and Darlene Attiah for Biology 226 and Biology 227.
Used by Hellen Colman for Math 208: Calculus 2
Julius Nadas, Math 118
Used by Hellen Colman for Math 212: Linear Algebra
Hellen Colman for Math 146: Discrete Math
Merry Mayer for Political Science 201
Merry Mayer, Political Science 204
"OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge."
You're in the right place! This guide is made with beginners in mind, but will hopefully be a useful tool throughout your OER journey.
Learn about the foundation of OER by reading about copyright and open licensing on the next page of this guide.
Find some resources: Open textbooks might be a good place to start, but there is so much more!
Think about accessibility. OER are more than just digital resources, but many operate in digital spaces. Access and design for all learners is important!
Consider authoring and/or sharing your own OER! If you have created something that could be useful to other educators/learners, or even if you remix some open content in a new way, consider sharing it!
This is a partial list of textbooks adopted by faculty at Wright. Please reach out to department chairs and colleagues for the most current materials.
Anatomy and Physiology by Concepts of Biology by American Government 2e by International Relations by Perspectives by 
Chemistry 2e by Applied Discrete Structures by Calculus Volume 2 by A First Course in Linear Algebra by Math in Society by CCC Faculty Testimonials
On adopting OER...
I have been a strong supporter of OER for several years and, since spring of 2019, I am letting students know that they don't need to purchase a paper copy of the OER textbook. Even though it only costs $15.00 new or $5.00 used, a PDF version is available for free online. Either option is much less expensive than the My Math Lab book for $126.75.
Julius Nadas, Distinguished Professor
Department of Mathematics, Wright College
On creating OER…
The best textbook I found for one of my courses is over $200. I knew that I could deliver the same information, but I was worried if students missed a class, how would they read and get the information without a textbook? I attended meetings on OER at conferences, and the best lesson I learned was that you should start small. I began by making PowerPoints that could act as a textbook for the key-terms and concepts. Do not try to change an entire course and write an entire textbook at first. Start with a handout or activity. Look at OpenStax, OER Commons and others to see what is already available. You could be surprised at what is out there that would work for you, your classes, and your students.
Nancy Wyss, Assistant Professor
Department of Social Sciences, Wright College
For my sabbatical project, I thought it was important to begin creating an OER Spanish 101 manual for students. My two main reasons were a more personalized text and cost to students. The latter is very appealing because students can access the text online for free or print the text for the cost of photocopies. The former reason is even more significant in that I was able to create a text that had the goals, organization, and orientation that I desired. I did not want culture to be an "add-on" but incorporated into the text. I wanted a text that would speak to our (Wright, CCC, community college, Chicago, Latinx) population and OER allowed me to create a manual that could hopefully provide more interest to students and more representation and equity among them.
The biggest challenges were accessing non-copyright images and articles to incorporate. However, I did find already posted OER materials - other textbooks and guides - that proved really useful in terms of content and layout.
Anna Proffit, Assistant Professor
Department of Humanities & World Languages, Wright College
