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Guide to discipline-specific sources of open educational resources.
Oer discipline-specific sources
Lesson components
- Fast Fact
- Skill/Objective
- Success Indicators
- Introduction
- Activity
- Review questions
- Resources
Fast fact
Learning objects are:
- Web-based, self-contained, small chunks of learning
- small enough to be embedded in a learning activity, lesson, unit or course
- flexible, portable, and adaptable, and can be used in multiple learning environments and across disciplines
Skills/objectives
Learners will be able to:
- Identify resources for locating OER in their own teaching disciplines.
- Develop a lesson plan using a discipline-specific OER.
Success indicators
- Lesson plan developed which uses OER.
Introduction
In addition to simply searching for Public Domain Materials on the Web , a number of OER and learning object repositories of on the internet provide a means to search for learning materials by topic and academic subject matter. The Center for International Education at UW-Milwaukee provides a thorough list of learning object repositories .
Other repositories include:
- Wisc-Online (Wisconsin Online Resource Center)
- Gateway to Educational Materials
- Co-operative Learning Object Exchange (CLOE)
- Wikipedia List of Graphics in the Public Domain
- Wikimedia Public Domain Images
- Creative Commons
- LibriVox
- ibiblio
- OAIster catalog of digital resources
- Photos at Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons
- Subject Specific Images for Educational Use from University of Michigan
- GCSE Bitesize
Other discipline-specific sources of OER include:
Archeology
Art history
Computer science
Economics
- EconPort
- Marketing
- Corporate Finance
- Principles of Enterpreneurship
- U.S. Economy in Brief
- Outline of the U.S. Economy
- Political Economy
- New Rules for the New Economy
- Introduction to Economic Analysis
French
Health
- Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health Preparedness
- CDC Public Health Image Library
- MedlinePlus Interactive
- The Chemistry of Health
- HIV Medicine 2007
- Free Medical Information
History
- Library of Congress, American Memory
- Digital History: American History
- Harvard University Library Open Collections Program
- History Matters
- Internet Modern History Sourcebook
- University of California, American West Collection
- World History Sources
- American Political History images
- EASE History
- Hypertext History: Our Online American History Textbook
- US History.org
- Hippocampus - click on U.S. history, then click on Textbooks tab
- Oral Histories
- America’s Story Jump Back in Time
- American Memory Timeline
- Freedom A U.S. History (webisodes)
- Outline of U.S. History
- About America: Women of Influence
Literature
Math
- Drexel University, Math Forum
- Eisenhower National Clearinghouse
- AMSER the Applied Math and Science Education Repository
- CauseWeb
- Math
- Linear Algebra
- A First Course in Linear Algebra
- Introduction to Probability
- Elements of Abstract and Linear Algebra
- Linear Methods of Applied Mathematics
- Multivariate Calculus
- Mathematics under the Microscope
Philosophy
Physics
Political science
- Democracy in Brief
- How the U.S. is Governed
- Outline of the U.S. Legal System
- Introduction to Human Rights
- Outline of American Geography
Psychology
Science
- Illumina
- Access Excellence
- Carnegie Mellon University, Chemistry Collective
- University of Washington, High School Human Genome Program
- National Human Genome Research Institute
- National Science Digital Library
- University of Colorado, Physics Education Technology
- National Science Teachers Association, Science Teachers’GrabBag
- AMSER the Applied Math and Science Education Repository
- Teacher's Domain
- Bacteriology
- Physical Geography
- The Physical Environment Introduction to Physical Geography
- Intro to Physical Oceanography
- Biochemistry
- Biology
- The Structures of Life (biology)
- Chemistry
- Human Physiology
- The New Genetics
- Environmental Science
- Introduction to Physical Oceanography
- Inside the Cell - Biology
- Curiosity Creates Cures The Value and Impact of Basic Research
- Medicines by Design (pharmacology)
Sociology
Spanish
Activity
Experience
- Find learning materials in your teaching discipline at each of the following repositories. Note whether or not a review or rating of the learning materials is available.
- MERLOT
- Wisc-Online (Wisconsin Online Resource Center)
- Gateway to Educational Materials
- Co-operative Learning Object Exchange (CLOE)
- Wikipedia List of Graphics in the Public Domain
- Wikimedia Public Domain Images
- FREE: Federal Resources for Educational Excellence
- Creative Commons
Reflect
Complete one of the following reflection activities:
- Join MERLOT , identify learning materials in your teaching discipline, then add an assignment to a learning object or review a learning object.
- Join OER Commons , then make your own posting to the OER Matters Discussions area. Click on OER Matters Localization Forum to answer the following question:
"Participate in discussions about how open education content is localized and how the creation of OER facilitates or impedes making content be context-specific. How is content localized at the individual, school, cultural, and national level, and what are the benefits?"
Apply
- Identify the most useful sources of OER for use in your teaching discipline.
- Develop a lesson plan using these discipline-specific sources. Post your lesson plan to MERLOT
Review questions
- What is a learning object?
- What are the most useful sources of OER in your teaching discipline?
- What criteria can be used to assess the usefulness of these OERs?
Resources
Read also:
OpenStax, Introduction to open educational resources. OpenStax CNX. Apr 17, 2009 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10413/1.3
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