Related Information

Referencing Online Education Resource (OER) Materials on Course Outlines of Record (COR’s)

 

Open Educational Resources (OER) are educational materials and resources offered freely and openly. OER resources are generally released under some license (e.g., Creative Commons). Some resources must be used in their original form, while some can be modified and redistributed. OER’s may include textbooks, course readings and/or tools such as software to support the development, delivery, and use of open learning content.

 

If you use an OER textbook resource as a bibliographic reference at minimum the textbook reference should include:

  1. Author: e.g., OpenStax
  2. Name : e.g., Biology
  3. Publisher: e.g., OpenStax CNX
  4. Publication Date
  5. Link/course ID
  6. Licensed by/under

Refer to the following the example:

OpenStax, Biology. OpenStax CNX. Oct 21, 2016 http://cnx.org/contents/185cbf87-c72e-48f5-b51e-f14f21b5eabd@10.61. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.

 

Notes:

  • CSU’s and UC’s need the publication date and revision date if appropriate.
  • Additional information that can be added if accessible includes, “Copyright holder.” Add to the end of the reference.

 

OER and General Education Transferability


Proposed courses should include at least one textbook. Reviewers use the representative text as a way to confirm their understanding of course content. It’s understood that the instructor in a given section may choose a different text, but the proposed one is still given close attention. It’s expected that the structure of the text will be consistent with the course outline. Including additional reading is a good way to demonstrate that multiple points of view will be evaluated, as a means of developing critical thinking. Texts don’t need to be published in hard copy. The UC and CSU welcome the use of online texts and other Open Educational Resources, so long as the resource is a stable, bona fide textbook, and not just a collection of links to lecture notes or other web pages.

 

OER and Course-to-Course Articulation


CSU and UC campus departments consider the content of textbooks when reviewing course-to-course articulation proposals and course outlines of record (COR) from the California Community Colleges (CCC).

 

The use of online texts is reviewed by UC campuses on a case-by-case basis for articulation with the CCCs. Texts, both online and traditional, must be dated within seven years for most course submissions.

 

It is recommended to keep at least one traditional textbook (commonly accepted in the field) on the course outline of record as OER’s become more stable and widely used.