"Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that you may freely use and reuse at no cost, and without needing to ask permission. Unlike copyrighted resources, OER have been authored or created by an individual or organization that chooses to retain few, if any, ownership rights" (OER Commons, 2020).
OERs might include educational materials such as textbooks, lecture notes, curricula, tests, or other media, and can extend to whole modules, software, and full courses. The aim is that this material can be used, copied, shared, and adapted legally and freely, although some form of acknowledgement for example using Creative Commons (CC) licences may be required.
Adopting a resource like an open textbook to supplement the resources on your module can:
Find more information about OER benefits from the JISC website.
Course syllabus and resources, including lecture videos, assignments and exams in a variety of subject areas to view and download.
ROAD: Directory of Open Access Scholarly Resources
You can add resources to your reading list
If you want help or guidance talk with your Academic Liaison Librarian or get copyright advice from the Library at copyright@brunel.ac.uk
UNESCO OER Pages: Definitions, frameworks, publications and resources on advancing OER
OER Commons: Hub on OER provided by ISKME, the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education. This site aims to progress knowledge and use of OER, and provides access to resources and courses suitable for Key Stage to University level teaching and learning.
JISC OER: JISC guide detailing the applications and practicalities of using OER.
OA Books Toolkit: A recent collaboration between the University of Glasgow and Springer Nature that seeks to make visible the publishing process in OA Books in order to encourage publication.
Data repositories are websites you can use to find research data to use in your own research or deposit your research data for others to use.
Brunel University London's mini site on the research repository Figshare.
Digital research data in the social sciences and humanities.​
Search for a research data repository.
Lists research data repositories.
Academic Liaison Librarians are available between 1pm-4pm, Monday to Friday term-time to discuss queries about using library resources and referencing.
Outside of these times, you can use the Library chat service and your query will be picked up by another member of Brunel Library staff or our friendly co-op support staff, who provide us with 24/7 chat coverage.