Recommended Repositories and Platforms

CUNY Repositories and Platforms

  • CUNY Academic Works
    This is where we keep the copy of record for all materials created through the OER grant. It is almost exclusively static PDFs. This is a great place to find syllabi, assignments, and lecture notes that have been specifically developed for CUNY students. I recommend starting here.
  • Manifold @ CUNY
    An intuitive, collaborative, open-source platform for digital publishing. Projects include scholarship, custom classroom versions of texts and textbooks that are openly licensed or in the public domain, OER, journals, and course readers. It has a built-in collaborative annotation tool. Many people use this platform to collaboratively create OER with students.
  • CUNY Pressbooks Network
    A WordPress-based platform for OER that look and feel like traditional textbooks. Existing textbooks can be easily cloned and modified to make a custom textbook. H5P integration allows users to create interactive content like quizzes.
  • OpenEd CUNY
    A curated digital library of open educational resources with a built-in content-creation platform. There’s a lot of content and I personally find it a little overwhelming!
  • CUNY Academic Commons
    Not really a repository for OER, but a great place to build a course site in a WordPress-based environment.

Major Repositories and Federated Search Tools

  • Open Textbook Library
    Nearly 2,000 open textbooks. This repository focuses exclusively on textbooks, so if that’s what you’re looking for, it’s easier to navigate than other large repositories that include syllabi and assignments as well.
  • OpenStax
    Another large repository for OER textbooks in a traditional format. Textbooks can be browsed by subject.
  • B.C. Open Collection
    Resource maintained by BCcampus. Browse textbooks and ancillary materials that have been evaluated for quality and accessibility.
  • OASIS
    A search tool developed by SUNY to search across multiple repositories in one environment.
  • MERLOT
    Over 100,000 learning resources, some original, some found on other sites.

Subject-Specific Resources and Major Initiatives

A few fields have been particularly active in developing and maintaining shared open educational resources. You might also check the websites of your professional organizations, which often have openly licensed or zero-textbook-cost resources. Remember, for the purposes of this grant, you are welcome to use any materials that are freely available to your students. However, be sure to abide by the principles of copyright and fair use: Link out to copyrighted material that is available on the open web, and keep copyrighted materials on Brightspace or course reserves.