OER Initiatives at Drake

Purpose of this Guide

This guide is directed toward faculty who are interested in learning about OER or participating in an OER Grant Program. It contains basic information about OER and open licensing. You can find additional information about finding, evaluating, and creating OER in the Teaching Support section of our website.

Goals of Drake University OER Initiatives

Open educational resources (OER) are frequently identified as a solution to the rising costs of textbooks and as a way to provide faculty with access to high quality open learning resources that better meet the changing needs of their classrooms and teaching methods.

Cowles Library has long been a supporter of affordable learning resources, and we work to make faculty aware of library resources that can serve as course materials. Embracing OER, raising OER awareness, and encouraging the use of OER as course materials is a part of that effort.

The goals of our OER initiatives are:

• to encourage faculty experimentation with OER by eliminating barriers to exploration and to encourage, when appropriate, their use in the classroom;
• to reduce costs of textbooks and other classroom learning resources that our students encounter;
• to contribute to the general availability of high-quality open educational resources.

Current OER Grant Opportunities

Past OER Grants

Request an OER Consultation

If you've thought about using OER in your courses, but aren't sure how to get started, if you already have an OER project in mind, or if you just want more information, consider requesting an OER consultation. We'll help guide you through the process of locating, evaluating, and using open and affordable resources.

Reach out directly