EHSLibrary: Creating open access materials is easy!

"Open access and Open Educational Resources (OER) are hot topics in academia, and have been for several years. Earlier this week, we talked about what these concepts are and an example of how the Library is collaborating with Neuro-ophthalmology experts to create open access content. This post will focus on tools the Eccles Library has used to develop OER (and some that you can use, too)! We all know WordPress as a free, open source blogging platform that is actually used for about 25% of websites! Its open source nature makes WordPress very easy to use and customize! As such, librarians suggested this platform to a Nursing faculty member who wanted to have her students create the textbook for a distance PhD class on conducting research with diverse populations. The result is an OER that can be added to in future semesters, and accessed by students and researchers in the field. It also provides an opportunity for students to publish their work, rather than just writing a paper that will never been seen again once the class is over ..."