Open Educational Resources (OERs)
The Pressbooks Platform
NKU instructors adapting or creating OER can publish their book on the Pressbooks online publishing platform. Pressbooks enables authors to self-publish webbooks online.
View examples of Pressbooks books at the Pressbooks Directory, learn more about NKU's Pressbooks instance on the SAALCK Consortium Pressbooks homepage, and learn how to publish a Pressbooks book on the Pressbooks Publishing Support guide.
Publishing OER
Writing or revising the content of your OER can be done in a word processing or design software of your choice dependent on the type of resource you are producing. After revisions are complete, the content can be imported into a publication platform like Pressbooks. Select design, word processing, and publishing options are itemized below.
- InDesignAdobe's authoring tool to create digital or print material can be used with an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. NKU licenses Adobe Creative Cloud use by all faculty and staff. The license permits all faculty and staff to have software installed on any NKU owned computer and one personal (home) computer.
- OpenOfficeFree word processing software to author text.
- ScalarScalar is a free, open source authoring and publishing platform that’s designed to make it easy for authors to write long-form, born-digital scholarship online.
- SigilAn open source free platform for formatting and packaging books into the EPUB ebook reader file format.
- WordpressWordpress is free and open source software that can be used to create robust, multi-user sites. Although the software is free to use, there are paid hosting plans available.
Enhanced and Interactive Integrations
When publishing an OER online, enhancement tools are available for creating more interactive materials.
- Hypothes.isHighlight and annotate directly on webpages and .PDFs with this open-source browser extension.
- LaTeXLaTeX is a document preparation system for high-quality typesetting. It is most often used for medium-to-large technical or scientific documents but it can be used for almost any form of publishing.
- MyOpenMath"MyOpenMath is designed for mathematics, providing delivery of homework, quizzes, and tests with rich mathematical content. Students can receive immediate feedback on algorithmically generated questions with numerical or algebraic expression answers. And it can do so much more, providing a full course management system, including file posting, discussion forums, and a full gradebook, all designed with mathematics in mind."
Making OER Accessible
Prior to publication it is important to ensure the accessibility of your resource. View the following how-to guides to support the accessibility of your final product.
