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Open Educational Resources (OER): Tools for Affordable Learning

This guide describes high-quality educational resources that can be used to decrease material costs for courses at WSU and in higher education more broadly.

Finding OER

Many open educational resources have already been developed and made available online. This page will give you ideas for finding images, media, and other types of OER. Note that, even if a particular website focuses on OER, it may contain other kinds of digital content so you should always check items individually for licensing information. Places to start your search include:

Creative Commons Search Tool

This search tool allows you to find Creative Commons licensed material in Google and repositories including YouTube, Flickr, Wikimedia Commons, and others. Narrow your search by license type or by repository.

Enter your search query:

use for commercial purposes;
modify, adapt, or build upon.


Search using:

OASIS Search Tool

OASIS is a tool that searches some 155,000 records for open material. It is being developed at SUNY Geneseo's Milne Library.

Google Search Tips

To find OER, look for advanced search options in the tools that you use. In Google, you can find advanced search under "settings." Look for "usage rights" once you've reached advanced search.

Screenshot showing Google advanced search

Similarly, in Google Images, look under "tools" for "usage rights." These tools allow you to narrow your search to find materials that you can modify or reuse.

Screenshot shows advanced search options in Google Images

Finding OER Media Materials

Try a few of these sources when looking for videos, images, and media either licensed Creative Commons or in the public domain.

Finding Open Access Journals and Other Publications

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