Refreshers
Refresher – OER Search Strategies
Refresher: OER Search Strategies and Tips
The Ontario Extend Curator Module encourages you to adopt a savvy search system when you are looking for current, high-quality OER. This refresher offers some additional search strategies and tips. This first video (two minutes) will help you get specific with your search for OER. It covers:
-
- Narrowing your search by looking for weekly topics
- Using synonyms to improve results
- Starting your search with OER repositories
Watch “Searching for OERs: Where to Start” on YouTube
Transcript – Searching for OERs: Where to Start
Watch this next video (three minutes) to learn more about OER repositories and how to search them for openly licensed material.
Searching for OER — 10 Tips
- Shop around and keep coming back! There is no “one-stop shop” for OER. Access different repositories (and continue checking because they are always growing and being updated).
- Switch up your search terms (use synonyms and broader, or narrower, terms).
- Use Boolean Operators (the words “and,” “or” and “not” can boost the power of your search). Check out the Curator Module Adopting a Savvy Search System for more information.
- Use the repository filters (i.e. filter for licence and/or material type, etc.)
- Look for smaller pieces of content (topics, chapters, ancillary materials, etc.).
- Pay attention to the open licence (remember, you can always ask for permissions beyond the licence).
- Keep track of information.
- If you can’t find an OER in the repositories, try searching Google!
- Know when to stop searching! Sometimes the perfect OER just doesn’t exist. You might need to think about creating this component — or using a library resource.
- Ask a librarian to help! Librarians are a wealth of knowledge!
