LibGuides: Open Educational Resources (OER): Authoring & Publishing

Which tool or technology to use?

There are dozens of tools available for authoring, publishing, and sharing your OER. Consider the following questions when selecting a tool:

1. What technology platforms am I already comfortable using?

2. Do I want to learn to use a new tool as I author my OER?

3. What technology platforms are my audience most comfortable using? Will authoring or publishing in a particular platform require them to learn a new tool?

4. If someone wants to reuse or adapt my content, will it be simple for them to do that with the format(s) I've made available?

5. Do I have budget to pay for access to a tool or for advanced features in an otherwise free tool?

Basic Tools

Google Docs
Don't underestimate a free tool that a lot of potential readers already use! If you're more comfortable authoring in other word processing tools, like Microsoft Word, you can do the work in those and simply use Google Docs as a hosting and sharing mechanism. Once you have authored or uploaded your materials, get a public URL for a document or collection of documents by changing the sharing settings to "Public on the Web".
Google Sites
Another free tool from Google to produce simple websites. As a bonus, Google Sites are generally very mobile-friendly. There are lots of community-created templates available to help you with layout and style if you don't want to start from scratch.
Blogs

Examples

ENG 145 OER Text in Google Docs

Common OER Publishing Platforms

OER Commons- Open Author
Pressbooks
Authors can write and publish books that can be exported into a few formats, including PDF, MOBI, and EPUB, and shared. There are free features but mostly a subscription based platform
LibreTexts
platform for the construction, customization, and dissemination of open educational resources (OER)
Merlot Content Builder
Multi-page website builder.

Advanced platforms

GitBook
Created by GitHub, this open source tool allows you to create a book hosted on the GitHub platform. You can create your book in Markdown, add images and embed content from the Internet.
Jupyter Notebook
Jupyter Notebook is an open-source web application that allows you to create and share documents that contain live code, equations, visualizations and narrative text.
Lantern
Lantern is a Pandoc template and toolkit for making OER in multiple formats. Lantern helps you typeset OER projects with Markdown (.md) from common word processing formats (.docx) so that you can generate HTML, PDF, and EPUB versions for the public. All of the source control, file processing, and web hosting is handled automatically with GitHub, but you are encouraged to use Lantern on your own computers.
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Additional Helpful Resources

MHEC OER Technology Working Group
List of various tools and platforms that can be used for authoring and publishing OER (includes open source tools for Mathematics)
The OER Starter Kit
This starter kit has been created to provide instructors with an introduction to the use and creation of open educational resources (OER). The text is broken into five sections: Getting Started, Copyright, Finding OER, Teaching with OER, and Creating OER. Although some chapters contain more advanced content, the starter kit is primarily intended for users who are entirely new to Open Education.
Authoring Open Textbooks
This guide is for faculty authors, librarians, project managers and others who are involved in the production of open textbooks in higher education and K-12. Content includes a checklist for getting started, publishing program case studies, textbook organization and elements, writing resources and an overview of useful tools.
Self-Publishing Guide
The BCcampus Open Education Self-Publishing Guide is a reference for individuals or groups wanting to write and self-publish an open textbook.This guide provides details on the preparation, planning, writing, publication, and maintenance of an open textbook. Copyright, open-copyright licences, and the differences between citation and attribution are discussed as well as the importance of copy editing and proofreading.
Accessibility Toolkit- 2nd ed
The goal of the Accessibility Toolkit - 2nd Edition is to provide resources for each content creator, instructional designer, educational technologist, librarian, administrator, and teaching assistant to create a truly open textbook—one that is free and accessible for all students.