Open Educational Resources (OER): By Subject

Free courses and materials available.

Free courses, modules, and materials.

Includes courses, activities, and videos.

Free online textbook.

Images, texts, audio and video recordings from European museums, galleries, libraries and archives.

Videos on archaeology, science and world cultures.

Find modules by our own Carol Laman here as well as over 100 more.

TED Talks about topics in anthropology.

A variety of learning objects with peer review is indicated in the listing. Many of the sites listed in this guide are indexed here.

Free courses, modules, materials.

Downloadable 3D model projects of cultural heritage sites and monuments, including the Egyptian pyramids and Machu Picchu. A division of Google Arts & Culture.

Books from Simon Fraser University specializing in Canadian archaeology and Northwest Coast studies.

Includes editable, printable version.

Videos cover history, culture, mythology and diversity.

Paintings, drawings, engravings and sculpture from cultural heritage institutions across Europe.

Includes lesson plans, video introductions to museums, book reviews, image clusters, and classroom and museum activities.

"Over 1.6 million digital images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences with an accessible suite of software tools for teaching and research."

 Hundreds of art history modules. Use the search function at the top of the page to refine the result.

Explore artwork, tour museums, and experience art activities. Google partnership with cultural institutions and artists around the world.

TED Talks about various art forms.

Includes art history, ceramics, graphic design, drawing and painting, music, photography, printmaking, sculpture and theatre.

Free courses, modules, materials.

Histories of art articles and images from the Center for Public Art History.

Includes art history and the visual arts.

Open textbook covering covers Aerodynamics, Gas Dynamics, Propulsion and Aircraft Performance.

Articles from the Digital Commons Network.

Free, downloadable aircraft and flight ebooks.

From the Federal Aviation Administration.

Originally published in the International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology.

Multimedia educational materials from the Genetic Science Learning Center.

Video, lectures, animation, interactive exploration, interactive online labs, and more from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. 

Repository for images and movies of cells from a variety of organisms.

Includes images, videos, worksheets and quizzes.

Narrow your search to a more specific subject.

Videos cover a wide variety of topics in biology.

TED Talks on various aspects of biology.

Boost your understanding of most biology topics you will study in high school or freshman college year.

Open textbooks and learning objects.

Scientific archive of photos, audios and videos of thousands of animal species.

Teaching and learning materials for biology.

Undergraduate and graduate level course materials.

Articles and videos.

Online educational resources for teaching and learning, with current emphasis on the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The science of the Ocean, from the Smithsonian Institution. For scientests from Kindergarten to Research level!

Open access biomedical image search engine from the US National Library of Medicine.

Interactive simulations in Biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Journals and articles, all CC licensed.

Includes anatomy, biology, and zoology texts.

Lectures by scholars from respected universities.

OER business courses.

Documentaries on contemporary business and economic issues.

Open and free case studies and management simulations developed by the Sloan School of Management..

Company data--including officers, annual reports, branch addresses, and registered trademarks--for more than 200 million companies worldwide.

Open business textbooks.

Free courses.

From Carnegie Mellon University, these tutorials combine movies and text with interactive tutors that walk students through solving problems on each chemistry-related topic.

Videos, articles and exercises on various chemistry topics.

TED Talks on chemistry.

Open textbooks and learning objects.

Educational resource for teaching and learning chemistry.

Online educational resources for teaching and learning, with current emphasis on the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Interactive simulations in Chemistry from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Open textbooks.

Lumen Learning course and textbook with instructor materials.

Open textbooks and courses compiled by Los Angles Valley College Library.

Open textbooks, courses, tutorials and more.

Open textbooks, courses, classroom activities and more.

Tutorials to prepare students for online courses.

Compiled by Saginaw Valley State University Library.

List of open textbooks compiled by San Bernadino Valley College.

Open communications courses managed by the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.

"Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world"

Free online lectures and courses for computer science.

TED Talks on computer-related topics.

IT Materials in a number of disciplines, such as hardware, software engineering, applications and programming.

Books on computers and information technology.

Online textbooks in computer science.

Free courses.

Collection of completed and partly completed textbooks on various aspects of computing.

Open textbooks.

Images related to cosmetology.

Learning objects created by Wisconsin’s Technical Colleges and maintained by Fox Valley Technical College.

Videos with a Creative Commons license allowing for reuse.

Open textbooks in law enforcement and criminal justice.

Official US source for statistics on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and justice systems at all levels of government.

Includes open textbooks and ancillary materials.

Plays for which copyright has expired at the Project Gutenberg site.

Movies in a range of genres, silent films, serials, and films in the public domain.

Folger Shakespeare Library resources available at the OER Commons.

A database of Creative Commons Licensed sounds.

Open textbook with games for a college improvisation course.

Open textbooks

Courses, textbooks and other open materials.

Open courses and supplementary materials for graduate and undergraduate students.

Free pictures and media files.

Courses from Lumen Learning.

Open access ebooks, lecture slides, teaching guides. Requires free registration.

Courses from leading universities.

College-level textbooks.

Multimedia resources for K-12 classroom instruction and teacher professional development.

Photos and videos on current education-related topics.

Videos on technology and learning.

Courses and other materials for undergraduate and graduate students.

Textbooks, guides, collections and more from BCcampus.

Video and audio lessons created or used by teachers.

TED Talks on engineering topics.

Open textbooks arranged by engineering sub-areas.

Portal for hundreds of engineering learning materials.

Online educational resources for teaching and learning, with current emphasis on the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

By BCcampus.

Covers biomedical, chemical, civil, electrical, mechanical, nuclear and systems engineering.

TED Talks about literature and reading.

Includes open textbooks for introductory, advanced, and technical writing.

Includes articles and videos of stage productions, and quizzes on various literary topics and authors.

Materials for teaching English language and literature.

Free course materials from MIT; Undergraduate and graduate-level.

Includes textbooks on composition and technical writing.

Free "writing resources and instructional material" from the Online Writing Lab at Purdue.

Free courses.

A free educational resource that, "helps students improve their writing, critical thinking, and information literacy."

A peer-reviewed collection of essays written by teachers for college-level students about writing.

Full courses available. 'All lectures were recorded in the Yale College classroom and are available in video, audio, and text transcript format. Registration is not required and no course credit is available.'

Teaching resources and classroom activities.

Includes courses, textbooks and more.

Three levels of interactive grammar and reading activities for beginning and intermediate students of ESOL.

Worksheets for home or classroom use.

Lessons and exercises for English language learners.

Learning objects from Wisc-Online created by Wisconsin’s Technical Colleges and maintained by Fox Valley Technical College.

OER textbook collection compiled by Washtenaw Community College Library & Learning Commons.

Wikibook that covers grammar, punctuation, and more.

Interactive tutorial from GCFLearnFree.org.

Courses and materials for students studying English.

Lessons in English from Canada's Athabasca University. Optimized for mobile devices, including cell phones.

Listening exercises with quizzes for various levels of ESL students.

10-12 hour free courses.

A standardized, undergraduate curriculum by Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education leaders and hosted on the U.S. Fire Administration site.

Articles from the Digital Commons Network.

Designed to teach the basics of fire to non-fire-professional community members.

Free access from the National Fire Protection Association.

Courses from top universities.

Artifacts from the digitised collections of European cultural heritage institutions.

Read online or download thousands of geography-related titles.

College-level geography courses and textbooks.

Materials and courses by Penn State faculty available for reuse and remix under a Creative Commons License.

OER textbooks and lab manuals.

Public domain publications, data, multimedia, maps and software from the US Geological Survey.

Includes open books in geology, meteorology and oceanography.

Hundreds of publications in the earth sciences.

Free ebooks

Free open textbooks for the geosciences.

Data from the U.S. Geological Survey.

Free ebooks from bookboon. Requires registration.

Thousands of open access books.

Includes open textbooks and learning objects with sub-sections on Allied Health, Nursing, Nutrition, and Anatomy & Physiology.

Thousands of free health and medicine ebooks.

Free online access to books and documents in life science and healthcare from the National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Articles and videos.

Open learning objects, many interactive and/or animated.

Case studies, simulations, textbooks, videos and more by BCcampus.

Articles, activities, multimedia, courses, collections and more.

Basic science teaching resources from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, a division of the NIH.

Videos talks on health and medicine.

Health videos on topics such as anatomy, body systems, and surgical procedures; interactive tutorials and games; and health assessment calculators and quizzes.

Learning objects created by Wisconsin’s Technical Colleges and maintained by Fox Valley Technical College.

American history teaching and learning resource created by the College of Education at the University of Houston. Includes multimedia and lesson plans.

Use pre-made or create new activities, built around primary sources.

A free, downloadable textbook from the University Press of North Georgia.

TED Talks about history.

Historical primary sources.

Includes open textbooks covering world, national and Washington state history.

Open resources for teaching and studying history.

Headlines, articles, advertisements, and opinion pieces from European newspapers from 20 countries, dating from 1618 to the 1980s.

Documents, online exhibits, and other resources for history teachers and students.

Book covers pre-Columbus to the 21st century.

Free online math tools for graphing, geometry, 3D, and more.

TED Talks about math.

Includes open textbooks and learning objects.

Math tutorial videos from elementary to college level.

Educational materials for teaching math.

"A resource for anyone teaching statistics."

Free course materials; Undergraduate and graduate level; supplemental resources

Designed both for students working on their own to get immediate feedback and instructors who want to adopt an open textbooks, including a full course management system.

Online educational resources for teaching and learning, with current emphasis on the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Open math courses created by instructors from the Washington State Community & Technical Colleges.

Interactive simulations in Math from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

"A web based mathematics assessment and course management platform. Its use is provided free to Washington State public educational institution students and instructors."

Math book collection from Kindergarten to university level.

Free math resource explains various concepts in algebra, geometry, calculus and more.

Music remixing site with all music licensed under Creative Commons licenses.

Images, texts, sound and video clips related to music.

A database of Creative Commons Licensed sounds.

Free library of music scores and recordings.

Free streaming and downloads.

This collection from the New York Public Library includes scores and manuscripts on all aspects of music: classical and opera as well as popular music including spirituals, ragtime, jazz, musical theater, film, rock and world music.

Recordings, sheet music, instruments and music-related collections from European audio-visual archives, libraries and museums.

Open textbooks and other resources compiled by San Bernardino Valley College.

Includes full courses, textbooks, lesson plans and more.

Free courses

Nutrition guidelines and more by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

An integrated data system that provides expanded nutrient profile data and links to related agricultural and experimental research.

Open textbook from Wikibooks.

TED Talks about food and nutrition.

Open textbooks in nutrition.

Access government information on food and nutrition geared to consumers.

Over 1500 health and nutrition videos.

TED Talks on philosophical topics.

Open textbooks in philosophy.

Free courses.

From the University of Toronto.

TED Talks on topics related to physics.

Includes open textbooks and learning objects.

Undergraduate and graduate level course materials.

Online educational resources for teaching and learning, with current emphasis on the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

"This 1300 page introductory, algebra-based, two-semester college physics book is grounded with real-world examples, illustrations, and explanations to help students grasp key, fundamental physics concepts."

Interactive simulations in Physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Politics and society courses.

OER textbooks from BCcampus.

Includes courses, interactives and videos.

Free courses.

Collection of free, online psychology videos, arranged by topic. Created by Cengage Learning.

A video instructional series on introductory psychology for college and high school classrooms and adult learners; 26 half-hour video segments.

TED Talks on psychological topics.

Open psychology text.

"The Psychology collection in MERLOT contains over 800 learning objects and provides access to nearly 20 different types of materials (including online texts and online courses) across 15 psychology disciplines."

Also available in Spanish.

Subject modules and complete open textbooks for psychology. Some modules include PowerPoint presentations, test banks, and instructor's resources.

Articles and videos.

Articles, activities, multimedia, courses, collections and more.

Open courses and supplementary materials for undergraduate and graduate students.

Collection of completed and in process books, covering a range of fields in psychology.

TED Talks on sociological topics.

Open graduate and undergraduate-level courses and supplementary materials.

Open textbooks, courses, assignments, and other resources for sociology.

Reporting and documentaries on the forces shaping society and culture, from technology, health care and sexual harassment to gun laws, human trafficking and more.

Includes syllabi and curriculum materials.

Open-access, peer-reviewed text.

Learning objects created by Wisconsin’s Technical Colleges and maintained by Fox Valley Technical College.

Video with a Creative Commons License allowing for reuse.

Free online lessons in 40 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, French, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Spanish. The site is no longer being updated.

Includes materials in lesser taught languages.

Dozens of public domain language courses, including text and audio instruction, developed by the US Foreign Service Institute.

Developed by the Defense Language Institute, "GLOSS lessons are developed for independent learners to provide them with the learning/teaching tools for improving their foreign language skills. Reading and listening lessons are based on authentic materials (articles, TV reports, radio broadcasts, etc.) and consist of 4 to 6 activities."

TED Talks on languages.

Includes video channels for learning 30 languages.

Links to free language learning resources arranged by language.

Free public domain language learning ebooks, audios and videos for over 130 languages.

Collection of resources for teaching and learning languages.

A variety of online language and culture classes.

Free courses and other content.

Includes books for Spanish, French and Italian learners.

Language learning books divided by continent.