Open Educational Resources
“Open Educational Resources (OER) are learning, teaching and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license, that permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others.”
Northern Virginia Community College’s NOVA Online encourages the development, adoption and use of high-quality Open Educational Resources (OER) and other reliable free digital course materials where appropriate.
If you want to take an online course that uses OER, look for the OER designation in the online course schedule when you are registering for courses to find the specific course sections that use free/OER materials and do not require traditional textbook purchases.
OER-Based General Education Project
OER Courses Mean No Textbook Purchase Required
A growing number of courses at NOVA are utilizing freely accessible, high-quality, openly licensed educational materials commonly referred to as Open Educational Resources (OER). These educational materials may include modules, textbooks, streaming videos, software, and other tools, materials, and techniques used to support access to knowledge.
The online courses that use OER are designated as "OER courses" in the course notes. This designation means that the purchase of textbooks is not required because the course materials being used for the course are free and accessible to all students enrolled in the course.
How to Find OER Course Sections
- Go to Schedule of Classes
- Choose Search for a Class
- Choose the semester and subject area of the courses you are looking for
- Choose “NOVA Online” in the Locations section
- In the course notes, look for the following information: OER-no cost textbooks
Courses With OER Course Sections
NOTE: Not all online classes and sections in these subject areas are OER courses. Look for the following information in the course notes: OER-no cost textbooks.
- ART 106: History of Modern Art
- ART 115: Current Issues-Web Design
- BIO 145: Basic Human Anatomy and Physiology
- BIO 255: Bioinformatics & Computer Applications in Biotech
- BUS 270: Interpersonal Dynamics in the Business Organization
- CHD 164: Working with Infants & Toddlers in Inclusive Settings
- CST 110: Intro to Communication
- ECO 201: Principles of Macroeconomics
- ECO 202: Principles of Microeconomics
- EDU 235: Health, Safety & Nutrition Education
- ENG 111: College Composition I
- ENG 112: College Composition II
- ENG 123: Writing For The World Wide Web
- ENG 125: Intro to Literature
- ENG 236: Intro to the Short Story
- ENG 242: Survey of American Literature II
- ENG 243: Survey of English Literature I
- ENG 244: Survey of English Literature II
- ENG 250: Children's Literature
- ESL 51: Composition III
- FRE 101: Beginning French I
- FRE 102: Beginning French II
- HIS 121: U.S. History I
- HIS 122: U.S. History II
- HIS 218: Introduction to Digital History
- ITD 132: Structured Query Language
- ITD 260: Data Modeling & Design
- ITN 157: WAN Technologies - CISCO
- MKT 201: Intro to Marketing
- MTH 288: Discrete Mathematics
- MUS 121: Music Appreciation I
- PED 116: Fitness And Wellness
- PHI 220: Ethics
- PHY 201: General College Phys I
- PHY 202: General College Physics II
- PLS 200: Introduction to Political and Democratic Theory
- PSY 240: Health Psychology
- REL 100: Intro to the Study of Religion
- SDV 100: College Success Skills
- SDV 101: Orientation to:
- SDV 298: Seminar & Project
- SOC 200: Principles of Sociology
- SOC 266: Race and Ethnicity
- VET 290: Coordinated Internship