Sure, it isn’t that hard to find resources that give us some type of open permission to use their content, but how much effort do we put in to vetting the resource to make sure it is worth our time? How can we tell quickly if it is something that is usable in our context? That is, as an educator resource.
Openstax CNX is one repository of OER that is consistently rated as one of the best in the world. In 2011, the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) ranked Connections as a leader in education in 2011. Connextions uses small building block type modules in its repository. These modules can be used and re-used by educators to customize a particular course they are teaching and even create an e-text specific to the course they are teaching. The repository holds over 20000 modules and more than 1100 free courses to access. This is all done under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY). Users are free to take the modules and morph them into something that is custom made for their own educational use. Contributors to the repository are asked to create a module that is stand-alone or self-contained so it can be used by itself or can be combined with other modules for course creation. With over 2 million visitors a month, the repository provides endless permutations of content use for educators around the world. Scanning for suitability and value is easy by using the ranking system in Openstax (5 stars), the ability to sort by popularity, and the ability to create or use Endorsement Lenses (peer reviewed) or Affiliate Lenses (affiliated with organizations but not peer reviewed).
When I visited the Openstax CNX site, I was initially overwhelmed by the available content. However, with more thorough reading and a little practice, I can see the value of the sorting and searching tools mentioned above. Is this something I would recommend? Yes, but I am still not sure how much of the content is usable for education in a K-12 setting. I will have to continue to search for content that is specific for my needs. Hopefully this will become easier once I am more familiar with the sorting features.