The Scholar Commons Open Educational Resources collection features openly available learning and teaching materials created by faculty and staff across USC locations. Materials in this collection are freely available to access and are openly licensed. Content may include:
- Assignments
- Artistic works
- Lecture presentations
- Video recordings
- Textbooks
- Syllabi and,
- Other educational content deemed relevant to the collection such as lab manuals, diagrams, or worksheets.
University of South Carolina system authors or creators of OER resources may suggest materials for inclusion in the OER collection. The final decision on which materials to include in the collection resides with library personnel with responsibility for collection management of the Scholar Commons within the University of South Carolina system.
Copyright and Accessibility
All OER materials included in the Scholar Commons OER collection must adhere to all applicable copyright laws of the United States. In addition, for inclusion in the OER collection, materials must be licensed using an open license of the author’s selection such as Creative Commons. While OER authors and creators are ultimately responsible for selecting an appropriate license, they are encouraged to consult with a librarian before contributing resources for inclusion. Preference will be given to materials that are licensed to meet the 5Rs, i.e., retain, revise, remix, reuse, and redistribute.
It is expected that materials in the collection will meet minimum standards for accessibility such as readability by a screen reader, include alternative captions for images. In addition, when possible, materials should be compliant with the University of South Carolina’s current Digital Accessibility standards at the time the materials are uploaded. It is the author or creator’s obligation to make material submitted accessible as set forth above.