Research Help: Open Educational Resources: Computer Science

OER Textbooks for Computer Science

Places to Discover OER Textbooks

BC Open Campus
BC Open Campus is a collection of open textbooks in highly enrolled subject areas created under the auspices of the government of British Columbia.
Directory of Open Access Books
Directory of Open Access Books is an organization dedicated to increasing the discoverability of Open Access books and has resources in a variety of disciplines.
Green Tea Press
Green Tea Press has books in the areas of computer science and statistics written by Allen Downey, a professor of computer science.
IntechOpen Open Access Books
A large collection of peer-reviewed open access texts in science, technology, mathematics, and the social sciences.
Merlot II
This resource managed by the California State University system is a curated collection of free and open online teaching, learning, and faculty development services contributed and used by an international education community.

When you click on the link, it will bring you to a pre-set search for college level in Computer Science. See additional filters on the left side of the screen if you wish to narrow the offerings further.
MIT Open Courseware Online Textbooks
MIT Open Courseware Online Textbooks library of online textbooks is one of the few sources for OER on aeronautics, civil engineering and material science, among many other disciplines.
OER Commons
A large repository of materials that allows the user to search and identify resources by discipline and level.
Open Textbook Library
Open Textbook Library at the University of Minnesota, supported by the Open Textbook Network of major universities.

Open Tools, Learning Objects, and More for Computer Science

MERLOT
This resource managed by the California State University system is a curated collection of free and open online teaching, learning, and faculty development services contributed and used by an international education community. Includes case studies, simulations and online learning modules.
OER Commons
A large repository of materials that allows the user to search and identify resources by discipline and level.

Ask

Operating Systems

Linux Mint
For those who liked the feel of Windows XP, this system is designed to be helpful to those who don't want to try to hard to learn complex Linux commands (though it provides access to this as well).

Tired of being locked into systems created by Microsoft or Apple? The following systems are Open Source. Though these have traditionally been thought of as harder to use and "only for experts", this has changed considerably, and many Linux distributions are ready for average users. There are many more than these, but here is a quick sampling.

ReactOS
Designed to be a an easy to use replacement for Windows, ReactOS is designed to be able to run software from multiple platforms well.
Ubuntu
Ubuntu is the most popular and one of the easiest to use Linux distributions. You can install it on a PC, Laptop, or Phone

Open Source Software

Open Office
Can't afford the full Microsoft Office Suite? Open Office is a free alternative that includes a Word Processor, Spreadsheets, Presentation, and Database Software. All files can be saved in common formats, so they are easy to share.

Sometimes there is basic software that students and faculty need, but the cost can be somewhat prohibitive. However there are many free open source alternatives available, that will suffice (and sometimes are better at certain things than their closed-source commercial alternatives). They will usually run in most major operating systems. Here are a few useful ones.

GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program)
This is an excellent Open Source alternative image manipulation software. It can perform almost anything that can be done in Photoshop, and it has a very large community so there are many free tutorials online
Inkscape
A free Open Source alternative to Adobe Illustrator
Audacity
Free open source recording and sound editing software.
Jing
This is the free and easy-to-use version of Camtasia's screencast software (not open source, but it is free). It is good for creating short tutorials or communicating a concept with a brief visual demonstration.

Search Across OER Platforms

Mason OER Metafinder (MOM)

Created by George Mason University, the Mason OER Metafinder searches sixteen targets in real-time, instantly returning the top several hundred or so relevant hits from each site.

Openly Available Sources Integrated Search (OASIS)

Openly Available Sources Integrated Search (OASIS) is a search tool that aims to make the discovery of open content easier. OASIS currently searches open content from 52 different sources and contains 155,375 records. OASIS is being developed at SUNY Geneseo's Milne Library in consultation with Alexis Clifton, SUNY OER Services Executive Director.