Finding and using resources
Your course outline will provide a list of readings and course materials. This may include a required textbook and/or a course pack with a selection of journal article and book chapter readings. In most cases the course materials are at the discretion of the instructor. Check with your Program Chair to see if your course uses a certain textbook, and if so, if it has already been ordered for your course. Open Education Resources
Open educational resources (OERs) are free materials that are in the public domain or use a license (Creative Commons) that establishes how they can be shared, remixed, or adapted. OERs can include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge (William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, n.d.).
For more information on OERs check out Library Services' OER web resource. In it you will find links to the following OER databases:
- Open textbooks
- Open courses
- Open images and videos
- Open assessment tools
- Open access journals
- OER search engines and repositories
If you are using copyrighted materials it is important to reference them properly in order to protect the rights of the creators, model best practices for your students, and protect the university from the potential implications of copyright violation.
Navigating copyright requirements can be difficult and many instructors struggle to know if they are breaking copyright laws unwittingly. Luckily YukonU's Library Services has created a helpful Copyright Guidelines web resources where you can find all the information you need.
Useful tip: under the Fair Dealings Provision in the Copyright Act, as an instructor at a non-profit educational institution, such as YukonU, you can communicate and reproduce 'short excerpts' for educational purposes. In this case, short excepts mean, for example, up to 10% of a copyright protected work (e.g., a sound recording), one chapter from a book, a single article from a periodical, an entire newspaper article or page. See the Fair Dealing Guidelines for more details. If you are uncertain if you can use a copyrighted work in your class, use the Fair Dealing Decision Tool to help you decide. Library staff are also available to help.
Don't forget, the library is here to help...
It may also happen that you don’t have a specific reading or resource in mind, but would like to share something with your students to highlight a point or provide optional further reading about a topic. The library can help with this; you can either search the YukonU library’s electronic collection for a reading or resource that meets your needs, or ask a librarian, who would be happy to help you find what you’re looking for.