Open Educational Resources (OER) are educational materials that are in the public domain or that have been introduced with an open license. An open license means that anyone can use, copy and re-share the materials. OER can be in the form of full courses, course materials, textbooks, curricula, syllabi, lecture notes, tests, assignments, videos or audio (UNESCO)
Open Access vs. OER
Open Access is not the same as OER. While OER are created under an open license, Open Access materials are protected under traditional copyright and cannot be copied, shared, or remixed as can be done with OER. Open Access materials can be read online without a subscription or download. Open Access content cannot be embedded either, you can only link to these resources in the same way you would link to the Library's databases.
This page contains selective OER textbooks in the discipline of Political Science.
Open Yale - Political Science Courses
Yale has been home to some of the world’s foremost political scientists and the current faculty includes diverse practitioners of all the major methodologies of political science.
MIT Open CourseWare - Political Science
The Political Science Department today provides high-quality graduate training emphasizing research and apprenticeship relations with faculty members; excellent in international relations and comparative politics; an orientation toward issues of public policy both domestic and international; and a chance to interact with scientists, engineers and other social scientists at MIT.
Saylor Academy - Political Science Courses
Saylor Academy is a non-profit organization sponsored by the Saylor Foundation focused on bringing "freely available education to all." Founded in 1999 by Michael Saylor, they have created online courses curated from open content found on the Web. The courses are marketed toward students who just want to learn, and are working on some methods for offering credentials.
American Government (Lumen Learning)
This course teaches the origins and key functions of the American government. Topics include the Constitution; American federalism; civil liberties; civil rights; public opinion and its role in American democracy; voting and elections; the roles of the media, political parties, interest groups, and lobbying; the three branches of government; state and local government; bureaucracy; and the arenas of domestic and foreign policy.
