In the comments below, share a list of the no-cost materials, if any, that you are currently using in your course(s). Include all formats, audio, video, visual, textual. Feel free to list specific resources (e.g., a particular Youtube video, book chapter) or a source of no-cost materials (e.g., website such as SmartHistory).
Look for inspiration in your colleagues’ lists!
23 thoughts on “What no-cost materials are you using?”
I have a lot of material am considering as follows: linking to Documents as follows: Articles of Confederation; Declaration of Independence; The Federalist Papers;
United States Constitution. Using videos from C-SPAN, Khan Academy; Annenberg Classroom. Textbook – OpenStax, American Government 3e. Interestingly, this has links to an audio version – and would better align with the UDL – which I already posted.
I use JSTOR articles and YouTube videos. I also tell students to subscribe via CUNY to the NYTimes in order to view old news articles for free.
I use PBS video content, although it changes periodically and without notice. The offer some programming with instructor guides, lessons and assessments. Usually they are for 12th grade ad under, but useful to adapt. It’s not an “open” source, but it is less biased and meant to be shared with the world at large.
I use the same materials as well. I like JSTOR for historical content and EBSCOHost for generalized content. NYTimes is great for students and I also inform them that they have a free subscription with their CUNY email.
I am considering this OER textbook for the course: Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective (4th Ed) Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective – Fourth Edition – Open Textbook Library (umn.edu)
This is a free audio podcast through APA and it provides transcripts. Podcasts (apa.org)
Yep! I too am considering using OER textbooks and am even planning on creating a course pack.
These need constant updating but here are three web sources from the syllabus for my Music Business course:
Shaw, Jenny. 2021. How I went from the practice room to 7 figures: A case study of a million dollar business
Lefkowitz-Brown, Chad. 2018. 18 Ways to Make Big Money as a Jazz Musician https://www.learnjazzstandards.com/blog/learning-jazz/jazz-advice/18-ways-to-make-big-money-as-a-jazz-musician/
Sutton-Williams, Emma. 2021. Juilliard Must Modernize, or It Will Disappear
https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/music-biz-commentary/juilliard-modernize-classical-music-education-1134208/
One of my favorite YouTube pages for my Anatomy and Physiology courses:
The Institute of Human Anatomy: https://youtube.com/@TheAnatomyLab?si=Y3U0HFcW2lb4u83j
http://www.Oyez.com (Provides both text and video info)
BillofRightsInstitute.org (Provides an e-lesson)
http://www.thoughtco.com (Provides text and photos)
constitutioncenter.org (Provides both text and video info)
Yes! I am teaching my first Constitutional Law course for Crim majors and I also teach intro to CRJ and Policing, and I have included material from both the Bill of Rights Institute and the Constitution Center. In fact, the Open Stax Government text is something I may use to set the historical stage, essentially linking students back to what they learned in POL 100, as that is a pre-req for CRJ 200.
FYI – OYEZ is .ORG
My concern with Thoughtco.com is – first, that it is a .COM – commercial. Second, Thoughtco has no citations. They link within their own site, and it does not teach students about trustworthy sources and citation.
The no-cost materials that I use for my courses are as follows:
Library Resources
BMCC Library: https://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/library/
BMCC Library Databases: Academic Search Complete, Black Short Fiction and Folklore, Caribbean Literature, EBSCOhost, Education Source, ERIC, Gale Literature Criticism, Gale Primary Resources, JSTOR, Latino Literature, Literature Reference Center, Literature Resource Center, Nexis, OneSearch, and Short Story Criticism Online
The New York Public Library: https://www.nypl.org
Video Resources
Kanopy (free with BMCC ID): streaming video (https://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/library/)
TED: free speeches known as Ted Talks (https://www.ted.com)
PBS LearningMedia: website for teachers in various subjects. They have a lot of educational resources and videos: https://ny.pbslearningmedia.org/?gclid=CjwKCAiA-vOsBhAAEiwAIWR0TfbGSi6RcmkVdB8NX6cJ7NdkfuRAReKm6o1aPxEfB1mcAZcR–MJhxoCZRIQAvD_BwE
News Papers
New York Times (free access for students with BMCC ID): (https://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/library/)
USA Today: https://www.usatoday.com
Yahoo! News: https://news.yahoo.com
Kanopy looks like a great resource. I’m going to carve out some time to explore the website.
I love Kanopy! There are so many useful documentaries that you can include during class lecture. It also has movies that are availble and I use this as an incentive for students to create a Kanopy account.
mostly YouTube videos, playlists on Pandora, and my own slides/notes
ah, also Instagram and Facebook posts! Though I forget that those can be a resource
Kanopy as well, and a few internet articles from Brazilian magazines (Hoje, A folha de Sao Paulo, for example)
I use texts from various online newspapers, magazines, journals, and sites like commonlit.org, poets.org, and poetryfoundation.org, and videos from TED.com and YouTube.
I use speech examples on YouTube and some printouts I found available free online. Free list of rhetorical techniques and a list of logical fallacies. I also use ChatGpt to generate examples of rhetorical tools and logical errors like hasty generalizations, red herring, false dilemmas, etc.
Currently, I use the Public Speaking in American English text that the library now has in e-resourses since the pandemic but I want to change this. For my com courses, I use articles and chapters that I usually put on blackboard as a pdf because otherwise students don’t read them. I also use links to online texts and sometimes videos.
I have occasionally used Project Gutenberg, which provides access to a large collection of public domain books. I have also explored educational websites and platforms that offer free resources, such as Khan Academy and MIT OpenCourseWare. Government websites often provide free educational materials. For example, the U.S. government’s website, USA.gov, offers educational resources on various topics. And, of course, I tend to use YouTube a lot.
I am currently using OER materials created by faculty at Dalton State; more specifically, “Exploring Public Speaking”, a wonderful textbook. I use it in my SPE 100 courses. And it has worked as an effective outline for the design of my course.
I am using Charlie Mitchell’s “Theatrical Worlds” as the textbook for my THE 100 Intro to Theatre, course. I am also using Dalton State’s “Exploring Public Speaking 4.01” as the textbook for my SPE 100 Fundamentals of Public Speaking, course.
Previously, I have used OpenStax Sociology. I applied the CC license content to adapt and reuse the course text. I have taken several sections out and included some personal or published papers, and other activities, and edited out some sections of the text. I find the OpenStax Sociology course text to be very versatile because the topic of “The Individual, Culture and Society” are central theme in most of my courses, and because “sociology” pertains to all aspects of society, it is easy to build in other contents by making use of sections from the book and mixing with other learning resources. This past semester, I was able to take some OpenStax business chapters for class assignments. So far, over the winter workshop, I was able to find the OER library course context where I will be assigning chapter sections in addition to other content for my intro to business learning resources.
I mostly use online textbooks, YouTube videos, PBS video content, and slides and worksheets I prepare myself.