There are many resources or programs you can use to help build OER for your course. What tools you will use to create your version of the textbook will depend greatly on what format you find the original textbook in and what you feel comfortable working with. We will briefly look at the different aspects of the most common resources used to build OER.

Because they are built for design, LibreTexts and Pressbooks tend to help you create more polished, professional looking OERs. They also tend to be more amenable to adaptation and accessibility. For this reason, we encourage you to consider using one of them rather than Word, Google, or PDFs. See below for more a more thorough explanation.

LibreTexts

LibreTexts allows authors to easily combine pages from any OER textbook in their library. They currently offer a library of hundreds of OER. Authors who find OER that are not their library can request that these resources are added.

Advantages to LibreTexts include:

An extensive library of books to draw from for curation
The ability to easily add individual chapters or pages from existing OER and to edit individual pages
Downloads include print, PDF, Canvas Cartridge and others
Has interactive features including 3D visualizations, mulitmedia, embedded coding activities, and other embedded learning activities.
LibreTexts in a box allows for offline use of interactive components
Weekly Libretexts Office Hours Zoom meetings (open to all): Tuesdays and Thursday at 9:00am (PDT)
Free for the instructor and for students

The major drawback to LibreTexts is that the learning curve can feel steep.

Here's a short YouTube video about LibreTexts:

Pressbooks

Pressbooks allows users to create professional online books. If you are comfortable using Canvas or have perhaps created a blog before then you will like using Pressbooks.

Here are some pros and cons for Pressbooks:

Positives

Professional looking ebooks
Downloadable in a variety of formats (two main e-reader formats, online, printable PDF ($99 version)
Customizable
Used for OER at many top universities
Embedding video or audio link will transfer correctly to non-web/PDF formats
Visual placeholders for multimedia content

Drawbacks

Canvas

Building Open Educational Resources (OER) within Canvas pages offers flexibility, accessibility, and cost-effectiveness, providing an opportunity for you to create customizable content that is easily shared:

Positives:

Content can be designed within Canvas, incorporating text, images, videos, and links to create dynamic learning experience
Built-in accessibility tools, such as Pope Tech, ensure content is accessible for all learners
Students can find OER materials directly in their Canvas course, eliminating the need to search external sites.
Cost-effective for you and students
You can convert PDFs to Canvas pages
Canvas pages, modules, and courses can be shared with other instructors via Canvas Commons, making it easy to collaborate, distribute, and update OER

Microsoft Word

Many people are already comfortable using Microsoft Word. You can make Word accessible and it can look professional with a little extra work. However Word is not a design program and does not have the capability as other publishing software. If you want to share anything you make using Word, you will probably need to covert it to another file type such as a PDF so students can download the document without being able to make changes. Additionally, adapting Word Documents requires downstream users to have access to this program.

Google Docs

Google Docs is extremely easy to use and is available anywhere there is internet access. Documents can be shared and are easily accessible with a link. With Google Docs you have a place to access and store your document. However, like Microsoft Word, Google Docs is not a design program and does not have the capability to do anything other than basic functions for text, images, etc.

PDFs

It is common that open textbooks may only be available as a PDF document. It is easy to redistribute PDF files. However, PDF documents are not easily editable, are harder for mobile users to view, and may have accessibility errors. If you want to modify an open textbook that is only available in PDF format, you will need to convert the PDF document to one of the formats above.

Before you consider converting a PDF version of the textbook, it's smart to contact the original author to ask for a copy of the textbook source files - they may be much easier to work with than a PDF. Converting a PDF document to an editable format is a difficult, time consuming and imprecise process.

Tools Compared

Compare Your Options
Advantage	LibreTexts	Pressbooks	Canvas Pages	Microsoft Word	Google Docs	PDFs
Professional Design	✅ Polished layout with interactive features	✅ Professional-looking eBooks	✅ Basic design tools (plus Design Plus!)	❌ Limited formatting options	❌ Basic formatting	❌ Static formatting
Ease of Use	⚠️ Steep learning curve	⚠️ Some learning curve	✅ Familiar LMS interface	✅ Commonly used	✅ Commonly used	✅ Easy to distribute
Interactivity & Multimedia	✅ 3D visualizations, multimedia, coding activities	✅ Supports embedded multimedia	✅ Supports multimedia integration	❌ Limited interactivity	❌ Limited interactivity	❌ Minimal interactivity
Customization & Adaptation	✅ Easy to remix & edit	✅ Customizable content & exports	✅ Flexible content creation	❌ Limited customization	❌ Limited customization	❌ Difficult to modify
Accessibility	✅ Strong accessibility features	✅ Good accessibility tools	✅ Built-in accessibility tools (Pope Tech)	⚠️ Requires manual adjustments	⚠️ Requires manual adjustments	❌ Often inaccessible
Collaboration & Sharing	✅ Easy to share and adopt	✅ Easy to share	✅ Shareable via Canvas Commons	⚠️ Requires file sharing	✅ Seamless collaboration	❌ Not easily editable
Cost	✅ Free	⚠️ Low cost ($12-$120)	✅ Free	✅ Included with Microsoft Office	✅ Free with Google account	✅ Free to access
Export & Compatibility	✅ Supports multiple formats (PDF, Canvas Cartridge, offline use)	✅ Exports to multiple formats	✅ Shareable via Canvas Commons	⚠️ Must convert to PDF or other format	✅ Accessible online	❌ Difficult to convert

🤖 What About Using AI? 🤖

You may consider using AI to help you write or review your work. Anna Mills has some helpful suggestions in this video, plus provides tips on how to cite AI in your work. You might also consider looking at the Open Education with Generative AI self-paced course.

Optional ASCCC OERI Webinars

Curating and Publishing OER Materials: For faculty who wish to adapt existing OER or create their own, how do they get started? And where do they place the content? This webinar will explore a few of the OER platform options available for faculty to house OER content, including LibreTexts, OER Commons, and Pressbooks.

Curating and Publishing OER Resources – An In-Depth Look at Three Platforms: Are you considering developing an OER text-equivalent or creating one by curating existing OER? These three webinars are a follow-up to an introductory webinar that introduced attendees to these platforms. In each of these one-hour sessions, a platform will be explored with a focus on the user experience. Topics to be addressed will include usability, accessibility, print options, attributions, available integrations, collaboration options, and interfacing with Canvas. Join us for one, two, or all three.

LibreTexts “Freeing” the Textbook: LibreTexts, housed at UC Davis, states that its mission is to “…develop an easy-to-use online platform for the construction, customization, and dissemination of open educational resources (OER) to reduce the burdens of unreasonable textbook costs to our students and society.” Join LibreText’s Executive Director to learn about what LibreText has to offer.

How-To Webinars

Attributions

Adapted from 6 Steps to modifying an Open Textbook, BC Campus, OpenEd Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Chart was built with assistance from ChatGPT