Create or Modify Open Content 

Are you searching for a platform to publish open course materials or an open textbook, white paper, technical report, or open-access book? This page includes information about creating, modifying, and sharing open content. 

How Do I Create My Own Materials? 

We recommend using Pressbooks, a tool that makes it easy to create online books and interactive course materials. With Pressbooks, you can create openly-licensed teaching, learning, and scholarly materials in the form of ebooks.  

We offer two ways to get started with Pressbooks: 

• Sign up for a workshop: Join our virtual workshop or our self-paced Canvas course to learn how to use Pressbooks.  

• Prefer learning from a book? We recommend The Rebus Guide to Publishing Open Textbooks (So Far), a practical guide that includes templates and examples. 

How Do I Modify Existing Open Content? 

View these online guides for helping instructors to modify an open textbook: 

• Modifying an Open Textbook: What You Need to Know 

• Adaptation Guide 

What License is Right for Me? 

Any individual or institution that creates content can make it more easily shareable and accessible by using a Creative Commons license. The various types of Creative Commons licenses give varying levels of permission for users to access or modify the creative content. From the user’s perspective, the presence of a Creative Commons license on a copyrighted work answers the question, “What can I do with this work?” 

• Know the Creative Commons Licenses 

• Creative Commons License Chooser Tool: Choose license features to create the license that is best for your publication. 

How Do I Share My Open Content?  

• Pressbooks Directory: Pressbooks Directory is a free, searchable catalog that includes thousands of open access books published by organizations and networks using Pressbooks. 

• JMU Scholarly Commons: JMU’s institutional repository is a free, secure open publishing option for JMU faculty, staff, and students. Its materials range from peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings to theses and dissertations. Publishable formats include papers, presentations, data sets, images, audio, video, and more. 

• Open Textbook Library: The Open Textbook Library features 1,600 open textbooks (and counting!), many with faculty reviews. This resource is supported by the Open Education Network. 

Get Energized 

More JMU faculty are using OER each year! Check out these success stories of other JMU Faculty Using OER. 

Get Funding 

Grants and stipends are available to compensate you for the time involved in modifying and creating open course materials. 

Get Help 

If you have questions about creating open content, contact Liz Thompson, our Open Education Librarian.   

Learn More 

Visit our Create Open Course Materials with Pressbooks page to learn more.