Collections Updates & Feedback: Health Sciences Library

Many open textbooks, open educational resources (OER), and other free teaching and learning materials have been produced for subject areas and specialties in health sciences, including the collections highlighted on this page. If you know of an excellent resource not listed here, tell us about it!

To discuss your specific needs, please contact your liaison librarian or schedule a consultation with the Open Education Librarian.

This guide was originally authored by Melanie Smith, UW Libraries Open Education Graduate Assistant 2021-2022.

Open Pedagogy refers to practices that engage students in the creation of information, rather than simply the consumption of it.  It leverages the "open" nature of OER to facilitate learning, and emphasizes community and collaboration, sharing resources ideas and power.  

Adapted from Authoring Open Textbooks by Melissa Falldin and Karen Lauritsen [Pressbook] Chapter 13: Adapting or Authoring. 

Organizational Features

• Is the book structured in a useful manner? 
• Are materials consistent and well organized? 
• Is the information current? 

Student Engagement 

• Do the materials encourage students to think critically of the materials? 
• Do the materials clearly present content? 

Content Balance 

• Is text interspersed with maps, graphs, and images? 
• Does content provide tangible real-life applications or case studies? 

Inclusion Elements 

• Do the materials reflect equity and diversity in their examples and other content? 

Alignment 

• Does the content align well or at all with disciplinary standards? 

Legal 

• Is the material openly licensed?
• Can it be modified or simply cited? 

The platforms in this section provide freely available teaching and learning materials for a variety of health professions and health sciences subject areas.