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OER and NOLO: Home

No- and low-cost course materials help keep NCC affordable.

As of Spring 2025, more than 75% of NCC's English and Math class sections have adopted free OER textbooks, making NCC more affordable for our students! Other programs with free textbooks in most courses include Early Childhood Education, Geography, History and Government. 

Programs with many low-cost texts include Psychology and Business.

NOLOs and OERs: What's the difference?

NOLO course = course with required materials (excluding equipment or fees) priced between $0 and $50

  • No-cost course materials ($0)
  • Low-cost course materials ($50 and under)

OER = Open Educational Resources = free and openly-licensed. Some NOLO courses use OERs.

Find these courses! No-cost and low-cost materials courses are filters in SIS and the online course schedule!

NCC OER/NOLO Work Team

This group meets monthly to promote the use of no- and low-cost resources in NCC courses, to support faculty in learning about OER/NOLO, to track the adoption of these resources and to network. For more information, contact Library Director Fran Keenan.

Members as of November 2024:

  • Caitrin Brisson / Advising
  • [vacant] / VPAA
  • Jennifer Tripp / English, Arts, Humanities
  • Ann Healy / English
  • Debra Costa-Nino / Biology
  • Fran Keenan / Library

Remember Library Resources!

NCC Library Resources

The NCC library's online resources are licensed to NCC for a fee and therefore are not OERs, however they are free to students. They can be used in your Canvas courses.

A few ways you can use licensed library content:

  • Search in one of our databases and then link to an article.
  • Find an ebook and link to one chapter.
  • Assign students to search for resources.

Integrating OER materials into Canvas

Providing a syllabus statement is one tip. Make it clear to students where they can access the materials and if there are print options for digital materials. 

https://www.oer.iastate.edu/integrating-oer-canvas

Attribution according to CC Licenses


 

Do you know how to attribute the Creative Commons openly-licensed OER resources you use? The license usually requires attribution for use or remixing.

We know you're busy! Want some help?

Contact Library Director Fran Keenan for help in finding and linking to library and other NOLO content or for help finding OER (free and openly-licensed) materials.

Sources of OER Information

The next page of this guide shows OERs (free and openly-licensed materials) that have been adopted by NCC instructors as of March 2025. This information is subject to change.