Connect to JMU Libraries in Canvas
Don't forget, you can connect your open and affordable materials through Canvas
Simple step-by-step instructions are available on the Connect the Library to Canvas site on how to
- collect and use persistent links to articles, databases, and journals,
- link to streaming videos, and
- embed the Libraries' search widget
Collaborate with Liaison Librarians
Liaison Librarians provide recommendations for Affordable Course Content like library-licensed resources and items that fall under fair use. Liaisons offer research and assignment support and can help locate OER in your discipline.
Liaison Librarians are also your point of contact for library services, materials, instruction, and collaboration. Liaisons are primarily responsible for representing and supporting academic departmental interests through...
- Purchasing books, e-books, and streaming media
- Providing library instruction sessions to support student research projects
- Consulting with student and faculty researchers
- Creating subject or class oriented course guides to direct students to library materials relevant to their research interests and assignments
- Finding or creating learning objects to support information literacy
- Working with faculty to develop assignments that incorporate critical thinking and information literacy concepts
Contact information for librarians can be found on each individual Research Guide or on the list of Liaison Librarians. We also provide chat reference service, which may be of special interest to online learners. Look for an icon on the library homepage like this:
Profile
Affordable Course Content @ JMU
JMU Libraries Collections
Library resources can also be a more affordable way to provide curated and accessible course content. Keep in mind that these are not free or open resources. JMU Libraries subscribes to licensed, copyrighted content for faculty, student, and JMU community use. There may be Digital Rights Management (DRM) limitations on the number of concurrent users, and our subscriptions are subject to change. Contact your Liaison Librarian for more details.
VIVA Faculty Textbook Portal
Looking for affordable content for your courses? JMU instructors can click here to authenticate (you will need your JMU e-ID and password) and search the 200,000+ titles from the Virtual Library of Virginia's (VIVA’s) shared library collections, open textbooks, and e-books available for purchase. If you are accessing the portal off-campus, you will experience multiple authentication prompts. You can reduce these prompts by using Ivanti Secure, but you will still have access if you prefer OpenAthens.
Contact Liz Thompson (thomp3ea@jmu.edu) for details about using VIVA's Faculty Textbook Portal.
JMU Libraries Resources as Course Materials
E-books: Not all e-books will be suited for course use. Below are explanations of restrictions publishers may require for e-book use. If you are using Libraries' e-books in your course, don't forget to remind students to Connect from Off-Campus.
Number of users: This can vary by publisher and subscription package agreement.
- If use is limited, you'll see this note in the Library catalog "Access to this e-book is limited to one user/three users at a time"
- Some downloaded e-books expire after a checkout period, but can then be checked out again.
- Some e-books have no user limit
Type of access: This can vary by publisher and subscription package agreement.
- Downloads by chapter or an entire book
- Only online access
Digital Rights Management (DRM): This can vary by publisher and subscription package agreement.
- Technological restrictions placed on electronic resources limit what users can do with the e-book.
Other JMU Libraries resources: In addition to e-books, the JMU Libraries also provide access to physical objects (like books and videos) or virtual materials (electronic journals and video playlists). Want to link to JMU Libraries' articles and videos from a Canvas course? Find detailed instructions at the Connect the Libraries to Canvas guide.
Free, but not Open
These sites have free-to-use content, which is NOT licensed to remix or revise. If you are looking for affordable learning materials, you may also consider these resources.
- Learn.GeneticsGenetic Science Learning Center at the University of Utah
- Teach.GeneticsGenetic Science Learning Center at the University of Utah
- Yale case studiesSample case studies from the Yale School of Management
- ALA Video Round Table Public resourcesA curated bibliography with a mix of openly licensed and free-to-use resources.
- USG Learning EverywhereA diverse set of educational resources and services for anyone, anywhere, who wants to learn and experience new things online. *Some resources are openly licensed and some are free for the USG community.
- Virtual Labs and Science ResourcesThe BCcampus Open Education Virtual Labs and Science Resources lists free science resources designed to support remote science education. Note that, while all resources in this guide are free, not all are open. Resources that carry Creative Commons or otherwise open licences are clearly labelled.
Online Interactive Open and Free to Use Resources
In an online class, it's hard to replicate the hands-on exploratory work. Here are links to some helpful resources for maintaining interactive elements in an online environment.
- Khan AcademyKhan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. We tackle math, science, computer programming, history, art history, economics, and more.
- Community Building ActivitiesIn a series of new videos, Equity Unbound present strategies for creating online communities built on principles of equity and care that produce learning spaces in which all students can flourish.
- CALI - Center for Computer-assisted Legal InstructionCALI is a 501(c)(3) non-profit consortium of mostly US law schools that conducts applied research and development in the area of computer-mediated legal education.
- Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning (COERLL)The Center for Open Educational Resources & Language Learning (COERLL) is one of 16 National Foreign Language Resource Centers (LRC's) funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The overall mission of these federally-funded centers is to improve the teaching and learning of foreign languages by producing resources (materials and best practices) that can be profitably employed in a variety of settings.
- Language CollaborativeAn open platform for sharing lessons and learning languages.
- Virtual Labs and Science ResourcesThe BCcampus Open Education Virtual Labs and Science Resources lists free science resources designed to support remote science education. Note that, while all resources in this guide are free, not all are open. Resources that carry Creative Commons or otherwise open licences are clearly labelled.
- Chem ReaX: Chemical Reaction SimulatorA web app offered by ScienceBySimulation for modeling and simulating basic chemical reactions.
- LibriVoxFree public domain audio books
- MyOpenMathOpen and free online interactive platform for math homework.
- WeBWorKAn open-source online homework system for math and sciences courses. WeBWorK is supported by the MAA and the NSF and comes with a National Problem Library (NPL) of over 20,000 homework problems.
- Open Case StudiesThe Open Case Studies project at UBC brings together faculty and students from different disciplines to write, edit, and learn with case studies that are free and open--they are publicly available free of cost, and they are licensed to allow others to revise and reuse them.
- Molecular WorkbenchVisual, Interactive Simulations for Teaching & Learning Science
- PhET Interactive SimulationsInteractive Simulations for Science and Math
- Physical Geology Laboratory: Animations and Interactive QuestionsTo help students practice skills to master learning objectives for physical geology laboratory.
- Basic GeophysicsThis infographic is an excerpt of an online course originally developed for new master's students at KIT (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology).
- Skills CommonsA free and open online library containing free and open learning materials and program support materials for job-driven workforce development created for the US Department of Labor’s Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) program.
- Learn.GeneticsGenetic Science Learning Center at the University of Utah
- Teach.GeneticsGenetic Science Learning Center at the University of Utah
- Bretz Research GroupList of online Chemistry animations, videos, simulations, and demos.
- Web Path: The Internet Pathology Laboratory for Medical EducationThe WebPath® educational resource contains over 2700 images with text that illustrate gross and microscopic pathologic findings along with radiologic imaging associated with human disease conditions. For self-assessment and self-directed study there are over 1300 examination items. There are more than 20 tutorials in specific subject areas. These computer-aided instructional materials support educational programs in the health sciences.
- HistoWebThe images contained in the Histoweb site were obtained by taking photomicrographs of the tissue slides that are provided to the medical students taking the Cell and Tissue Biology Course at the University of Kansas.
- The SimTechNursing and Health Science simulations and videos
- SimBox / TeleSimBoxRepository of remote medical simulation exercises with facilitator guides.
- Virtual Healthcare ExperienceThis portal provides healthcare students and professionals with an experiential learning opportunity for practicing client care in a safe virtual environment through simulation experiences in clinical decision making. The Virtual Healthcare Experience portal was developed as a joint collaboration between professors from Ryerson University, Centennial College, and George Brown College and funded by the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development (MAESD).
- MyScopeMyScope was developed by Microscopy Australia to provide an online learning environment for those who want to learn about microscopy. The platform provides insights into the fundamental science behind different microscopes, explores what can and cannot be measured by different systems and provides a realistic operating experience on high end microscopes.
Other resources
These sites offer a mix of open and copyrighted works. Check each item to confirm copyright status before use.
- HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new windowCollection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.
- Wellcome images Find thousands of Creative Commons licensed medical images.
- GITenberg GITenberg is a collaborative, open source community curating and publishing highly usable and attractive ebooks in the public domain. Our books are free to use by anyone for any purpose. They contain detailed metadata and are accessible in a wide variety of formats.
- unglue.it Unglue.it is a place for individuals and institutions to join together in support of free ebooks.
- UnsplashOnline repository with 200,000 high-resolution images.
- Videvo Videvo offers free stock videos and motion graphics for use in any project. You may use these video clips free of charge, in both personal and commercial productions. Video clips that carry the Creative Commons 3.0 license must be attributed to the original author.
- BioiconsA library of free, high quality science illustrations in vector format.
- Open PeepsHand-drawn illustration library with the ability to modify and create your own characters.
- The GreatsThe Greats is a free vault with carefully curated socially engaged visual content open to anyone to use or adapt non-commercially.
- Centre for Aging Better Image LibraryPhotos in the library are free for use across your presentations and websites, and they cover themes related to ageing such as health, homes and employment.
- Disabled and Here Image CollectionThe collection is published under Creative Commons attribution licensing, which means you can use, share, and adapt the images for free with appropriate credit. We ask that you be thoughtful in how you put our collection images to use. With captions, we prefer identity-first language, as in “disabled person” rather than “person with a disability.”