Heritage University OER (Open Access Resources): Biology

  arXiv
 “A curated research-sharing platform open to anyone. As a pioneer in digital open access, arXiv.org now hosts nearly two million scholarly articles in eight subject areas, curated by our strong community of volunteer moderators.”—from the website

  
HippoCampusM - Biology
“HippoCampus.org is a free, core academic web site that delivers rich multimedia content--videos, animation, and simulations--on general education subjects to middle-school and high-school teachers and college professors.”—from the website
 

  MERLOT M*  Biology Materials
“MERLOT is a collection of online resources curated by a community of faculty, staff, and students of higher education.  This subset of the MERLOT collection features openly licensed textbooks for use by students and faculty.  MERLOT allows its users to rate materials and comment on specific resources.”—from the website
 

  National Science Digital Library*
“The National Science Digital Library provides high quality online educational resources for teaching and learning, with current emphasis on the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.”—from the website

  OER Commons* - Biology
“The worldwide OER movement is rooted in the human right to access high-quality education. This shift in educational practice is not just about cost savings and easy access to openly licensed content; it’s about participation and co-creation.” —from the website.

  Scitable by Nature Education
“Educators: Inspire your undergraduate and high-school AP biology students with resources on genetics and cell biology from Nature Publishing Group, home of Nature, the most cited scientific journal in the world.

Biointeractive
“Real science, real stories, and real data to engage students in exploring the living world.”—from the website

Biology - Khan Academy
“Biology is the study of life. Here, you can browse videos, articles, and exercises by topic. We keep the library up-to-date, so you may find new or improved content over time.”—from the website

Lumen Learning - Boundless Biology
“In collaboration with the Boundless team, Lumen Learning imported these OER courses to the Lumen Platform, to ensure they remain freely available to the education community after Boundless ceased operations. Lumen maintains the Boundless content in the same condition it was provided to us.”—from the website

Lumen Learning – Boundless Microbiology
“In collaboration with the Boundless team, Lumen Learning imported these OER courses to the Lumen Platform, to ensure they remain freely available to the education community after Boundless ceased operations. Lumen maintains the Boundless content in the same condition it was provided to us.”—from the website

MERLOT Biology Homework and Assignments
 

OER Commons – Biology Homework and Assignments

  DOAJ
"The DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals) was launched in 2003 with 300 open access journals. Today, this independent database contains over 15 000 peer-reviewed open access journals covering all areas of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, arts and humanities. Open access journals from all countries and in all languages are welcome to apply for inclusion.”—from the website

FreeFullPDF
“The aim of FreeFullPDF.com is to increase the visibility and ease of use of open access scientific journals, theses, posters and patents. All scientific subjects are covered and all content are freely available in PDF format. FreeFullPDF.com was developed by KnowMade SARL. KnowMade is a Technology Intelligence company specialized in the research and analysis of scientific and technical information. We provide customized watching services and on demand studies with high added value to businesses and research laboratories.”—from the website

Journal TOCs
“A searchable resource providing tables of contents for over 17,000 scholarly journals (almost 3000 of which are open access) .”—from the website

Georgia Knowledge Repository*The Georgia Knowledge Repository (GKR) is a central metadata repository containing records from participating GALILEO institutions that can be freely searched by the citizens of Georgia and the scholarly community at large.
 

Journal TOCs
“A searchable resource providing tables of contents for over 17,000 scholarly journals (almost 3000 of which are open access) .”—from the website

JURN
“Search millions of free academic articles, chapters and theses.”—from the website

PLoS (Public Library of Science) 
"PLOS is a nonprofit, Open Access publisher empowering researchers to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication.  We’ve been breaking boundaries since 2001. We propelled the movement for OA alternatives to subscription journals. We established the  first multi-disciplinary publication inclusive of all research regardless of novelty or impact. And we demonstrated the importance of open data availability.”—from the website

Research Gate
"ResearchGate allows you to network with the largest global community dedicated to science and research: we help you to expand your contacts, share knowledge and find potential research partners.”—from the website


  SPARC
“SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) works to enable the open sharing of research outputs and educational materials in order to democratize access to knowledge, accelerate discovery, and increase the return on our investment in research and education.”—from the website

BC Campus Open Ed
“A goal of the Project is to provide flexible and affordable access to higher education resources in B.C. by making available 40 openly-licensed textbooks. These texts will be available for selection by B.C. faculty, and digital versions of the texts will be free of charge to students. For those who prefer a printed copy, this format will also be available on demand for a low cost.”—from the website

Biology - Openstax
“OpenStax is part of Rice University, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable corporation. As an educational initiative, it's our mission to transform learning so that education works for every student.”—from the website

  College Open Textbooks - Biology & Genetics
“Textbooks in the Open Textbook Library are considered open because they are free to use and distribute, and are licensed to be freely adapted or changed with proper attribution.”—from the website

InTech Life Sciences Books
inTech Open believes “that scientific progress is generated by collaboration, that the playing field for scientific research should be leveled globally, and that research conducted in a democratic environment, with the use of innovative technologies, should be made available to anyone.”—from the website

  LibreTexts M*
“Welcome to the Biology Library. This Living Library is a principal hub of the LibreTexts project, which is a multi-institutional collaborative venture to develop the next generation of open-access texts to improve postsecondary education at all levels of higher learning. The LibreTexts approach is highly collaborative where an Open Access textbook environment is under constant revision by students, faculty, and outside experts to supplant conventional paper-based books.”—from the website

National Academies Press (NAP)
“The National Academies Press (NAP) publishes the reports of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The NAP publishes more than 200 books a year on a wide range of topics in science, engineering, and medicine, providing authoritative, independently-researched information on important matters in science and health policy.”—from the website

OAPEN
“OAPEN works with publishers to build a quality controlled collection of open access books, and provides services for publishers, libraries and research funders in the areas of deposit, quality assurance, dissemination, and digital preservation.

Open Textbook Library--Biology
“Textbooks in the Open Textbook Library are considered open because they are free to use and distribute, and are licensed to be freely adapted or changed with proper attribution.”—from the website

WikibooksM*“Books on this shelf deal with biology: the science that studies living organisms. More specifically, it examines the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and classification of all living things.”—from the website

Single texts

Biofundamentals - University of Colorado“
A multi-semester introduction to core concepts and their application in evolutionary, molecular, cellular & developing systems.”—from the website

Milne Open Textbooks—Biology”
The SUNY Community textbooks series is a venue for SUNY faculty to share their already published openly licensed educational material. The work highlighted in this series have a variety of publishers, but are all: authored by a SUNY faculty member, full courses or texts to be used in a college-level course, original work, or a significant remix or adaptation of another open work, and licensed with a Creative Commons license.”—from the website

E.O. Wilson's Life on Earth
“The E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation released the ground-breaking new high school biology textbook E.O. Wilson’s Life on Earth. We believe that education is the most important tool we have to face the challenges confronting our living planet. Life on Earth was created to instruct and inspire students, the future stewards of Earth.”—from the website

Science of Biology with Lab and General College Biology with Lab“
These documents map OER (curated by librarians and vetted for content and alignment by subject matter experts) to specific outcomes/competencies or items for these courses (BIO 105 and BIO 111, Colorado) .”—from the website

Class Central M*“Class Central is a search engine and reviews site for free online courses popularly known as MOOCs or Massive Open Online Courses.”—from the website

  Coursera M*“Every course on Coursera is taught by top instructors from the world’s best universities and educational institutions. Courses include recorded video lectures, auto-graded and peer-reviewed assignments, and community discussion forums.”—from the website

  edX Biology & Life Sciences Courses*“Take free online biology courses in genetics, biotechnology, biochemistry, neurobiology and other disciplines. Courses include Fundamentals of Neuroscience from Harvard University, “Molecular Biology from MIT and an Introduction to Bioethics from Georgetown.”—from the website

  Future Learn
“FutureLearn courses are divided into weeks. These contain various activities that you should aim to complete within the week, each one built from a sequence of straightforward steps, to help you learn. Each week is given a descriptive name, so you always know what’s expected, and you can even navigate between them, to see what’s coming up, or catch up from the beginning if you’re late starting.”—from the website

OpenLearn -
“Welcome to OpenLearn - the home of free learning from The Open University. Are you looking for a new topic to explore, or want to dig deeper into something you've already discovered? Whether it’s a 60-second animated video or a 24-hour course you are after, you will find it on OpenLearn for free.”—from the website


  Saylor Academy*BIO101: Introduction to Molecular and Cellular Biology
“Explore the basics of molecular biology, including proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids, water, and other compounds that make up the cell, with an emphasis on the cell membrane, mitosis and meiosis, genetics and gene expression, transcription and translation, and cellular metabolism.”—from the website

Introduction to Biology  MIT* 
“The MIT Biology Department core courses, 7.012, 7.013, and 7.014, all cover the same core material, which includes the fundamental principles of biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, and cell biology. Biological function at the molecular level is particularly emphasized and covers the structure and regulation of genes, as well as, the structure and synthesis of proteins, how these molecules are integrated into cells, and how these cells are integrated into multicellular systems and organisms. In addition, each version of the subject has its own distinctive material.”—from the website

Association for Biology Laboratory Education (ABLE)
“Founded in 1979 to promote information exchange among university and college educators actively concerned with teaching biology in a laboratory setting. The focus of ABLE is to improve the undergraduate biology laboratory experience by promoting the development and dissemination of interesting, innovative, and reliable laboratory exercises.”—from the website
General Biology OER Laboratory Manual 
“In the Spring of 2020, we have developed and implemented the online General Biology lab exercises to boost online student engagement.”—from the website

Genetics Lab Manual (CUNY City Tech). By Professor Christopher Blair of CUNY City Tech.
NYCCT General Biology 1 Lab and 2 Lab
“This site is a sponsored by the Ursula Schwerin Library to select and curate resources for use in General Biology 1. This was extended to include Molecular & Cell Biology through the U.S. Department of Education Title V Grant, “A Living Lab.”—from the website
OER Simulations & Virtual Labs Resources (Compiled by Colorado School of Mines)
“Our teaching and learning environments have changed quite rapidly this year! This page provides a (growing) list of free virtual labs and simulations. See the "Finding OER" tab for freely available textbooks and other course materials. If you find or create a resource to share, please email Emily Bongiovanni (emilybongiovanni@mines.edu) to have it added to the page."--from the website

Open Science Laboratory

“This online laboratory brings interactive practical science to students anywhere and anytime the internet is available. The laboratory features investigations based on on-screen instruments, remote access experiments and virtual scenarios using real data. Several activities are available to all, while others are available only to registered users.”—from the website

Principles of Biology I & II Lab Manuals (Dalton State College)

By Susan Burran and David DesRochers, Dalton State College.

 

Encyclopedia of Life 
 “Our knowledge of the many life-forms on Earth – of animals, plants, fungi, protists and bacteria – is scattered around the world in books, journals, databases, websites, specimen collections, and in the minds of people everywhere. Imagine what it would mean if this information could be gathered together and made available to everyone – anywhere – at a moment’s notice.”—from the website.

BioOne
“BioOne Complete is a database of more than 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences. The flagship product of the nonprofit publisher BioOne, BioOne Complete provides libraries with cost-effective access to high-quality, curated research and independent society publishers with a dynamic, community-based platform and global distribution. BioOne Complete's unique business model reinvests precious library funds in scientific communication, with over $45M returned to participating publishers to date. .”—from the website

DAVID Laboratory of Human Retrovirology and Immunoinformatics (LHRI)
“The Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID ) v6.8 comprises a full Knowledgebase update to the sixth version of our original web-accessible programs. DAVID now provides a comprehensive set of functional annotation tools for investigators to understand biological meaning behind large list of genes.”—from the website

Center for Open Science (COS)
"Our mission is to increase openness, integrity, and reproducibility of research.

For COS to achieve our mission, we must drive change in the culture and incentives that drive researchers’ behavior, the infrastructure that supports their research, and the business models that dominate scholarly communication.”—from the website
 

PLOS - Research Communities
"Discover field-specific content, news, and opportunities across our journals in the select community hubs.”—from the website

Research Gate
"ResearchGate allows you to network with the largest global community dedicated to science and research: we help you to expand your contacts, share knowledge and find potential research partners.”—from the website

  SPARC

“SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) works to enable the open sharing of research outputs and educational materials in order to democratize access to knowledge, accelerate discovery, and increase the return on our investment in research and education.”—from the website

Biointeractive 
 “Real science, real stories, and real data to engage students in exploring the living world.”—from the website

Life Science Teaching Resource Community  
“The Life Science Teaching Resource Community is an online community for life science educators at all levels. The community and educational resources found on this site are free and open to educators worldwide, although free registration may be required to participate in some community activities, such as posting comments.”—from the website

  DataOne
“Founded in 2009, DataONE is a community driven project providing access to data across multiple member repositories, supporting enhanced search and discovery of Earth and environmental data.”—from the website

Biology (University of Colorado)
“PhET simulations are very flexible tools that can be used in many ways. Here, you will find videos and resources for learning about effective ways of integrating PhET simulations into your class.”—from the website

Biology Labs On-Line
“Biology Labs On-Line is a commercial web site that offers a series of 12 interactive, inquiry-based biology simulations and exercises designed for college and AP high school biology students.”—from the website

 LifeDiscoveryEd Digital Library
“The LifeDiscoveryEd Digital Library (LDDL) is an online resource portal for biology education in ecology, plant biology and evolution. Participants accepted to deliver short presentations are expected to contribute their ideas to the LifeDiscoveryEd Digital Library. Participants who present teaching ideas and resources during the Education Share Fair are strongly encouraged to contribute these as well with the feedback they have received from colleagues.”—from the website

PCR, DNA extraction, gel electrophoresis
“Here you'll find a wealth of resources and information aimed at helping educators bring genetics, bioscience and health alive in the classroom.”—from the website

The Virtual Biology Experiments
“The virtual laboratories enhance learning experiences by providing the student with a supplement to the physical lab.  The laboratories allow students to perform exercises as in an actual lab and to gather data for preparing lab reports.”—from the website

Virtual Biology Lab
“Virtual Biology Lab is a free, online educational resource provided for educational purposes. VBL simulates natural environments with the way life responds to changing conditions.”—from the website

Virtual Lab
“Fourteen virtual labs on topics ranging from the origin of living things to regulating the animal body.”—from the website

Virtual Pig Dissection (VPD)
“This site is designed as a supplement to laboratory dissections exploring introductory mammalian anatomy and physiology — it is basic and many details have been omitted for clarity.  We hope that it is suitable for AP Biology students or for students of introductory anatomy and physiology at the college level.”—from the website

Web Adventures
“Students use the scientific method and science process skills to investigate infectious disease outbreaks.”—from the website

Annenberg Learner--
As part of its mission to advance excellent teaching in American schools, Annenberg Learner funds and distributes educational video programs – with coordinated online and print materials – for the professional development of K-12 teachers. Many programs are also intended for students in the classroom and viewers at home, with videos that exemplify excellent teaching. Annenberg Learner also partners with impactful organizations to provide other means of achieving this goal. As part of the Annenberg Foundation, Learner supports the Foundation’s mission to encourage the development of more effective ways to share ideas and knowledge.
 

  CK12--
CK-12 Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing access to high quality educational materials for K-12 students all over the world. We offer free high-quality, standards-aligned, open content in the STEM subjects. By providing these free resources, CK-12 is working toward educational equity for all.

Crash Course --
“Crash Course is one of the best ways to educate yourself, your classmates, and your family on YouTube!

From courses like Astronomy to US History and Anatomy & Physiology it's got you covered with an awesome variety of AP high school curriculum topics. With various witty hosts at your service, you won't even notice you're getting smarter.”—from the website

Creative Commons
“CC Search is a tool that allows openly licensed and public domain works to be discovered and used by everyone. Creative Commons, the nonprofit behind CC Search, is the maker of the CC licenses, used over 1.4 billion times to help creators share knowledge and creativity online.”—from the website

iBiology-Microbiology Research Talks
“iBiology’s mission is to convey, in the form of open-access free videos, the excitement of modern biology and the process by which scientific discoveries are made. Our aim is to let you meet the leading scientists in biology, so that you can find out how they think about scientific questions and conduct their research, and can get a sense of their personalities, opinions, and perspectives.”—from the website

BioInteractive Sceince Talks
“Hear from leading scientists about their research in important areas of biology. Use these talks to deepen and update content knowledge.”—from the website

TED Talks--Biology * “TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages.”—from the website

University Videos
This new Digital Library portal contains the metadata of the YouTube Channels of the world's Top Universities.  Viewing University Videos within the Digital Library provides viewer-enhancements that will make these videos attract and keep more viewers.  User Benefits: there are four main user-enhancement features to watch for:

1. Video transcript plays in sync with the playing video, enhancing the user experience
2. Video Search - enhanced and advanced search capabilities, plus hit to hit navigation
3. Video Clip and Share - instant and automatic sharing of important video clips
4. Video Transcript Navigation, allowing viewers to jump to any spot in the video

  XVIVO Scientific Animation
“XVIVO is the premier creator of medical animation and scientific media. Our studio develops 3D animations, educational videos, medical illustrations, interactive science apps, cell animations, interactive VR animations, and more.”—from the website. 
​​​​​​​

Wikimedia Commons (images, videos, and sounds)
“A media file repository making available public domain and freely-licensed educational media content (images, sound and video clips) to everyone, in their own language. Use the search to find content related to your interest.”—from the website

  arXiv
“arXiv is a free distribution service and an open-access archive for 1,891,879 scholarly articles in the fields of physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology, quantitative finance, statistics, electrical engineering and systems science, and economics. Materials on this site are not peer-reviewed by arXiv.”—from the website

bioRxiv
“bioRxiv (pronounced "bio-archive") is a free online archive and distribution service for unpublished preprints in the life sciences. It is operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a not-for-profit research and educational institution. By posting preprints on bioRxiv, authors are able to make their findings immediately available to the scientific community and receive feedback on draft manuscripts before they are submitted to journals.”—from the website

DOE (Department of Energy) Pages
“The Department of Energy Public Access Gateway for Energy and Science (DOE PAGES) is the DOE discovery tool, developed by the DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), that makes peer-reviewed scholarly scientific publications resulting from DOE research funding publicly accessible.”—from the website

Open Science (OSF) Preprints
“For COS to achieve our mission, we must drive change in the culture and incentives that drive researchers’ behavior, the infrastructure that supports their research, and the business models that dominate scholarly communication.”—from the website

Preprints
“Preprints is a platform dedicated to making early versions of research outputs permanently available and citable. We post original research articles and comprehensive reviews, and papers can be updated by authors at any time. Content on Preprints is not peer-reviewed and can receive feedback from readers.”—from the website.