The Open Educational Resources Collective is an initiative of the Council of Australasian University Librarians.
After a successful two-year pilot period from 2022-2023, the decision was made to continue the CAUL OER Collective from 2024 as a service in line with the CAUL Open Educational Resources Strategic Enabling Program. The Collective aims to:
- Build infrastructure and capacity, and achieve tangible outcomes to move the OER agenda forward at a national level.
- Facilitate collaborative authoring and publishing of OER in targeted priority disciplines, with a preference for the inclusion of local and/or Indigenous content.
- Allow Member institutions to publish their own OER in disciplines of their choosing.
The Collective provides a shared OER publishing platform for participating CAUL Member institutions in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, with the aim of facilitating independent publishing by authors at participating institutions, as well as collaborative, cross-institutional publishing. The Collective also builds community and capacity across CAUL Member institutions to support open education engagement.
CAUL Member institutions are at various stages of development with regard to their exploration of OER. The aims of the Collective allow Member institutions with different goals and different needs to benefit from the Collective. The Collective draws on the strength of networks within the CAUL membership to encourage cross-institutional collaboration on OER creation, adoption and adaptation, and to facilitate knowledge sharing.
Inclusions
Participating institutions can:
- Publish up to two books on the shared Pressbooks platform per year (depending on participation category), with the option to subscribe to Pressbooks Premium to gain access to further books and a wealth of additional features such as LTI integration, SSO, institutional network administration, and direct Pressbooks technical support.
- Access tailored live training as well as guides and templates via the OER Collective Workflow guide
- Access communities of practice – one for library staff, one for academic authors, one for institutional administrators
- Apply for OER Collective Grants.
Participating Institutions
The following institutions are participating in 2025:
- Auckland University of Technology – Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau
- Bond University
- Charles Darwin University
- Charles Sturt University
- CQUniversity
- Curtin University
- Deakin University
- Edith Cowan University
- Federation University
- Flinders University
- Griffith University
- James Cook University
- La Trobe University
- Lincoln University – Te Whare Wānaka o Aoraki
- Massey University – Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa
- Monash University
- Queensland University of Technology
- RMIT University
- Southern Cross University
- Swinburne University of Technology
- University of Adelaide
- University of Auckland
- University of Canberra
- University of Canterbury – Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha
- University of New England
- University of Newcastle
- University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka
- University of Queensland Library
- University of South Australia
- University of Southern Queensland
- University of Sunshine Coast
- University of Sydney Library
- University of Tasmania
- University of Technology Sydney
- University of Waikato – Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato
- University of Western Australia
- University of Wollongong (New in 2025)
- University of New South Wales
- Victoria University of Wellington – Te Herenga Waka
- Western Sydney University
More Information
- The OER Collective Administration Guide for Library Staff provides important information on Collective operations and governance, including procedures, contact information and frequently asked questions (undergoing updating for 2025).
- The OER Collective Workflow guide provides documentation, guides and templates to support publishing. It’s a key resource for library staff and academic authors designed to guide you through the publishing process (undergoing updating for 2025).