What this course is

This is an open courseware gateway for Agriculture. Rather than hosting its own lectures, it points you to high-quality, openly licensed teaching and learning materials selected from two trusted libraries of Open Educational Resources (OER): MERLOT and OER Commons. Everything linked here is free to use.

About the two libraries

• MERLOT is a curated, peer-reviewed collection of free online learning materials maintained by the California State University system and a global community of educators.
• OER Commons is a public digital library of open educational resources — full courses, textbooks, lessons, and activities — that you can use, adapt, and share.

How to use the links in this course

Each link in the topic below opens a pre-filtered search in MERLOT or OER Commons for an Agriculture sub-area (for example plant sciences, animal sciences, or soil science). Open a link, browse the results, and pick materials that match your level and goal.

A suggested learning pathway

1. Orient yourself — skim a broad "Agriculture" search to see what is available.
2. Go narrow — choose one sub-area (e.g. soil science) and find an introductory resource.
3. Go deep — follow up with a fuller open textbook or course on that sub-area.
4. Apply — look for datasets, case studies, or activities you can practise with.

How to judge an OER's quality

Open does not automatically mean good. Before relying on a resource, check: Who made it? (an institution or recognised expert), How current is it?, Does it match your level?, and What licence does it carry? A Creative Commons licence tells you how you may reuse it.

Licensing

Linked resources remain under their own (mostly Creative Commons) licences — always check each item. This orientation page is provided by FRELIP under CC BY 4.0.

Curated by the FRELIP Open Courseware editorial team.