OER Commons
OER Commons is a nonprofit public digital library of open educational resources founded in 2007 and operated by ISKME, serving K-12, higher education, and adult educators globally with creation, collaboration, and discovery tools, monetizing via at-cost professional learning services and custom Microsites.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2007
- HeadquartersHalf Moon Bay, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
What OER Commons does
OER Commons is a public digital library of open educational resources (OER), founded in 2007 and operated as a nonprofit project of ISKME (Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education), headquartered in Half Moon Bay, California. The platform serves K-12 educators, higher education instructors, adult education programs, school districts, state education departments, and educational organizations globally, enabling discovery, creation, remixing, and sharing of standards-aligned educational materials across all subject areas and grade levels from preschool through graduate education.
The underlying technology is a web-based digital library platform with advanced search and filtering by subject, grade level, standard (Common Core, NGSS), and material type. Core products include Open Author (a creation and publishing tool for standalone learning modules, lessons, assignments, assessments, and activities), Groups (collaborative environments with shared folders and collections), Hubs (custom resource centers for projects, districts, states, and initiatives), Collections (curated by digital librarians), and Microsites (custom-branded OER platforms with bespoke taxonomy at unique URLs). The platform supports SAML-based institutional single sign-on through integrations with ISKME GSuite, Nebraska Cloud Portal, and University of Missouri, and content is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0. Strategic content partnerships with Illustrative Mathematics, CLEAN Network, TeachEngineering, National Geographic Society, PBS Education, Smithsonian Institution, CK-12, EngageNY, and PhET Interactive Simulations supply thousands of curated resources.
The business model is mission-driven and largely freemium: the platform is permanently free for all users, while revenue is generated through at-cost professional learning services (in-person and virtual OER workshops, consulting, and tailored institutional programs) and Microsites licensing. The organization employs 11-50 staff, has no disclosed external funding rounds, and is not venture-backed or publicly traded, operating instead as a nonprofit under ISKME. Specialized evaluation tools (EQuIP and OER Evaluation Tool) and award-winning professional development programs support institutions seeking structured OER adoption.
OER Commons firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- OER Commons
- Legal name
- OER Commons
- Website
- https://oercommons.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2007
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- OER Commons is a nonprofit public digital library of open educational resources founded in 2007 and operated by ISKME, serving K-12, higher education, and adult educators globally with creation, collaboration, and discovery tools, monetizing via at-cost professional learning services and custom Microsites.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
OER Commons industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Open Educational Resources Platform
- NAICS
- Libraries and Archives (51921), Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (5192), Educational Services (611)
- SIC
- Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- OER Authoring, Remixing & Publishing Tools/Platforms (EDAGAJAM)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Open Educational Resources (OER) & Curriculum Repositories (EDAFACAJ), OER Quality Review, Alignment & Certification (rubrics/standards) (EDAGAJAN), Open Educational Resources (OER) & Open Access Academic Publishing (MPAJABAG)
Keywords
Where OER Commons is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Half Moon Bay
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
OER Commons business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Free Platform Access: OER Commons is free for all users permanently. The platform serves educational institutions at no cost for basic access to the digital library of open educational resources.
- Professional Learning Services: Award-winning OER Professional Learning programs supporting instructors and curriculum specialists to gain skills required to find, adapt, and evaluate high quality open materials. Services include in-person and virtual OER workshops, consulting, and tailored institutional programs.
- Institutional Services: Tailored and context-specific at-cost services for individual institutions, consortia, and organizations looking to have a more intentional impact on OER adoption and implementation.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free access for all users |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels7 records
OER Commons product offering
Product offeringCore offering
OER Commons is a public digital library of Open Educational Resources that allows educators worldwide to explore, create, and collaborate on curriculum materials at no cost. The platform offers the Open Author tool for building and publishing OER, curated Collections aligned to standards such as Common Core and NGSS, and collaborative features including Groups, Hubs, and Microsites. It also generates revenue through at-cost Professional Learning programs and tailored Institutional Services (workshops, consulting, microsite deployments) for districts, states, consortia, and organizations.
Product overview
OER Commons is a public digital library of open educational resources organized as a platform with multiple integrated products and services. The core platform (OER Commons) enables exploration, creation, and collaboration among educators worldwide. Key modules include Open Author for creating and publishing OER, Groups for collaboration and resource sharing, Collections curated by digital librarians, and Hubs for custom resource centers serving projects, districts, states, and initiatives. Microsites provide custom digital libraries with unique URLs and taxonomy. The platform also features specialized hubs including the STEM Literacy Hub (with NGSS alignment tools) and Common Core Hub (with Open Common Core Courses for grades 6-7 Math and 11-12 ELA). Additional features include Submit from Web for librarian review, evaluation tools (EQuIP and OER Evaluation Tool), and professional learning programs with in-person and virtual OER workshops.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Open Author: A tool within OER Commons that helps educators build and publish Open Educational Resources
- Hubs
- Groups
- Collections
Products and services
- OER Commons Platform Public digital library of Open Educational Resources where K-12, higher education, and adult education educators explore, create, and collaborate to improve curriculum worldwide, with advanced search and filtering by subject, grade level, and standard.
- Open Author Standalone authoring tool that helps educators build and publish Open Educational Resources, including standalone learning modules, lessons, assignments, assessments, and activities.
- Microsites
Quantifiable outcome
- Platform supports K-12, higher education, and adult education levels across all subjects
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use OER Commons
Customer profileNamed customers8 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
OER Commons technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration4 records
Feature5 records
OER Commons partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.
- ISKME (Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education)coreISKME is the parent organization that created OER Commons. OER Commons is a project of ISKME. ISKME operates OER Summits and hosts the platform infrastructure. The organization is committed to participatory, equitable, and open education for all.
- Illustrative MathematicsmajorIllustrative Mathematics provides mathematics curriculum and task resources to OER Commons, including 1141+ aligned resources. IM K-5 Math is a problem-based core curriculum available through the platform.
- CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness NetworkmajorCLEAN provides climate and energy education resources to OER Commons, including 841+ curated resources covering oceanography, atmospheric science, and environmental studies.
- TeachEngineeringmajorTeachEngineering provides NGSS-aligned engineering education resources including 1159+ records focused on STEM education and engineering design.
- National Geographic SocietymajorNational Geographic Society provides educational content through the PowerED hub and curated collections, including resources aligned to science and social studies standards.
- PBS EducationmajorPBS Education provides educational media resources including 631+ curated resources for classroom use across various subjects.
- Smithsonian InstitutionmajorSmithsonian Institution provides primary source and cultural heritage educational materials including 26+ curated resources.
- CK-12majorCK-12 provides STEM Flexbooks including 77+ open textbooks and learning resources for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education.
- EngageNYmajorEngageNY provides 48 ELA resources and 152 mathematics resources aligned to Common Core State Standards, developed under New York State Education Department oversight.
- PhET Interactive Simulations (University of Colorado)majorPhET provides 196 interactive simulations for science and mathematics education, developed by University of Colorado Boulder.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves1 record
Expansion highlights6 records
OER Commons competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- PhET Interactive Simulations: PhET (University of Colorado Boulder) provides free, interactive STEM simulations for educators and is also represented as a content partner on OER Commons. While narrower in scope (simulations), it competes as a destination for free, high-quality STEM educational content.
Regional players
- BetterLesson: BetterLesson provides K-12 educators with curated lesson plans, professional development, and coaching, including free OER content. It competes with OER Commons in K-12 lesson sharing and professional learning services, though it leans more heavily on paid professional development.
Direct peers
- Curriki: Curriki is a nonprofit OER library offering free K-12 teaching resources with authoring and collaboration features. It competes head-to-head with OER Commons as a community-driven OER platform and similar nonprofit/open licensing model for educators.
- OpenStax: OpenStax (Rice University) publishes free, peer-reviewed open textbooks for higher education and operates an open educational resource hub. It directly overlaps with OER Commons as a destination for free, openly licensed teaching materials and is even featured as a group on the OER Commons platform.
- PBS LearningMedia: PBS LearningMedia is a free digital media library for educators offering standards-aligned videos, lesson plans, and interactives from PBS and partners. It directly competes with OER Commons as a destination for high-quality, curated instructional content for K-12 classrooms and is also a content partner on the platform.
- CK-12 Foundation: CK-12 is a nonprofit OER provider of STEM Flexbooks (textbooks, simulations, adaptive practice). CK-12 is also a content partner on OER Commons while operating its own free STEM-focused OER platform, making it a direct competitor in K-12 science and math OER.
- MIT OpenCourseWare: MIT OpenCourseWare is a free, openly licensed publication of virtually all MIT course materials. It serves the same digital-library-for-educators mission as OER Commons but is focused on higher-ed course content rather than K-12.
- MERLOT: MERLOT is a long-established free online library of peer-reviewed learning materials for higher education, with community reviews, author services, and curated collections. It directly parallels OER Commons's model of curated OER discovery, peer review, and educator community features.
- Smithsonian Learning Lab: The Smithsonian Learning Lab is a free, interactive platform for discovering and creating learning resources drawn from Smithsonian collections. It overlaps directly with OER Commons as a free educator resource and content curation platform, and is also a content partner on OER Commons.
Broad incumbents
- Khan Academy: Khan Academy is a large, established nonprofit providing free educational content, practice, and teacher tools across K-14. While broader in scope (instructional videos and adaptive practice), it overlaps with OER Commons in serving free, standards-aligned educational content to schools and districts.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
OER Commons social profiles
Digital presenceOER Commons compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
OER Commons financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
OER Commons leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
OER Commons funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
OER Commons M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about OER Commons
What does OER Commons do?
OER Commons is a public digital library of Open Educational Resources that allows educators worldwide to explore, create, and collaborate on curriculum materials at no cost. The platform offers the Open Author tool for building and publishing OER, curated Collections aligned to standards such as Common Core and NGSS, and collaborative features including Groups, Hubs, and Microsites. It also generates revenue through at-cost Professional Learning programs and tailored Institutional Services (workshops, consulting, microsite deployments) for districts, states, consortia, and organizations.
Is OER Commons a public or private company?
OER Commons is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was OER Commons founded?
OER Commons was founded in 2007. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is OER Commons based?
OER Commons is headquartered in Half Moon Bay, United States, in the North America region.
How does OER Commons make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Free Platform Access are the primary driver. The others are professional Learning Services and institutional Services.
Who are OER Commons's main competitors?
PhET Interactive Simulations is listed as an emerging player. BetterLesson is listed as a regional player. Direct peers are Curriki, OpenStax, PBS LearningMedia, CK-12 Foundation, MIT OpenCourseWare, MERLOT and Smithsonian Learning Lab. Khan Academy is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does OER Commons have an API?
No public API is recorded for OER Commons.
What industry is OER Commons in?
OER Commons's product category is Open Educational Resources Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAGAJAM, OER Authoring, Remixing & Publishing Tools/Platforms, with a secondary code of EDAFACAJ, Open Educational Resources (OER) & Curriculum Repositories. Its NAICS code is 51921 and its SIC code is 8200.