Discipline specific OER for academics

Social Work and Community

This page is designed to support academics with teaching by providing a wealth of OER specifically for Social Work and Community.

Explore our curated collection that highlights Deakin and Australian OER, and resources on the following topics:

• Cultural Safety
• Disability Studies
• Public Health
• Social Work and Foundations and Theories
• Social Work in Practice
• Social Work Research

Deakin OER

Enabling and Optimising Recovery from COVID-19 by Danielle Hitch, Genevieve Pepin, Kelli Nicola-Richmond and Valerie Watchorn (2023), Deakin University, is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
This textbook provides readers with up to date knowledge about the assessment, management and support of people experiencing Long COVID. Learning activities draw upon personas co-authored with people with Long COVID.

Cultural Safety

• Cultural Safety in Health: Professional Practice, Pedagogy & Research by various academic authors (2025) CC BY-NC 4.0

Disability Studies

International OER

• Health and children with disabilities by Megan MacDonald and Samuel W. Logan (Eds.) (2017), Oregon State University, Frontiers, is licensed under CC BY 4.0
• Supporting Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities & Mental Illness by Sherri Melrose (2015), Athabasca University, BCcampus, is licensed under CC BY 4.0
• Introduction to Design Equity by Kristine Miller (2018), University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, is licensed under CC BY 4.0
• Creating Inclusive and Accessible Learning by Emily Scida (2023), University of Virginia, is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Public Health

Australian OER

• Case Studies for Health, Research and Practice in Australia and New Zealand by Nicola Whiteing, et al. (2023), Southern Cross University, is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
• Public Health Ethics: Global Cases, Practice, and Context by Drue H. Barrett, Angus Dawson and Leonard W. Ortmann (2016), Southern Cross University, is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.5
• Digital Health by Sheree Lloyd and Janelle Craig, in Leading in Health and Social Care (2023), Griffith University, is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
• Value-based Healthcare by Hanan Khalil (2024), La Trobe University, is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA

International OER

• Health Case Studies by Glynda Rees, Rob Kruger and Janet Morrison (2017), British Columbia Institute of Technology, BCcampus, is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
• Foundations of Epidemiology by Marit L. Bovbjerg (2020), Oregon State University, PressBooks, is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
• Cases on Social Issues: For Class Discussion, 2nd edition by Deirdre Maultsaid et al. (2023), Kwantlen Polytechnic University, is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
• Exploring Health Systems Within the Context of Social Determinants of Health: A Global Health Case Study by Norman B. Fredrick (2016), Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, is licensed under CC BY 4.0​

Social Work Foundations and Theories

International OER

• Introduction to Social Work: A Look Across the Profession by James Langford, LCSW and Craig Keaton, PhD, LMSW (2022), is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
• Introduction to Sociology 3e by Tonja R. Conerly, Kathleen Holmes, and Asha Lal Tamang (2021), Open Stax, is licensed under CC BY 4.0
• Introduction to Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World by University of Minnesota (2016), University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
• Social Welfare by Rosario Laratta (Ed.) (2012),Intech Open, is licensed under CC BY 3.0

Social Work in Practice

Australian OER

• Partnerships with the Community: Social Work Field Education during the Covid-19 Pandemic by Ronnie Egan, Betty Haralambous and Patrick O’Keeffe (2022), RMIT, is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
• Professional Social Work in Australia by R.J. Lawrence (2016), Australian National University, is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
• Evaluating Health and Social Care Programs by Ruth Mackenzie-Stewart and Hanan Khalil, in Leading in Health and Social Care (2023) is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
• Case Studies for Health, Research and Practice in Australia and New Zealand by Nicola Whiteing, et al. (2023), Southern Cross University, is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
• Australian Urban Policy, Prospects and Pathways by Robert Freestone, Bill Randolph, Wendy Steele (Eds.) (2024) is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

International OER

• Social Work Practice and Disability Communities: An Intersectional Anti-Oppressive Approach by Elspeth Slayter and Lisa Johnson (2023), Salem State University, ROTEL (Remixing Open Textbooks with an Equity Lens) Project, is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
• Cases on Social Issues: For Class Discussion - 2nd Edition by Deirdre Maultsaid (2023), Kwantlen Polytechnic University, is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
• Rural and Northern Social Work Practice: Canadian Perspectives by Bonnie Jeffery and Nuelle Novik (2022), University of Regina, is licensed under CC BY 4.0
• Parenting and Family Diversity Issues by Diana Lang (2020), Iowa State University Digital Press, is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
• Domestic Violence in Immigrant Communities: Case Studies by Ferzana Chaze, Bethany Osborne, Archana Medhekar and Purmina George (2020),eCampusOntario, is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Social Work Research

International OER

• Foundations of Social Work Research by Rebecca L. Mauldin (2020), Mavs Open Press, is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
• Guidebook for Social Work Literature Reviews and Research Questions by Rebecca Mauldin and Matthew DeCarlo (2020), Mavs Open Press, is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
• Graduate research methods in social work by Matthew DeCarlo, Cory Cummings, Kate Agnelli (2021), Open Social Work, is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
• Scientific Inquiry in Social Work by Matthew DeCarlo (2018), Open Social Work Education, is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
• Social Science Research: Principles, Methods, and Practices by Anol Bhattacherjee (2012), University of South Florida, Global Text Project, is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Diversity and inclusion

Australian OER

• Opening Eyes onto Inclusion and Diversity by Susan Carter, et al. (2019) is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
• Enhancing Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) in Open Educational Resources (OER) - Australian Edition by Nikki Andersen (2022), University of Southern Queensland, is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
• Macro Practice for Community and Organizational Change by Lynn Amerman Goerdt (2025) is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Where to find more OER?

There are many platforms available that contain OER, the platforms listed below are a good starting place to find social work and community.

• Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet
  Helping to close the gap by providing the evidence base to inform practice and policy in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. Includes reports, journal articles and a range of sources.
• Lowitja Institute LitSearch
  Search tool provides access to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health literature in PubMed. Refine your search to “Open Access” or select "Free Access" and check the license of individual article before reusing the content.
• Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
  Open public health courses and materials from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
• MedEdPORTAL: : The Journal of Teaching and Learning Resources
  Open-access, peer-reviewed teaching materials for health professions education. Also includes iCollaborative, educational resources that have not undergone the formal MedEdPORTAL peer review process. MedEdPORTAL is included in Medline.
• National Academies Press 
  Books published by the National Academies Press can be downloaded for free in PDF format. Search the Health and Medicine collection. Site requires that you provide name and email.
• The Health Education Assets Library (HEAL)
  Collection of over 22,000 freely available digital materials for health sciences education.