CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments) is an open educational resource (OER) for librarians, faculty, and other educators. It is intended to be a collaborative space for adapting and experimenting with information literacy activities, lesson plans, and teaching resources.
CORA’s lesson plans are designed to be reliable and reproducible, but they are not intended to remain static. Educator feedback, adaptations, and lessons learned help build a shared collection of effective practices. CORA also includes Teaching Resources on pedagogy and theory, assessment, classroom activities, technology tips, subject guides, tutorials, and videos.
CORA is currently administered by librarians at Loyola Marymount University.
What can I do with CORA?
You can:
- Find and use lesson plans created by other educators.
- Adapt lesson plans for your own courses and students.
- Share your own lesson plans.
- Comment on lesson plans and share feedback.
- Suggest new items for the Teaching Resources collection.
- Explore resources by information literacy concept, discipline, or ability level.
What lesson plans belong in CORA?
CORA welcomes lesson plans that ask students to engage with information in a critical or reflective way — finding, evaluating, using, integrating, or organizing information to build new knowledge. Both traditional and nontraditional approaches are welcome, across any discipline.
Examples include literature reviews, research proposals, source-evaluation activities, annotated bibliographies, and persuasive assignments. Each CORA lesson plan includes learning outcomes, the information literacy concepts it addresses, and practical details like course context and teaching tips.
Funding & recognition
CORA was initially funded from two grants provided by the Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC) in 2016 and 2018, awarded through the SCELC Project Initiatives Fund (SPIF), which supports projects that benefit SCELC libraries and librarians. In 2026, the William H. Hannon Foundation provided funding for technical upgrades and new community-building features.
CORA has also been recognized by leading organizations in academic librarianship and open education:
- 2017 ACRL Instruction Section Innovation Award — awarded to Susan Archambault and Lindsey McLean by the Association of College & Research Libraries Instruction Section, recognizing creative and innovative approaches to information literacy instruction.
- 2019 MERLOT ICT Literacy Classics Award — awarded by MERLOT, recognizing exemplary online learning resources.
The WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC) includes information literacy as one of the five "core competencies" for Baccalaureate programs, along with written and oral communication, quantitative reasoning, and critical thinking. Information literacy and research skills play an increasingly important role in many university-level strategic plans.
CORA promotional video
Watch the CORA promotional video for more information on CORA features and functionality.
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