Overview
Open Educational Resources (OER)
Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions. Review this UNESCO resource for more indepth research and applications of OER.
The ‘open’ in OER means that the resources are not only free of cost, but also come with reuse rights, typically granted through an open copyright license such as Creative Commons.
Assigning an open license to a resource allows others to engage with that resource in ways that are not otherwise allowed (due to copyright restrictions). From simply correcting typos or grammatical errors to more involved activities such as updating the content for local contexts (disciplinary, institutional or geographic) or adding up-to-date research, OER allow educators to adapt and tailor educational materials as they wish.
References & Resources
- General OER resources: OER (Wikipedia) | OER (Hewlett Foundation) | Open Education Research Hub | OER infoKit (Jisc)
- University OER resources: University of Edinburgh | University of Texas |
- Open textbooks: OpenStax | Open Textbook Library (Univ. of Minnesota) | A guide to making open textbooks with students (Ed. Elizabeth Mays) | My open textbook: Pedagogy & practice (Robin DeRosa)
Open Educational Resources (OER)
Open Educational Resources (OER)
Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions. Review this UNESCO resource for more indepth research and applications of OER.
The ‘open’ in OER means that the resources are not only free of cost, but also come with reuse rights, typically granted through an open copyright license such as Creative Commons.
Assigning an open license to a resource allows others to engage with that resource in ways that are not otherwise allowed (due to copyright restrictions). From simply correcting typos or grammatical errors to more involved activities such as updating the content for local contexts (disciplinary, institutional or geographic) or adding up-to-date research, OER allow educators to adapt and tailor educational materials as they wish.
References & Resources
- General OER resources: OER (Wikipedia) | OER (Hewlett Foundation) | Open Education Research Hub | OER infoKit (Jisc)
- University OER resources: University of Edinburgh | University of Texas |
- Open textbooks: OpenStax | Open Textbook Library (Univ. of Minnesota) | A guide to making open textbooks with students (Ed. Elizabeth Mays) | My open textbook: Pedagogy & practice (Robin DeRosa)