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Open Educational Resources (OER)

What are Open Educational Resources (OER)?

According to the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, open educational resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and repurposing by others. OER may include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge.

     The 5 Rs: Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix, Redistribute

  • Retain: make, own, and control a copy of the resource (e.g., download and keep your own copy)
  • Reuse: use your original, revised, or remixed copy of the resource publicly (e.g., on a website or in a presentation)
  • Revise: edit, adapt, and modify your copy of the resource (e.g., translate into another language)
  • Remix: combine your original or revised copy of the resource with other existing material to create something new 
  • Redistribute: share copies of your original, revised, or remixed copy of the resource with others (e.g., share a copy online or print and distribute)                "Open" definition  by David Wiley 

Faculty benefits

  • Customize learning content 
  • Reduce course costs for students
  • Provide equitable access to required content
  • Control updates

Student benefits

  • College and student success more affordable
  • Access textbooks on day 1 of course 
  • Improve end of course grades and reduces DFW grades for all students 

  • Improve course grades and decrease DFW rates at greater rates for students who receive Pell grants, part-time students and populations historically underserved by higher education 

adapted from “The Impact of Open Eucational Resource on Various Success Metrics" .pdf file,  Concordia University Libraries 

The OER Starter Kit

OER Starter Kit by Abbey Elder 

This starter kit has been created to provide instructors with an introduction to the use and creation of open educational resources (OER). The text is broken into five sections: Getting Started, Copyright, Finding OER, Teaching with OER, and Creating OER. 

Although some chapters contain more advanced content, the starter kit is primarily intended for users who are entirely new to Open Education.

The Creative Commons Licenses

Creative commons

The Creative Commons (CC) organization developed licenses and public domain tools to give creators a free, simple, and standardized way to grant copyright permissions for creative and academic works. CC also:

  • Supports CC Global Network → to increase the volume & quality of open knowledge.
  • Hosts CC Summit → an annual international event of industry experts to promote open licensing. 
  • Developed CC Search → an OER search tool extension.

Icons used in 5Rs graphic from Icons8   |  Creative Commons image: John Randell, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons