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Open Educational Resources (OER)

A collection of current OERs ready for use, and support services if creating your own OERs

What is 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 some or no limited restrictions." - UNESCO 

OER can be retained, reused, revised, remixed, and redistributed. In practice this means:

  •     Retain - the right to make, own, and control copies of the content (e.g., download, duplicate, store, and manage)
  •     Reuse - the right to use the content in settings like classes, on websites, in videos, etc.
  •     Revise - the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content
  •     Remix - the right to combine the original or revised content with other material to create something new (e.g. combine two chapters from different books into a new book)
  •     Redistribute - the right to share copies of the original content, your revisions, or your remixes with others 

A hand-drawn digital illustration explaining Open Educational Resources (OER). The title "Open Educational Resources" is illustrated in large blue letters, surrounded by illustrations of textbooks, videos, courses, modules, software, tests, which are all considered techniques, materials, and tools. Text describes OER as materials used for teaching, learning, and research, shared under a public domain or open license for reuse, with a "Creative Commons" logo at the bottom. The right side highlights "Education is Sharing" with a hand signifying that. It illustrates the five R’s of OER: Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix, and Redistribute, depicted with arrows and stick figures to connect them. In an illustrated graph, it suggests that OER improves access and affordability, and transforms learning for students to perform the same or better. The figure is accompanied by a figure holding a heart in their arms, smiling

"OER is sharing" by Giulia Forsythe is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Why is OER important?

Instructors who use or adapt Open Educational Resources and Open Textbooks can save our students who may have difficulty affording textbook prices a great deal of money. OER is a worldwide movement to help foster the free dissemination of information and promote information sharing and equity.  But, don't forget to reach out to your librarian for ideas to use fully copyrighted published materials in a class setting, again at no additional cost to students.