3 Introduction to Open Educational Resources
So What Is OER?
As defined by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation:
“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.”
Open education resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge.
Open Educational Resources can fill the gaps in the industry for instructional materials and provide educators inventive methods to engage students and exchange best practices with colleagues. These resources can furnish up-to-date textbooks and course content to conform to evolving higher academic standards. Salt Lake Community College has taken initiative to ease the burden of textbook costs for students and provide opportunities to improve instruction and learning. Overall, the involvement of every faculty member, associate dean, bookstore employee, advisers, or instructional designer has been influenced by the inherent value that accompanies the adoption of OER. Ultimately, OER benefits students in a multitude of ways and that in-and-of-itself is a positive outcome.
Other OER Definitions
OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development)
“digitized materials offered freely and openly for educators, students, and self-learners to use and reuse for teaching, learning, and research. OER includes learning content, software tools to develop, use, and distribute content, and implementation resources such as open licences.” (p. 10)
“The term ‘Open Educational Resource(s)’ (OER) refers to educational resources (lesson plans, quizzes, syllabi, instructional modules, simulations, etc.) that are freely available for use, reuse, adaptation, and sharing.”
“Open Educational Resources are teaching and learning materials that you may freely use and reuse at no cost, and without needing to ask permission. Unlike copyrighted resources, OER have been authored or created by an individual or organization that chooses to retain few, if any, ownership rights.”
OER is more than Free.
OER is free with permissions.
What is OER? by The Council of Chief State School Officers, video is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
The 5R’s of Open Content
According to David Wiley,
“The terms ‘open content’ and ‘open educational resources’ describe any copyrightable work (traditionally excluding software, which is described by other terms such as ‘open source’) that is either (1) in the public domain or (2) licensed in a manner that provides users with free and perpetual permission to engage in the 5R activities:
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 a wide range of ways (e.g., in a class, in a study group, on a website, in a video).Revise
The right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself (e.g., translate the content into another language).Remix
The right to combine the original or revised content with other open content to create something new (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup).Redistribute
The right to share copies of the original content, your revisions, or your remixes with others (e.g., give a copy of the content to a friend).”
Defining the “Open” in Open Content and Open Educational Resources was written by David Wiley and published freely under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license at http://opencontent.org/definition/.
Knowledge Check from UH OER Training by William Meinke, CC BY 4.0.