What are OER?

Open educational resources (OER) are FREE and openly licensed educational materials that can be used for teaching, learning, research, and other purposes.

See more definitions here: https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/What_is_OER%3F

The use of OER saves students substantial amounts of money.

What is an Open License?

A license is a document that specifies what can and cannot be done with a work (whether sound, text, image or multimedia). It grants permissions and states restrictions. Broadly speaking, an open license is one which grants permission to access, re-use and redistribute a work with few or no restrictions (the 5 R’s).

What are the 5 R’s of Open?

The terms "open content" and "open educational resources" describe any copyrightable work (traditionally excluding software, which is described by other terms like "open source") that is 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 material 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)

What is Open Washing?

An attempt to look or act or sound like OER, when in fact the educational materials, which may be OER in origin, are copied and re-packaged in order to be sold by companies seeking to make a profit. This means students have to pay for resources that are otherwise freely available.

How do I find OER for my courses?

Some common places include:

Merlot

Open Textbook Library

What are 7 common myths about OER?

This page was written by Karen Cangialosi, please email me with any comments or questions: kcangial@keene.edu