Open Educational Resources

What are Open Educational Resources?

Open Educational Resources (OER) are copyrightable work that is licensed in a manner that provides users with free and perpetual permission to engage in the 5R activities:

• Retain - Make and own copies of the resource indefinitely.

• Reuse - Use the resource in a variety of ways.

• Revise - Adapt, modify, and improve the resource.

• Remix - Combine the resource with other resources to create a new work.

• Redistribute - Share the resource with others.

These can include items from the following sources and formats and more: Databases, Journals, Articles, Streaming Films, eBooks, Audio, Art, Images.

How do I use OERs?

Educators can use OER or Open Access materials freely in their course as long as they Attribute the authors of the material and follow the licensing agreement (such as Share Alike if required). OER materials are an important resource for educators as they allow them to alter educational material that is under Creative Commons licensing. The difference is that OERs can be altered as long as the Creative Commons license allows for this.

Why are OERs Important?

OERs are essential to education as they allow free access to quality educational material. They can replace conventional textbooks at no cost. But more importantly, they allow the instructor to alter the material as needed by their students. 

Adapted from The OER Starter Kit Workbook by Abbey K. Elder & Stacy Katz, licensed CC BY 4.0 International.

What is Open Access?

Open access (OA) refers to free, unrestricted online access to educational material, including but not limited to research outputs such as journal articles and books. OA content is open to all, with no access fees.  Peter Suber, one of the founders of the OA movement, provides a brief description of OA.

How are OAs related to OERs?

OA resources are not necessarily Open Education Resources. Although they are free to use, they cannot necessarily be altered. Without a Creative Commons license, the creator retains Copyright. This means that it is illegal to alter the material.

Why are OAs Important?

These resources are important for users because they allow unrestricted access to view. The TEACH Act gives extra protection and ability for those in closed courses. You can link to these resources if they are freely available online.

How do I use these Resources?

Link to these resources in courses (closed or open), on educational websites, or other places of instruction.

Use these resources if you do not plan to alter the material in any way but instead want to simply link to the online resources.

Please view this Creative Commons article for more information and watch the short video to the right.

Adapted from 'Open Access Overview' by Peter Suber under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

How are Open Access and Open Educational Resources Related?

Educators can choose which materials they want to incorporate into their courses but keep in mind:

• OER are "teaching, learning, and research materials, in any medium, that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license permitting no-cost access, use, adaptation, and redistribution by others."  This popular definition comes from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

• Open Access materials are "digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions", as defined in the 'Open Access Overview' by Peter Suber, an early pioneer of Open Access.  

Broadly, Open Access materials are primarily distinguished by removing the restrictions to access.  Open Educational Resources are materials that have been developed for use in education and can be altered to suit.