Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that you may freely use and reuse at no cost. Unlike traditionally copyrighted resources, OER have been authored or created by an individual or organization that retains copyright in their OERs in order to allow certain kinds of public uses. In some cases, that means you can download a resource and share it with colleagues and students. In other cases, you may be able to download a resource, edit it in some way, and then re-post it as an adapted work. How do you know your options? OER are usually made available under open licensing such as a Creative Commons license to let you know how the material may be used, reused, adapted, and shared.
(adapted from https://www.oercommons.org/about)
But what IS it??
An OER can take the form of:
- an open textbook
- an open tutorial
- an open educational video
- an open quiz
- an open syllabus
....and more. The key word is open - something made freely available by the creator for others to reuse.
What should you be looking for?
- has this OER been peer reviewed
- how is this OER licensed
- are there clear instructions for using the OER
- is the OER accessible
- has this OER been properly maintained
(thanks to Temple University Libraries for the list of resources & evaluation questions)
Make sure you check your links regularly to see that the resource has stayed put!