Have you heard about Open Educational Resources (OER) and want to know more? This module presents an overview of what they are, why they matter to post-secondary education, and how to get started on your OER journey.
Open Educational Resources, or OER, refer to any teaching and learning materials that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open licence, such as a Creative Commons Licence or GNU General Public Licence, that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution with no or limited restrictions
OER Can Be: Full courses, learning objects, tests or any other tools, materials, or techniques for use in teaching, learning, and research.
Attribution:
OER Can Be and the associated images are a derivative of the BCOER Poster by BCcampus, licensed under CC BY 4.0
Definition of OER is from UNESCO and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
The “5 Rs” is a framework that encourages educators to capitalize on the unique rights associated with open content. These rights include the ability to:
Make and own copies of the work (e.g., download, duplicate, store, and manage)
Use the work in a wide range of ways (e.g., in a class, in a study group, on a website, in a video)
Adapt, modify and translate the work (e.g., translate the content into another language)
Combine it with another resource to make a new work (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup)
Share the work with others (e.g., give a copy of the content to a friend)
These rights, or permissions, are made possible through open licensing. For example, Creative Commons open licences help creators of OER retain copyright while allowing others to reproduce, distribute, and make some uses of their work.
Attribution:
The 5 Rs of OER is a derivative of the 5 R Permissions of OER by Lumen Learning, licensed under CC BY 4.0
Below are four key categories of resources that are often considered to fall outside the definition of what is truly OER. Of course, the best mix of materials to meet any given set of learning outcomes will vary, and may include a combination of OER and the materials listed below. The key is knowing which resources will best meet your objectives for instruction, and for learners.
Through open licensing, the mission of the OER movement is to encourage the full range of the “5 Rs” permissions of use (see prior tab). Some argue that unless an open licence allows for adaptations, then the resource is not truly OER.
The image below positions Creative Commons Licenses on a spectrum from more to less open. As depicted, resources that are licensed ND (No Derivatives), are in some cases considered not to be OER.
Attribution:
The Six Creative Commons Licences image is a derivative of an image in Keynote Slides (November 2014) , by Cable Green, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
All the available resources on the web that you may have access to, but that are not in the public domain, or do not carry a Creative Commons licence or other open licence, are not OER.
A library’s subscription-based resources (journals, videos, and other materials), while accessible to students and faculty, are also not OER. This is because their use in education may be limited by licence agreements.
Open access is an important concept, which is related to – but distinct from – that of OER. Open access typically refers to research publications of some kind released under an open licence that allows for their free access and use (definition from Basic Guide to Open Educational Resources, 2015).
Open access publications sometimes do not allow for adaptation and remixing. While open access articles are freely accessible, authors may retain their copyright and/or assign rights to publishers or users, so permission may be needed for copying and adaptation.
Attribution:
The text in the Faculty Quick Start Kit is derivative of content in OER Handbook for Educators, by WikiEducator, licensed under CC BY 4.0
Attribution:
The text in the Faculty Quick Start Kit is derivative of content in OER Handbook for Educators, by WikiEducator, licensed under CC BY 4.0
Attribution:
The text in the Faculty Quick Start Kit is derivative of content in OER Handbook for Educators, by WikiEducator, licensed under CC BY 4.0
Attribution:
The text in the Faculty Quick Start Kit is derivative of content in OER Handbook for Educators, by WikiEducator, licensed under CC BY 4.0
Attribution:
The text in the Faculty Quick Start Kit is derivative of content in OER Handbook for Educators, by WikiEducator, licensed under CC BY 4.0
The OER Toolkit was a developed by Colleges Libraries Ontario (CLO) and the Ontario Colleges Library Service (OCLS) in collaboration with the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME). Original page: OER Toolkit