Open Educational Resources

"Open Educational Resources 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." -William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

OER is built around David Wiley's 5 R's :

• Reuse - use content in its unaltered form
• Revise - adapt, edit, and modify content
• Remix - combine your original or revised copy of the resource with other existing material to create something new
• ​Redistribute - share copies of the original content, or your revised or remixed copy of the resource with others 
• Retain - keep access to the materials even after learning is over

What are Open Educational Resources (OER)?

OER are educational materials that are specifically designed by their creator/s to be openly available, and are often licensed to be re-used, re-mixed, and re-distributed.  Open is not just about low cost (though that is an important benefit of using OER) but about the ability to take what others have created, customize it for your specific educational needs, and then share your creation with others.  

OER come in a variety of forms:

• Primary sources - Images, video, and sound recordings.  Some  sources are in the public domain, while others have been licensed as open by their creators.   In addition, many texts that are in the public domain are available online/electronically.
• Learning content - created content that ranges from individual lectures, animations, and assessments to complete courses and textbooks.  

Why Use OER?

OER has been shown to increase student learning while breaking down barriers of affordability and accessibility. Research supporting OER:

• According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, 7 in 10 students didn’t purchase a textbook because it was too expensive.
• Students in courses that used OER more frequently had better grades and lower failure and withdrawal rates than their counterparts in courses that did not use OER. (Feldstein et al., 2012)
• One in five college students have skipped or deferred a class due to the price of the required learning resources.
• The cost of textbooks is rising at a rate of 4 times inflation
• 60% of students have delayed purchasing textbooks until they've received their financial aid, which means they won't have access to the book on day one.

What other benefits has the community seen with OER?

• Expanded access to learning. Students anywhere in the world can access OERs at any time, and they can access the material repeatedly.
• Scalability. OERs are easy to distribute widely with little or no cost.
• Quick circulation. Quick availability of material may increase the timeliness and/or relevance of the material being presented.
• Showcasing your resources easily. Publish your work out to the masses and be able to reach millions easily. 
• Continually improved resources. Unlike textbooks and other static sources of information, OERs can be improved quickly through direct editing by users or through solicitation and incorporation of user feedback. Instructors can take an existing OER, adapt it for a class, and make the modified OER available for others to use.