"Open Educational Resources are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and repurposing by others. OER include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge." William & Flora Hewlett Foundation
Why Use OER?
To increase access to higher education.
By making sure that each course includes all of the course materials and resources that students need, we are putting all students on the same level. Each student has equal access to the same information, ensuring fairness and equality among all students enrolled in the OER course.
To make higher education more affordable.
By eliminating the burden of additional textbook costs for students, the actual cost of taking an OER course is reduced. Often, this is a significant reduction in cost which translates to considerable savings over time. This can result in much lower student debt, making attaining a degree easier and more valuable.
To increase student success.
By giving all students in an OER course equal access, and removing the burden of additional expenses to those who can least afford them, students have a better chance of being successful in the course, continuing their enrollment, and achieving their academic goals.
Some material excerpted from the presentation description for The OER Trifecta: Access, Affordability and Student Success presented by Dr. Wm. Preston Davis Nov 21, 2014.
A series of self-paced online learning modules, including an introduction to OER, and opportunities for further exploration and discovery of open education practices.
ACC Learn OER! Your learning includes a series of self-paced online learning modules. The first nine modules will serve as an introduction to open educational resources (OER) and as an opportunity for further exploration and discovery of open education practices. The tenth module serves as a final assessment of your learning.
Self-paced modules created by Open Washington to learn about OER and why it matters.
Open tutorial about OER by Algonquin College. This course is meant as a primer to anyone interested in learning more about the OER movement. It provides learning opportunities related to the origins of open resources, copyright and open licensing. It also acts as an overview of searching best practices both on the web and in OER repositories.
Provides instructors with an introduction to the use and creation of OER. The text is broken into five sections: Getting Started, Copyright, Finding OER, Teaching with OER, and Creating OER.
Provides resources needed to create an OER that is accessible to all students.
This is a guide for modifying an open textbook, it includes step-by-step instructions for importing and editing common open textbook files.
Includes a checklist for getting started, publishing program case studies, textbook organization and elements, writing resources, and an overview of useful tools.
Provides details on the preparation, planning, writing, publication, and maintenance of an open textbook.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License.
