LibGuides: Open Educational Resources: Introduction

What is OER?

UNESCO defines Open Educational Resources (OER) as 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.

OER and Open Access: Differences

Open Access	OER
related to research and scholarship	related to teaching and learning
content: scholarly articles, books, book chapters, dissertations. etc.,	content: textbooks, course modules, videos, other ancillary materials.
typically not licensed for revision or remixing.	openly licensed for revision

Differentiating Between OA and OERs
This guide created by Anita Waltz differentiates OERs and OA materials on the basis of purpose (teaching vs. research), method of access (analog and digital), and in terms of the relative freedoms offered by different levels of Creative Commons licenses, the most common open license. Many other open licenses, including open software licenses also exist.

5 Rights of Using OERs

Retain – the right to make, own, and control copies of the content (e.g., download, duplicate, store, and manage)
Reuse – the right to use the content in a wide range of ways (e.g., in a class, in a study group, on a website, in a video)
Revise – the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself (e.g., translate the content into another language)
Remix – the right to combine the original or revised content with other material to create something new
Redistribute – the right to share copies of the original content, your revisions, or your remixes with others

Source: UNESCO “Guidance on Open Educational Practices during School Closures: Utilizing OER under COVID-19 Pandemic in line with UNESCO OER Recommendation”