Open Educational Resources (OER): Overview

Image Source: Public Domain 

Open Educational Resources (OER) 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 re-purposing by others."  (From The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation)

OER includes learning materials like textbooks, courses, syllabi, lectures, homework assignments, videos, lap activities, games and any other tools, materials or techniques used to support access to knowledge. As long as the resource(s) are openly licensed [i.e. Creative Commons License], with permissions that meet the 5 Rs of OER requirements. 

The "5 R's" of OER:

"The 5 Rs of OER" is a derivative of the 5 R Permissions of OER by Lumen Learning, licensed under CC BY 4.0.  

• Reuse:  Use content in a variety of ways (on a website, in a video, in a handout, etc.)
• Remix:  Combine the original or revised content with other material(s) to create something new (like a mashup)
• Revise:  Adapt, update, modify, or alter the content (apply a filter, correct mistakes, translate into another language, etc.)
• Retain:  Keep the original content (download, store, make copies, etc.)
• Redistribute:  Share copies of the original content (send a file via email, upload document in a Canvas course, distribute handout copies in class, etc.)

"An Introduction to Open Educational Resources" by Abbey Elder is licensed under a CC BY 4.0.