Open Educational Resources (OER)

OER are educational teaching and learning materials that are published under a license allowing them to be freely used, downloaded, edited, and shared with others. Open educational resources include learning content, full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming media, tests, and software.

Why OER are important for faculty and students:

• Traditionally published materials are often expensive and only allow students access to digital materials for a limited time
• OER offer more equitable access to knowledge and education
• Faculty can adapt, revise, and remix content to tailor it to their specific learning outcomes
• OER foster a collaborative community that shares, creates, and builds upon knowledge and ideas

"The 5Rs of Openness" by opencontent.org is an adaptation of Defining the "Open" in Open Content and Open Educational Resources, which was originally written by David Wiley and published freely under CC BY NC 4.0.

Except where otherwise noted, content of this guide is licensed under a Creative Commons license CC BY 4.0 license and is adapted from the Creative Commons Certification Course https://certificates.creativecommons.org/cccertedu/ by Creative Commons. CC BY 4.0.