Open Educational Resources (OER) are freely and publicly available 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 can include textbooks, course materials and full courses, modules, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge.
OER often have a Creative Commons license that state how the material may be used, reused, adapted, and shared.
Both OER and OA are inspired by the open movement which aims to remove knowledge from behind paywalls, but they differ in their purpose.
Open Educational Resources are free and open materials that anyone can legally and freely copy, use, adapt, and reshare. OER focuses on teaching and instruction.
Open Access refers to teaching, learning and research materials that are available free online for anyone to use as is, but they may not be revised, remixed, or redistributed. OA focuses on research.
Free to Learn Guide: An open educational resources policy development guidebook for community college governance officials.
History of Open Educational Resources: Written by David Wiley, this paper highlights the five key events in the history of OER.
SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition): A non-profit advocacy organization that supports systems for research and education that are open by default. SPARC believes everyone should be able to access and contribute to the knowledge that shapes our world.
Texas Learn OER: Self-paced online learning modules designed to serve as an introduction to OER.
OER materials are released under an open license granting permission for everyone to do the 5Rs (Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix, Redistribute).
Source: Regina Gong, Michigan State University
