1. What are Open Educational Resources (OER)? 
2. The 5Rs of OER
3. Examples of OER
4. Knowledge Check
5. Learn More
6. Attributions

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Learning Objectives

By the end of this module, you should be able to: 

• Define Open Educational Resources (OER)
• Describe the 5R permissions 
• Identify examples of OER types
• Recognize the role open licensing plays in OER
• Test your knowledge

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What are Open Educational Resources (OER)? 

This short video from The Council of Chief State School Officers offers a brief overview of OER.

The nonprofit organization Creative Commons provides the following definition of open educational resources (OER):

“Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials that are either (a) in the public domain or (b) licensed in a manner that provides everyone with free and perpetual permission to engage in the 5R activities.”

SPARC, an open access advocacy group, provides a similar definition:

“[Open educational resources are] teaching, learning, and research resources that are free of cost and access barriers, and which also carry legal permission for open use.” 

The key distinguishing factor of this type of educational resource is the copyright status of the material. If course content is under a traditional, all-rights-reserved copyright, then it’s not an OER. If it resides in the public domain or has been licensed for adaptation and distribution, then it is an OER.

The 5Rs of OER

The video above explains how the 5Rs are important in defining and distinguishing open educational resources from other types of learning materials. These 5R permissions are what make OER different from material which is copyrighted under traditional, all-rights-reserved copyright. Another way to frame this is that open in open educational resources doesn’t simply equate to being free; in fact, it can be more accurately described as:

open = free + permissions (the 5Rs)

The 5Rs are a useful way to understand the value of OER. These permissions help you, the user of openly licensed content, understand what you are allowed to do with the work. These permissions are granted in advance and are legally established through public domain or Creative Commons license, which you’ll learn about in Module 3:

• 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 (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup)

• 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)

• Retain – the right to make, own, and control copies of the content (e.g., download, duplicate, store, and manage)

• Redistribute – the right to share copies of the original content, your revisions, or your remixes with others (e.g., give a copy of the content to a friend)

Examples of OER

As you learned from the video and definitions above, OER can encompass a variety of teaching and learning materials, not just open textbooks. Types of OER include (but are not limited to) syllabi, lesson plans, learning modules, lab experiments, simulations, course videos, discussion prompts, assignments, assessments, library guides, and course design templates.

Listed below are a few examples of how faculty, students, librarians, and instructional designers may use or support the adoption of open educational resources. 

• Faculty can create and share syllabi, lesson plans, and even entire textbooks for their courses. They can collaborate with faculty at their own institutions, or other institutions around the world. They can access and remix existing OER and republish them to share with others.

• Students can play a significant role in creating and improving OER, from simple assignments to full textbooks. One example from Plymouth State University included students working together to find public-domain materials, write topic introductions, craft discussion forum prompts, and create assignments to go along with the materials to create a full OER textbook. The result became The Open Anthology of Earlier American Literature.

• Librarians play a key role in OER initiatives by advocating, developing, exploring, and managing OER. Along with helping you find OER, librarians can help you better understand copyright and licensing concepts, and guide you through your Creative Commons licensing options if you choose to create materials yourself. The Iowa OER Toolkit also provides more resources on these topics. 

• Instructional Designers can work with faculty to integrate OER into teaching and learning and also share and publish their course design templates as OER. Many instructional designers and technologists work with librarians and IT services to help integrate OER into learning management systems, such as Canvas, and other course learning platforms.

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Learn More

Module 1: What is OER?, (LOERA) Learning OER Anytime, by Michael L Porter is licensed under CC BY 4.0. 

Module 1: The What and Why of OER, The CCNY OER Workshop by the City College of New York is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Module 1: What is OER?, ASCCC OERI – OER Basics by Rachel Arteaga and Suzanne Wakim is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 

Attributions

This module was adapted from Module 2: Understanding OER, ACC Learn OER by Carrie Gits, which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.