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Open Educational Resources (OER)

Learn about Open Educational Resources - free educational materials available to faculty and students to keep, use, modify, remix, and share.

Welcome

This guide is designed to give an overview of Open Educational Resources. If you have any questions, please email the Electronic Resources, Instruction and Research Librarian, Rebecca Schmidt at: rschmidt1@mwcc.mass.edu

What is OER?

Open educational resources (OER) are any resources available at little or no cost that can be used for teaching, learning, or research:

  • textbooks
  • course readings
  • simulations
  • games
  • syllabi
  • quizzes
  • learning applications
  • assessment tools
  • any other material that can be used for educational purposes

7 Things You Should Know About...Open Educational Resources. (2010). Retrieved June 10, 2015, from https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7061.pdf

How does OER work?

Each resource is issued under a license that spells out how it can be used:  Some materials may only be used in their original form; in other cases, learning resources can be modified, remixed, and redistributed.

7 Things You Should Know About...Open Educational Resources. (2010). Retrieved June 10, 2015, from https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7061.pdf

Wiley's 5 Rs of Openness

Image by Designers for Learning: Gain Experience for Good, Jennifer Maddrell, Director (CC, BY, NC, SA)

Retain: the right to make, own, and control copies of the content

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 open content to create something new (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup)

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)

Defining the "Open" in Open Content and Open Educational Resources was originally written by David Wiley and published freely under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license at http://opencontent.org/definition/

Please CONTACT US if you have questions.