What are OER?
“OER are educational materials produced by one party that are licensed to be used free of charge by others. OER come in many forms—from curriculum to homework assignment to textbooks. And OER exist for all levels of education, from kindergarten through college” (Wiley, et al., 2012, p. 1).
These resources also correspond to the 5R Framework (Wiley, n.d.):
- Retain - the right to make, own, and control copies of the content (e.g., download, duplicate, store, and manage)
- 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 material 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)
Licensing
OER are typically licensed using Creative Commons licensing. For information about Creative Commons, see the graphic below or visit https://creativecommons.org/.
- What is Creative Commons?Full-text PDF of the image above from Creative Commons
- Creative Commons LicensesThe UConn Library's guide to in-depth information on Creative Commons licensing
References
Wiley, D., Green, C., Soares, L., & American Progress, C. F. (2012). Dramatically Bringing down the Cost of Education with OER: How Open Education Resources Unlock the Door to Free Learning. Center for American Progress. Retrieved March 8, 2016, from ERIC.
