Open Educational Resources: Introduction

Looking for some OER or more information? Check out the following sections of this guide:

Open Educational Resources make education more affordable for students and allows instructors to create more effective educational materials. Some things to consider:

• Given the rising costs of textbooks, wouldn't students be more likely to succeed in a course if they can afford the textbook and materials an instructor selects?
• As an instructor, if you think textbooks are not effectively meeting the local and specific needs of your students, you have the ability to create or adapt a text to meet these needs.
• As textbook publishers transition to a rental model for e-textbooks, what are the implications for students who can no longer re-sell or pass on their old textbook to others?
• Walk the walk. Show your students that open resources can be effective - not "you get what you pay for"

OER provides users with free and perpetual permission to engage in the 5R activities:

• 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).

From "Defining the 'Open' in Open Content and Open Educational Resources" by David Wiley