"Open Educational Resources" by Bentley University Library (AI image assisted), CC BY 4.0.
Traditional textbooks and other learning materials have become increasingly unaffordable for students, and often have usage restrictions. Open Educational Resources (OER) are free, openly licensed learning materials, such as textbooks, course modules, and multimedia resources, that are affordable, easily accessible, and customizable. They play a pivotal role in reducing the financial burden on students, and they empower instructors to customize and adapt content to suit their teaching styles and the unique needs of their students.
For something to be recognized as OER, it typically needs these 5 elements (aka the 5 Rs):
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Retain |
The right to make, own, and control copies of the content |
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Reuse |
The right to reuse the content as verbatim or in its unaltered form |
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Revise |
The right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself |
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Remix |
The right to combine the original or revised content with other content to create something new |
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Redistribute |
The right to make and share copies of the original content, as well as any revisions or remixes, with others |
While OER is mostly associated with textbooks, such as collections from OpenStax and Libretext, they can be a variety of mediums such as:
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CC BY OER Nutzen 2.0 |
