Skip to Main Content

Gibson D. Lewis Library Libguides

OER- Open Educational Resources

This guide provides an overview of OER, publication options, and where to locate OER.

Open Educational Resources (OER)

Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation, and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions. 
OER form part of ‘Open Solutions’, alongside Free and Open Source software (FOSS), Open Access (OA), Open Data (OD), and crowdsourcing platforms (UNESCO, 2021).

 

OER includes learning materials such as:

  • Open textbooks
  • Full courses
  • Modules
  • Syllabi
  • Lectures
  • Homework assignments
  • Quizzes
  • Lab activities
  • Games
  • Simulations
  • Images
  • Video recordings

Open licensing permissions for OER are normally defined by the ability to implement the 5 Rswhich defines a creator's right to retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute their works with the general public.  OER are normally found as electronic works, but can also be available in print form.

An Introduction to Open Educational Resources

OER-Open Educational Resources Libguide © 2022 by Elizabeth Speer & Gibson D. Lewis Library is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0