Research Guides: Open Educational Resources (OER): Introduction

The 5 R's of Openness

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)

David Wiley, CC, Marchy 2014, http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/3221

OER Research Database

OER Research Database
The OER Research Database provides a free and easily accessible venue for instructors, administrators, students, policy-makers, and other stakeholders to locate research and formal literature on the use of open educational resources and practices.

OER Community

Keep your finger on the OER pulse!

BCCampus
A publicly funded organization whose "primary focus continues to be grounded in supporting the B.C. post-secondary system through learning and collaboration opportunities that advance high quality teaching and learning throughout the province." They are leading the way in Open Education advocacy.
Creative Commons
A California based organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share through their release of copyright licenses available free of charge to the public. These licenses allow creators to communicate which rights they reserve, and which rights they waive for the benefit of recipients or other creators.
David Wiley
Co-Founder and Chief Academic Officer of Lumen Learning, an organization dedicated to increasing student success and improving the affordability of education through the adoption of open educational resources.
SPARC
The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, is an international alliance of academic and research libraries working to create a more open system of scholarly communication.

How Open Education Helps Students

Students are getting behind the Open Education Movement. Here are some of the student groups advocating for change:

Douglas College Student Union (DSU)
The DSU are strong advocates for OER and contributed to and supported the creation of the Douglas OER Grant for Douglas faculty
Student Public Interest Research Groups
Student PIRGs (Public Interest Research Groups) are campaigning to make textbooks more affordable. The say that "the real momentum comes from lasting solutions like open-source textbooks, which could literally revolutionize the textbook market by offering free online access and reducing costs up to 80%

Learn More: OER Courses

Introduction to Openness in Education
David Wiley's Open course provides a broad overview of the ways in which openness impacts many areas of education – curriculum, instruction, learning, policy, technology, research, and finance, among others.
OER Toolkit
This toolkit by College Libraries Ontario provides information and tools to help faculty and library staff across all publicly funded colleges to understand, engage with, and sustain OER in their work and practice.
Open Education: Fundamentals and Approaches
The course targets primarily university teachers with an interest in learning more about Open Education and with a motivation to adopt Open Education approaches and OER into their teaching. Produced within the OpenMed project with the support of the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.
Open Education Librarian Certificate
The Certificate in Open Education Librarianship is a structured and supportive professional development opportunity preparing librarians like you to champion open education. Guided by our expert mentors, you’ll hone critical skills, gain insight, and transform your librarianship into a catalyst for open education, all while working within a collaborative cohort of your peers.
CC Certificate Program
Whether you take the 10-week online course, or enroll in a week-long, intensive bootcamp, the CC Certificate provides an in depth study of Creative Commons licenses—helping you become an expert in open licensing and the Commons.
Professional Program in Open Education (KPU)
This comprehensive and flexible online program is designed to develop expertise and capacity across a broad spectrum of open educational practices, including open educational resources and pedagogies, educational technologies, policy, advocacy, and scholarship. The program balances both theoretical and practical elements, always ensuring that critical perspectives and issues are foregrounded.

Open Educational Resources (OER): Introduction

What are Open Educational Resources?