What are OER?
Image: OER Global Logo by Jonathas Mello, CC-BY 3.0 / downsized from original
Definition
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 (UNESCO).
What are OER?
OER comprise various types and formats of educational resources that are freely available for use, reuse, adaptation, and sharing (Gurell & Wiley, 2008).
They come in many different forms:
- Textbooks
- (Online) Courses
- Syllabi
- Quizzes
- Teacher guides
- Animations
- Simulations
- Videos
- Audio
tracks
- Software
- Overview charts
- Blogs
- or any other material that can be used for educational purposes
They can originate from colleges and universities, libraries, archival organizations, government agencies, commercial organizations such as publishers, or faculty or other individuals who develop educational resources they are willing to share (Tidewater Community College Libraries).
OER involve activities/permissions according to the 5 R's of Openness as proposed by David Wiley (2014):
- 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)
Short history
The term was introduced in July 2002 during a UNESCO workshop on open courseware in developing countries (Johnstone, 2005).
Since then an ever increasing interest has led to formation of an OER movement and community on many levels of education.
Milestones (selection):
- 2001: Wikipedia was launched as an open access online encyclopaedia that anyone could edit. Most people thought. It is now the largest encyclopaedia in the world and a tremendous resource for students and lecturers.
- 2002: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) launched its OpenCourseWare project, being the first institution of higher education to publish almost all of its course materials online for others to use, modify and share freely.
- 2007: India was the first country to publish a National E-Content and Curriculum Initiative.
- 2009: The Netherlands start funding the national Wikiwijs program, which aims to introduce OER in all areas of education.
- 2012: 1st World OER Congress convened in Paris on UNESCO, Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and other partners. Result: Paris OER Declaration (2012).
- 2017: 2nd World OER Congress convened in Ljubljana. Result: Ljubljana OER Action Plan (2017).
Useful links
- Introduction to OER on e-teaching.org (German)
- Introduction to OER (University of Pittsburgh Library System)
- OER information (Tidewater Community College Libraries)
- Introduction to OER (Algonquin College Library)
- OER Toolkit (College Libraries Ontario - The Learning Portal)
- OER module on opensciencemooc.eu
Sources & References
Gurell, S., & Wiley, D. (2008). OER handbook for educators (pp. 1–284). Retrieved from http://wikieducator.org/OER_Handbook/educator_version_one
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