Open Educational Resources (OER)

Curriculum:

• Syllabi
• Content modules

Course materials:

• Textbooks
• Assignments
• Simulations
• Learning objects
• Labs

Collections:

• Journal articles
• E-books
• Image Galleries
• Video Libraries

Tools:

• Software
• Calculators
• Analytics

(Modified from "Open Educational Resources(OER)" Marilyn Billings & Charlotte Roh, UMass Amherst )

The US Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology's "Go Open" Initiative homepage lists four compelling reasons to use OER:

1) Increase Equity - All students have access to high quality learning materials that have the most up-to-date and relevant content because openly licensed educational resources can be freely distributed to anyone.

2) Keep Content Relevant and High Quality - Traditional textbooks are perpetually outdated [...] The terms of use for openly licensed educational resources allows educators to maintain the quality and relevance of their materials through continuous updates.

3) Empower Teachers - Openly licensed educational resources empower teachers as creative professionals by giving them the ability to adapt and customize learning materials to meet the needs of their students without breaking copyright laws.

4) Save Money!

• RETENTION
• Increase in student engagement
• More flexibility with course design - academic freedom - enriching learning environment
• Shows prospective students that the University is dedicated to continually improving the educational experience for students and also save them money
• The efficacy of OER has been proven to bolster student success through several studies 

Benefits to Students:

• Freedom to access the content from anywhere, anytime
• Multiple formats for different devices
• Instant, unlimited access
• Permanent access - they own the content forever (ideal for multi-semester courses, lifelong learning, references for advanced courses)
• Can be sold through the bookstore

Benefits to Faculty:

• Every student has immediate and forever access from day one
• Customizable content to your course needs
• No permission needed to edit or adapt
• Ownership of the content you create is forever
• No need to move to a new edition unless you choose to
• Many OER are peer-reviewed

Content from this page was adapted from "Getting Started with OER" by Jillian Maynard, which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.