Everything one must understand about open educational resources
Open Educational Resources (OER) are learning, teaching, and research materials produced by
others, made available in various media in the public domain, published under an open license
allowing access, free use, adaptation, and redistribution. Curricula, textbooks, lecture notes,
simulations, audio recordings, films, assessments, and other educational information are examples
of open educational resources.
How does it work?
Most OERs are available in digital form, which allows them to be stored, copied, and distributed
online inexpensively.
Open resources should be made available as editable files with legal rights to use the Creative
Commons "5Rs" licenses:
• Retain - the right to copy the content, make copies, and control them (e.g., download, store,
duplicate, and manage)
• Reuse - the ability to repurpose the content in a variety of ways (e.g., in a class, on a
website, in a study group, in a video)
• Revise - the authority to adapt, modify, amend, or change the content (e.g., translate the
content into another language)
• Remix - the ability to mix and match the original or amended information with other
materials to create something new (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup)
• Redistribute - the right to distribute copies of the original work, changes, or remixes to
others (e.g., provide a friend with the composition of the content)