There is no one, standard definition of Open Educational Resources (OER). EDUCAUSE defines OER's as, "Open Educational Resources (OER) are any resources available at little or not cost that can be used for teaching, learning, or research. The term can include textbooks, course readings, and other learning content; simulations, games, and other learning applications; syllabi, quizzes, and assessment tools; and virtually any other material that can be used for educational purposes"
(source: EDUCAUSE. May 27, 2010. 7 Things You Should Know About Open Educational Resources)
To provide students with easy access to educational materials that are low cost or free to the student. "Open Educational Resources (OER) offer opportunities for systemic change in teaching and learning content through engaging educators in new participatory processes and effective technologies for engaging with learning. In some cases, that means you can download a resource and share it with colleagues and students. In other cases, you may be able to download a resource, edit it in some way, and then re-post it as a remixed work. How do you know your options? OER often have a Creative Commons license or other permission to let you know how the material may be used, reused, adapted, and shared"
(source: OER Commons & Open Education The Future of Education, Co-Created With You).
Lehman College announces new release: The OER Starter Kit Workbook!The OER Starter Kit Workbook is a remix of the OER Starter Kit to include worksheets to help instructors practice the skills they need to confidently find, use, or even create open educational resources (OER). We welcome instructors, librarians, instructional designers, administrators, and anyone else interested in OER to explore the OER Starter Kit Workbook.
Some publishers are moving toward an open model, prompted by COVID-19.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.
View this video to get a sense of why some students are not purchasing their textbooks and how there are other valuable online resources to share with your students that are not copyrighted: