Open Educational Resources: OER

Open Educational Resources (OER) are educational materials of all sizes and types, freely available for anyone to use, copy, adapt, and reshare, because they are in the public domain or because their creator endowed them with an open license. Examples include complete textbooks, videos, syllabi, quizzes, lecture notes, graphics, slide decks, and more, plus curricula comprising combinations of multiple objects. OERs are typically shared in electronic form, but final use can include print versions or other formats.

OERs support learning in several ways. They:

• lower students' textbook costs, which have risen to burdensome* levels.
• allow instructors to customize course materials to their preferred way of teaching.
• support new modes of pedagogy.
• can be quickly updated to reflect new knowledge in the field.

* Recent studies (such as this whitepaper and this report) find that many students report going without one or more textbooks due to cost, knowing that it will hurt their learning.

OpenStax CNX, hosted at Rice University, offers a more detailed introduction to OERs.

To gain a foothold into the world of OERs, read Amee Godwin's post "On Doing OER" and the discussion following, found on the OERCommons.org site.

Yes, the process is considerable work. However, the rewards are worth it, and very much in line with Concordia's mission. Always remember that Concordia's librarians and Instructional Innovation team are ready to help you along the way.

Just a sampling of many places to learn more about OERs:

• The Open Education Consortium is a global network offering resources, research, advocacy, and support for all forms of open education, including an annual conference and a grassroots sharing event called Open Education Week.
• MHEC offers resources for OER policy, research, and implementation.
• Grassroots project Peer 2 Peer University offers an open course, "Learning to (Re)Use Open Educational Resources".
• Early faculty experiments at Temple University showed great promise already in 2012.
• In January 2019, EdSurge reported, "As OER Grows Up, Advocates Stress More Than Just Low Cost".
• This 2021 video in Films on Demand gives a concise overview of how OERs can help your teaching processes.