Open Education Global defines Open Education Resources (OERs) as:

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.

OER come with 5R permissions including the permission to:

1. Retain – the right to create, own, and control copies of the content;
2. Reuse – the right to use the content in a wide range of ways;
3. Revise – the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself;
4. Remix – the right to combine the original or revised content with other material to create something new;
5. Redistribute – the right to share copies of the original content, the revisions, or the remixes with others.

OER can include textbooks, instructional materials, interactive simulations, lesson plans, full courses, and even complete degrees (often called Z-Degrees). A popular example of OER is open textbooks that are funded, published and licensed to be freely used, adapted, and distributed. These books can be downloaded for no cost, or printed at low cost offering significant savings, compared to expensive proprietary textbooks. OER provide academic freedom to customize, localize, translate, and update as required. OER expand and enhance the academic offering of an institution.

OER are typically stored and distributed through web sites, platforms or repositories that provide search, view and download capabilities.

Content from Open Education Global is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.