2 OER Quick Start Guide

Overview

Open educational resources (OER) are 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.

These often include digital textbooks, which are created and distributed free of charge, and allow users to keep and modify the files as they choose. OER have the potential to reduce or eliminate the costs of textbooks and to increase opportunities for access, participation, and achievement for all students.

Types of OER

When we talk about OER, we’re often talking about open textbooks. And it’s true that open textbooks are an important component of OER as a movement- but they’re certainly not the only component!

OER can be any type of educational material. Their scale varies from something as large as a textbook or online course, to something as small as a class handout or image.

“Open” vs. “free”

Before we go any further discussing what OER are, it’s important to pause for a moment to address what OERs are not. Specifically, we want to debunk a common misconception: “free” and “open” are not the same thing.

Free materials serve a meaningful purpose in education by providing tools to support teaching and learning, but free resources are not necessarily open resources. “Free” means that there is no required cost to access materials. However, it does not mean that users may also reuse, modify, or share the materials.

When a resource is open, users know they can reuse and share the resource widely, so long as they abide by the terms of the creator. Open materials also allow users to revise and remix them with other open resources or self-generated content to produce new material. These terms and permissions are typically established in the work’s license.

What are open licenses?

Open licenses support creators that want to share their works freely, and allow other users more flexibility to reuse and share the creators’ works. Specific benefits include:

• Allowing others to distribute the work freely, which in turn promotes wider circulation than if an individual or group retained the exclusive right to distribute;
• Reducing or eliminating the need for others to ask for permission to use or share the work, which can be time consuming, especially if the work has many authors;
• Encouraging others to continuously improve and add value to the work; and
• Encouraging others to create new works based on the original work – e.g. translations, adaptations, or works with a different scope or focus.

Text is a derivative of Guide to Open Licensing by Open Knowledge International, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

OERs are not copyright-free, but rather are generally available for use under Creative Commons or similar open licenses. These licenses grant permission to Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix, and Redistribute resources.

The 5 Rs

The “5 Rs” is a framework that encourages educators to capitalize on the unique rights associated with open content. These rights include the ability to:

• Retain: Make and own copies of the work (e.g., download, duplicate, store, and manage).
• Reuse: Use the work in a wide range of ways (e.g., in a class, in a study group, on a website, in a video).
• Revise: Adapt, modify and translate the work (e.g., translate the content into another language).
• Remix: Combine it with another resource to make a new work (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup).
• Redistribute: Share the work with others (e.g., give a copy of the content to a friend).

These rights, or permissions, are made possible through open licensing. For example, Creative Commons open licences help creators of OER retain copyright while allowing others to reproduce, distribute, and make some uses of their work.

Attribution: The 5 Rs of OER is a derivative of the 5 R Permissions of OER by Lumen Learning, licensed under CC BY 4.0. About the licenses by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Infographic icons by icons8.com.

The CARE framework

The CARE Framework, as proposed by Petrides, Levin, and Watson (2018), has been developed to help articulate the shared values and collective vision for OER advocacy on campuses. Because of its ability to link a variety of stakeholders in traditional/formal and non-traditional/informal settings, the framework provides the flexibility needed for those who are new to open education, along with those who are early adopters, to participate on an equal footing.

The CARE framework suggests a four-pronged series of practices that can inform strategies and tactics for OER adoption over time:

• Contribute: Stakeholders actively contribute to efforts, whether financially or via in-kind contributions, to advance the awareness, improvement, and distribution of OERs
• Attribute: Stakeholders practice conspicuous attribution, ensuring that all who create or remix OERs are properly and clearly credited for their contributions
• Release: Stakeholders ensure OERs can be released and used beyond the course and platform in which it was created or delivered
• Empower: Stakeholders are inclusive and strive to meet the diverse needs of all learners, including by supporting the participation of new and non-traditional voices in OER creation and adoption

Attribution: Adapted from Toward a Sustainable OER Ecosystem: The Case for OER Stewardship, by Petrides, Levin, and Watson (2018), licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.