What are OER - Open Educational Resources?
Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research resources that are free of cost and access barriers, and which can be fully used, shared and adapted in the digital environment.
What are OER? Why use OER? Where is OER? How is OER created? Who can help?
What are OER - Open Educational Resources?
Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research resources that are free of cost and access barriers, and which can be fully used, shared and adapted in the digital environment.
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education (2011), 7 out of 10 students did not purchase a required textbook because the cost was too high. Imagine the impact this has on student learning!
OER offers faculty the opportunity to:
- Make learning more affordable, equitable and accessible for your students
- Customize your course materials with easily adaptable materials
- Control the quality of your course materials, as well as the timing of updates
- Offer students an online option
- Review OER to support other faculty and to strengthen coverage in your field
- Potential for collaborative projects with faculty and other students in creating OER
Interested in learning more? Here are some resources to start with, but please don't hesitate to contact your subject librarian to discuss further! We are eager to support faculty in this venture:
Rapid read articles: OER adoption
- Feds come around to OER -- Slowly.Lieberman, Mark. (2018, March 28). Feds come around to OER -- Slowly. Inside Higher Ed.
- Opening the textbook: educational resources in U.S. higher education, 2015-16.Allen, I. E. & Seaman, J. (2016). Opening the textbook: educational resources in U.S. higher education, 2015-16. Babson Survey Research Group.
- Report: Students shun new textbooks to reduce education expenses.Meyer, L. (2016). Report: Students shun new textbooks to reduce education expenses. Campus Technology, August 24.
- The truth (about OER) is out there: Faculty members struggle to find open educational resources or even understand what they are--but solutions are bubbling up.Lieberman, Mark. (2018, January 10). The truth (about OER) is out there: Faculty members struggle to find open educational resources or even understand what they are--but solutions are bubbling up. Inside Higher Ed.
- What Exactly Is a ‘Free’ Textbook, and Other Questions About Open Resources.McMurtrie, Beth. (2019, October 31). What Exactly Is a ‘Free’ Textbook, and Other Questions About Open Resources. Chronicle of Higher Education.