What are Open Educational Resources?
OERs are learning, teaching and research materials in a variety of formats and mediums that exist in the public domain or under open licenses. OERs allow the re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others.
OERs aren't limited to textbooks. OERs encompass a wide variety of resources, such as:
- Course materials, such as syllabi, lesson plans, assignments, and assessments
- Online courses and modules
- Interactive learning objects, such as simulations, games, and puzzles
- Multimedia resources, such as videos, podcasts, and images
- Open textbooks
The 5 R's of Openness
What does it mean for an educational resource to be "open"? The 5R Framework, proposed by David Wiley, defines the major characteristics of open content.
- Retain: the right to make, own, and control copies of the content
- Reuse: the right to use the content in a wide range of ways (e.g., in a class, in a study group, on a website, in a video)
- Revise: the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself (e.g., translate the content into another language)
- Remix: the right to combine the original or revised content with other open content to create something new (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup)
- Redistribute: the right to share copies of the original content, your revisions, or your remixes with others (e.g., give a copy of the content to a friend)
*This material was created by David Wiley and published freely under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license at: http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/3221
