Open Licensing
Open Educational Resources (OER) are legally free, shareable, customizable, ready-to-use content for your classes.
Creators and users are free to retain rights, reuse content, remix content, revise content, or redistribute content.
OER materials are released under an open license describing permissions for everyone to:
- Retain -- users have the right to make, archive, and own copies of the content
- Reuse -- content can be reused in its unaltered form
- Review -- content can be adapted, adjusted, modified, and alteed
- Remix -- original or revised content can be combined with other content to create something new
- Redistribute -- copies of the content can be shared with others in its original, reviewed or remixed form
Use OERs to:
- Reduce resource costs for your students
- Engage with other educators
- Build partnerships across institutions
- Share learning and teaching experience
- Enhance the quality of educational resources
- Provide real-life experiences for your learners
What free and open options are available for OER?
Open educational resources, like all intellectual property, are subject to the laws of copyright. Not all online materials are free, and not all free materials are openly licensed. This table summarizes the main options you'll encounter & what they mean for you as an instructor or course designer.
Open & Affordable Course Content Comparison Table accessible version.