Open Educational Resources

What are Open Educational Resources (OER)?

“OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge.”  - The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

How can the library help with OER?

  1. Librarians are skilled at finding information and resources
  2. Librarians can assist with making sure that resources come from a reputable source, and are of high quality
  3. Librarians can locate subject-specific resources that are suitable for university-level teaching and learning
  4. Librarians have created guides to help you find materials you and your students can use for free

More Information

An introductory guide produced by UNESCO and Commonwealth of Learning (COL), contains an overview of OER, key issues and how to use OER effectively. The guide also presents an in-depth analysis of the issues, and contains appendices to more specific areas of interest.

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