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Open Educational Resources: OER Explained

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.

UPCOMING WEBINARS

Free Textbooks and More! A Guide to OER for Instructors

This hands-on virtual workshop is being presented by Abbey Elder, Open Access & Scholarly Communication Librarian at Iowa State University. Instructors will get an introduction to open educational resources (OER), and free instructional materials that you can adapt to fit your course's needs. In additional to learning OER basics, participants will receive tips on how to find, evaluate, and integrate OER into a course.

Speakers: 

  • Abbey K. Elder, Open Access & Scholarly Communication Librarian, Iowa State Univ.

Registration is required. This webinar is free and open to faculty and staff.

REGISTER

Date: Tuesday, Oct 15, 2024

Time: 2:00-3:00 pm

OER DEFINITION

Open Educational Resources 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.

Source: The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

OER MYTHBUSTING

OER Mythbusting addresses the top seven myths about OER in North American higher education, as voted on my more than 100 faculty, librarians, students and other members of the OER community.

WHY OPEN EDUCATION MATTERS

Cody Walters

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Cody Walters
Contact:
803-323-2311

OER BENEFITS

  • Reduce student costs 
    Many students opt out of buying textbooks and other course materials due to cost. Reducing or eliminating the costs of course materials is one of the most compelling reasons to use OERs.

  • Support student success and retention 
    OERs can ensure that every student in a course has access to course material, which helps students succeed in a course and in their advancement towards graduation.

  • Innovate teaching practices 
    Adapting, adopting, or creating OERs gives faculty the opportunity to tailor course content in new ways, while providing innovative and optimized learning experiences for students. 

  • Research on the impact of OER adoption

    The Review Project provides a summary of all known empirical research on the impacts of OER adoption, with links to many of the studies. 

MORE RESOURCES

The Open Education Consortium
A global network of educational institutions, individuals and organizations that support an approach to education based on openness, including collaboration, innovation and collective development and use of open educational materials. The Open Education Consortium is a non-profit, social benefit organization registered in the United States and operating worldwide.
 

Open Education Resource Foundation
The Open Education Resource (OER) Foundation is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that provides leadership, international networking and support for educators and educational institutions to achieve their objectives through Open Education.​

Creative Commons Education
The Open Education program at Creative Commons works to minimize barriers to universal access to education, supporting the CC mission through education, advocacy and outreach on using the right licenses and open policies to maximize the benefits of open educational resources (OER) and the return on investment in publicly funded education resources.

Open Education Global
Open Education Global is a global, members base, non-profit organization supporting the development and use of open education around the world.