What are Open Educational Resources?
"Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials that are either (a) in the public domain or (b) licensed in a manner that provides everyone with free and perpetual permission to engage in the 5R activities:
Retain – make, own, and control a copy of the resource
Reuse – use your original, revised, or remixed copy of the resource publicly
Revise – edit, adapt, and modify your copy of the resource
Remix – combine your original or revised copy of the resource with other existing material to create something new
Redistribute – share copies of your original, revised, or remixed copy of the resource with others."
OER in the news
- Biden-Harris Administration Takes New Action to Crack Down on Junk Fees in Higher Education (3.15.24)The Biden administration is working to eliminate automatic textbook billing or so-called "inclusive access" programs.
- Biden Administration Looks to Clamp Down on Inclusive Access (1.29.24)The Biden administration wants to roll back an Obama-era policy that allowed a procurement model for digital textbooks and course materials to flourish—a move that’s alarmed publishers and institutions, but one that student advocates say would give students more choices.
- Durbin, Colleagues Urge Department Of Education, OMB To Prioritize Funding For Open Textbook Pilot In Fiscal Year 2025 (12.14.23)U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), along with U.S. Senators Angus King (I-ME) and Tina Smith (D-MN), today led ten of their colleagues in sending a letter to the Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Shalanda Young, urging the agency leaders to include strong funding for the Open Textbooks Pilot (Pilot) in the Biden Administration’s Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) budget request. The Pilot, based on Durbin’s Affordable College Textbook Act, is a competitive grant program to support the creation and expansion of open college textbooks – textbooks that are freely available under an open license, allowing professors, students, researchers, and others to freely access the materials.
- The challenges of textbook access and affordability, and creating an inclusive learning environment (4.13.22)Addresses inequities caused by soaring prices for course materials and discusses OER as one solution.
- New Report Offers Guidance on How to Calculate Benefits of Open Educational Resources (4.13.22)New article about a report listing six principles for determining the ROI of assigning OER.
Open Educational Resources: Find, Evaluate, Adopt
Recording of a webinar offered by Prof. Chris Barnes on March 4 for Open Education Week 2024.
