OER for All

This LibGuide aims to assist users in defining, locating and creating place-based OER; introduce our new initiative, the ICLRLT Librarian Corps; and gather valuable feedback from New Mexico librarians, educators, and community members.  

Open Educational Resources (OER) are educational tools licensed to permit free use, modification, and distribution by anyone. Educational institutions and surrounding communities can benefit greatly from adopting OER, particularly if they are focused on place-based resources relevant to their audience. 

In addition to lowering student costs for course materials, OER offer instructors the ability to tailor content to better suit their course requirements. Examples of OER include textbooks, syllabi, lectures, learning activities, assignments, and assessments.

Community-focused OER, designed for circulation to local households and residents, are particularly valuable, especially in rural areas where access to resources might be limited.

Open Educational Resources are different from other types of learning materials because of the five ways they permit users to reuse the works ("5 Rs"):

• 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 material to create something new (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup)
• 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)
• Retain: The right to make, own, and control copies of the content (e.g., download, duplicate, store, and manage)
• 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, publish)

These permissions are granted in advance and are legally established through the public domain or with a Creative Commons license. Another resource on Creative Commons licenses is from Open.Ed at the University of Edinburgh (including a nice graphic).

When using open access materials, it is best to use no-cost open access materials and pass those savings on to students and community users. The term "open access" is often used interchangeably with "free of charge," but this is not always the case. An important distinction must be made between something that is open access (and freely available) versus something that is truly public access (and free of charge). For more information visit the Public Library of Science (PLOS) guide, How Open Is It? 

This material was created by David Wiley and published freely under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license at http://opencontent.org/definition/ .

Flexibility 

Move beyond the restraints of traditional pedagogy and explore new ways to connect students with learning content. Open Educational Resources allow instructors to customize course content to the specific learning goals of their courses and adapt new approaches to teaching and learning. 

Affordability

With the rising cost of higher education, every dollar counts. The ballooning cost of expensive textbooks and course materials is outpacing inflation and wages, resulting in a negative impact on students. The 2016-2017 report from the National Association of College Stores found students spent an average of $579 on their required course materials.  

Student Success and Retention

One study shows that 65% of students don't buy textbooks due to the cost, even when they know it will affect their grade. Nearly 50% of students reported that the cost of textbooks directly impacts what types and the number of classes students are able to take. Help your students and patrons succeed by using no-cost textbooks and course materials. 

This content was originally authored by Karen Bjork and Amy Stanforth and maintained by Amy Stanforth and Julia Stone at https://guides.library.pdx.edu/oers.