Open Educational Resources are online or printed materials that are free and openly licensed.
These resources may be used or repurposed as teaching, learning, and research resources by others.
OER can include course content, textbooks, streamed content, assessments, and other learning materials.
High-quality OER provides access to knowledge and content that may have been cost prohibitive to many individuals.
Open content is licensed in a way that grants users the permission to:
Retain | Make, own, and control copies of the content (e.g., download, duplicate, store, and manage) |
Reuse | Use the content in a wide range of ways (e.g., in a class, in a study group, on a website, in a video) |
Revise | Adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content (e.g., translate the content into another language) |
Remix | Combine the original or revised content with other material to create something new (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup) |
Redistribute | Share copies of the original content, your revisions, or your remixes with others (e.g., post a copy of the content online for others to download) |
This material is based on original writing by David Wiley, which was published freely under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license at: Defining the "Open" in Open Content and Open Educational Resources.
Creative Commons licenses provide a standardized way for authors and creators to grant the public permission to share and use their creative works. Creative Commons licenses mix and match the following elements:
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Attribution (BY) Give credit to the original author |
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Share Alike (SA) Distribute derivative works under the same license |
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Non-Commercial (NC) Only use the work for noncommercial purposes |
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No Derivatives (ND) Only use verbatim copies of the work |