Understanding Open Educational Resources (OERs)
Open Educational Resources (OER) are formally defined by UNESCO as “learning, teaching and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license, that permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others.”
In other words, OERs are educational materials that are freely available for anyone to use, modify, and share. UNESCO emphasizes that an open license respects the author’s intellectual property rights while granting the public permission to access, copy, adapt, and redistribute the materials at no cost.
In practice, most OER are distributed online under open licenses (such as Creative Commons licenses), which allow educators to retain copyright over their work but enable others to copy, share, and remix the material with appropriate credit to the original creator. This openness is what distinguishes OER from other resources – it ensures that learners and instructors can continually reuse and adapt content to fit their needs without legal or financial barriers.
OER can encompass virtually any type of educational content, so long as it is openly licensed. Common examples include:
- Text-based materials: Open textbooks, lecture notes, syllabi
- Course materials: Course modules or lesson plans and unit outlines
- Multimedia content: Recorded video lectures, instructional videos, podcasts, and
visual materials like infographics or diagram - Assessments and assignments: Banked quiz questions, tests/exams, problem sets,
and other homework assignments released for open use - Interactive resources: Web-based learning tools that are openly licensed for others
to use or adapt
These examples illustrate that OER can range from small, discrete learning objects to comprehensive educational packages. The key is that each of these resources is shared with an open license, allowing others to freely use and tailor them for their own teaching and learning contexts.