Open Educational Resources (OER) are resources available for teaching, learning, and research purposes that are either in the public domain or have been released from intellectual property rights. Open means a free grant of permissions to retain, reuse, revise, remix and redistribute without restriction.
Central to the OER movement, Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that allows authors and other creators to grant permissions for free use of their intellectual property via special licenses and under specified terms of use.
In response to escalating costs of textbooks and other traditional course materials, faculty, administrators, staff, and students are seeking no cost and low-cost alternatives. Quality OER materials meet this need by removing barriers to access and easing the financial burden of textbook purchase or rental. An additional advantage of OER resources is that they can be perpetually maintained, adapted, and shared.
From the University of Buffalo Center for Educational Innovation, presenter David Wiley (Chief Academic Officer of Lumen Learning) describes OER, how they improve higher education and their impact on student experience, learning, and outcomes.
