The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Murphy Library, the UWL Center for Advancing Teaching and Learning (CATL), and the University of Wisconsin System Administration (UWSA) are here to support Open Educational Practices on our campus. This guide is intended to provide resources and give a brief introduction to Open Educational Resources (OER). If you have questions, please contact Kendall Morgan, Information Literacy Course Integration Librarian.
The term Open Educational Resources (OER) was first adopted in 2002 by UNESCO, but they have been around since well before that. If you are interested in their history, check out Open Educational Resources (a very brief timeline) from the Creative Commons.
According to UNESCO, OER "are 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." The Creative Commons has gathered a number of definitions of OER from different organizations.
OER include textbooks, curriculum maps, streaming videos, multimedia applications, podcasts, course materials such as assignments or test banks, and any other materials that have been designed for use in teaching and learning.
Usually, rather than copyright, OER are licensed under a Creative Commons license or another alternative intellectual property license chosen by the author. Creative Commons licenses allow authors to be specific with the public about how their work can be used. Commonly the license chosen allows for free copying, modification, adaptation, and reuse as long as attribution is given to the original author and any new materials created based on them are given the same licensing. These collaborative goals of OER are often benchmarked as "the 5 Rs."
The 5 R activities of OER use:
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Retain |
Make, own, and control copies of the content (e.g., download, duplicate, store, and manage) |
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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) |
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Revise |
Adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content (e.g., translate the content into another language) |
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Remix |
Combine the original or revised content with other material to create something new (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup) |
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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.
Interested in practicing Open Education? Try switching to an Open Textbook in your class! A bit on Open Textbook Publication:
Like traditional textbooks, open textbooks are written by experts in the field and undergo a process of peer review and professional editing and development. Unlike the traditional publishing model, publishers and authors of open textbooks are paid for their labor upfront by the funding organization or with a grant, instead of relying on sales to pay back their investments.
Image: Open textbook publishing model by David Ernst is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
In the realm of Open Educational Practices, another point of interest is Open Pedagogy. Learn more by visiting the Open Pedagogy Notebook.
The following list is in no particular order. It is of course not exhaustive, and please email me at kmorgan@uwlax.edu if you find a tool that you think others would like to use!
Use the tools listed below to find Open Textbooks and other OER materials online:
Discipline-specific
Open books & OA media
See the Open Access & Journal Publishing page of this guide for a list of where to search for OA journals. The library's Search@UW tool also covers OA content.
Readings
Read something interesting lately? Email Kendall Morgan to have it added to the guide and shared with your colleagues!
Videos