Explore Open Educational Resources

What is OER?

OER Logo

1. Open Educational Resources (OER) are learning tools that reside in the public domain or have been released with intellectual property licenses (usually Creative Commons) allowing their free use, continuous improvement, and modification by others.
2. Not just about cost savings and easy access but an educational philosophy centered on participation and co-creation.
3. Materials with which an individual can exercise five rights (i.e., the five Rs):

• Retain
• Revise
• Remix
• Redistribute
• Reuse
  
  
  
  

Types of OER in Higher Education

• Textbooks
• Lessons formatted for LMS
• Interactive exercises
• Syllabi
• Lab notebooks
• Study guides
• Practice problem sets
• Recorded lectures
• Assessment tools
• Interactive tutorials
• Tests
• Images
• Illustrations
• Case Studies

Benefits of OER Adoption

1. Can help control student costs
2. Enables new pedagogical and reflective practices by adapting content to specific learning needs
3. Free universal access
4. Content can be translated into a local language
5. Faculty and students can connect with collaborators at other institutions
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Examples of OER Materials

Available at https://www.oercommons.org/about

Evaluating OER Objects

Achieve's OER Rubrics: http://www.achieve.org/achieve-oer-rubrics-training-materials

OER Evaluation Checklist (PDF)

OER at UMKC

OER Repositories

• MERLOT: www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm
• OER Commons: www.oercommons.org/
• Jorum: www.jorum.ac.uk/

OER Textbook and Course Redesign Initiatives

• OpenStax College at Rice University: openstax.org/
• Open SUNY Textbooks: textbooks.opensuny.org/
• Emory Open Education Initiative: scholarblogs.emory.edu/eoei/about/
• Open.Michigan: open.umich.edu/

OER Research

• Walz, A. R. (2015). Open and Editable: Exploring Library Engagement in Open Educational Resource Adoption, Adaptation and Authoring. Virginia Libraries, 61(1), 23-31.
• Jensen, K. k., & West, Q. c. (2015). Open educational resources and the higher education environment. College & Research Libraries News, 76(4), 215-218.
• Clobridge, A. a. (2015). The open road. Libraries, Meet Open Textbooks. Online Searcher, 39(3), 68-70.
• Tuomi, I. (2013). Open Educational Resources and the Transformation of Education. European Journal Of Education, 48(1), 58-78. doi:10.1111/ejed.12019
• Knox, J. (2013). Five critiques of the open educational resources movement. Teaching In Higher Education, 18(8), 821-832. doi:10.1080/13562517.2013.774354
• Hockings, C., Brett, P., & Terentjevs, M. (2012). Making a difference—inclusive learning and teaching in higher education through open educational resources. Distance Education, 33(2),
      237-252. doi:10.1080/01587919.2012.692066
• Murphy, A. (2013). Open educational practices in higher education: institutional adoption and challenges. Distance Education, 34(2), 201-217. doi:10.1080/01587919.2013.793641
• Nikoi, S., & Armellini, A. (2012). The OER mix in higher education: purpose, process, product, and policy. Distance Education, 33(2), 165-184. doi:10.1080/01587919.2012.697439
• Scanlon, E. (2012). Open educational resources in support of science learning: tools for inquiry and observation. Distance Education, 33(2), 221-236. doi:10.1080/01587919.2012.692053