The Magic of OERs
Understanding OERs
Open Educational Resources (OERs) are any type of educational materials that are in the public domain or introduced with an open license. The nature of these open materials means that anyone can legally and freely copy, use, adapt and re-share them. OERs range from textbooks to curricula, syllabi, lecture notes, assignments, tests, projects, audio, video and animation. [1]
Some more definitions of OERs
OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge.[2]
Open Educational Resources are teaching and learning materials that you may freely use and reuse, without charge. OER often have a Creative Commons or GNU license that state specifically how the material may be used, reused, adapted, and shared. [3]
Thus,we may summarise that
- OERs are freely accessible.
- They include documents, books, media, evaluation material, courses.
- One can copy, reuse, remix OERs.
Some Initiatives in OERs
OER Commons: This was initiated in 2007 by ISKME,a nonprofit education research institute dedicated to innovation in open education content and practices, as a way to aggregate, share, and promote open educational resources to educators, administrators, parents, and students. Check OER Commons
Curriki: Curriki( which comes from the words Curriculum and wiki) is structured to provide OERs for K-12 Education. Educational materials are provided by the Curriki community and are peer-reviewed for quality and adherence to standards. Check Curriki.
Need for OERs
OERs save the cost of education. Expensive course materials, textbooks and resources can be accessed for free.
Exposure to a number of teachers enhances the quality of learning. While a face-to-face classroom offers you the experience of interacting with one teacher, OERs help you to benefit from the expertise of teachers all over the globe.
One has a variety of resources to explore and this enriches the content being learned.
Since OERs cater to multiple modes of learning, one can learn through audios, videos, reading text or accessing simulations. This helps to reinforce what is learned and caters to different learning preferences.
One can always tweak an OER and customise it to suit one's own students. Teachers can save time by using available OERs.
Students can learn at their own pace, anytime and anywhere. Flipped Classrooms stand to benefit from the use of OERs as students can read material before an actual class.