What are OER?
Answer
OER are Open Education Resources.
UNESCO defines Open Education Resources (OER) 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” (UNESCO).
There are two crucial components to OER:
- OER are learning, teaching and research materials in any format or medium. OER can be “textbooks, full courses, lesson plans, videos, tests, software, or any other tool, material, or technique that supports access to knowledge” (SPARC).
- OER are either:
- In the public domain, so copyright protections no longer apply. In Canada, copyright protections expire 50 years after the death of the creator. Learn more about the public domain.
- Released under an open license. The most popular open licenses are the four Creative Commons licenses. Learn more about Creative Commons licenses.
- In the public domain, so copyright protections no longer apply. In Canada, copyright protections expire 50 years after the death of the creator. Learn more about the public domain.
For a resource to be considered “open,” it must have a license that permits no-cost access and permits users to adapt and redistribute the resource.
