Open Educational Resources (OER)
Faculty and students may think that “Open Educational Resources” (OER) equals “free textbooks.” While some OER are open textbooks, other types and formats of learning tools are OER as well.
Open Educational Resources (OERs) are defined in this manner by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation:
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.
Open Educational Resources can...
- lower course materials cost for students
- give instructors more flexibility in how they use and adapt course materials
- support academic freedom
- improve access to additional resources
- create a more equitable learning environments
Many more examples and resources can be found using the Missouri S&T Library and Learning Resources' Open Educational Resources Research Guide.
