Open Educational Resources: Introduction

Open Educational Resources  (OERs) are teaching and learning resources that can be freely used, shared and adapted.

Examples include full courses, open textbooks, lesson plans, assignments, syllabi, videos, and more.

• Reuse: Content can be reused without need for subscription or payment.
• Retain: Users can keep their own copies of the content.
• Revise: Content can be modified or adapted.
• Remix: Content can be combined with other resources to create a new work.
• Redistribute: Users can share copies of the content with others.

For Students:

• Reduce cost of education.
• Increase access to learning materials.
• Learning materials are made more relevant to the local context.

For Faculty:

• Improve student engagement
• Save time. OERs created by others can be freely used and adapted in less time than would be required to develop these materials from scratch.
• Allows faculty the flexibility to adapt or add to a learning resource.
• Enhances professional reputation: other instructors in the field can reuse your course materials with appropriate credit to you.

For Institutions:

• Improve student recruitment and retention. According to a BC study, 17% of students reported withdrawing from a course due to the cost of textbooks.
• Enhance institutional reputation by sharing high-quality learning materials.