What the term covers
Open education resources, often shortened to OER, are learning, teaching and research materials that people are allowed to use, and usually to adapt and share, under a license that grants those permissions in advance. They can be in any medium. The term is also commonly written “open educational resources”, and the two forms mean the same thing.
What sets them apart from other free material is the permission. A web page that is free to read but fully copyrighted is not an OER, because you cannot lawfully copy, translate or redistribute it beyond what the law allows in general. An OER tells you, through its license, what you can do.
Types of resource
Open education resources come in many forms:
- Textbooks and reading materials, from short guides to full books.
- Lesson plans, worksheets and exercises for classroom use.
- Slides, lecture notes and course outlines.
- Videos, audio and animations, such as recorded lectures or explainers.
- Images, diagrams and data sets that can illustrate teaching.
- Quiz banks and assessments, which teachers can adapt.
- Complete courses with units, activities and tests.
- Software and simulations for teaching, sometimes released under open-source licenses.
The quality, depth and level of these vary, so each needs checking on its merits. Open textbooks are probably the best-known type.
The main license types
Most OER use Creative Commons licenses, which combine a small number of building blocks. The following is a general summary. The license text on the resource itself is the authority.
| License idea | What it generally means |
|---|---|
| Attribution (BY) | You may use and adapt the work if you credit the creator. |
| ShareAlike (SA) | If you adapt it, you must release your version under the same license. |
| NonCommercial (NC) | You may not use it for commercial purposes. Interpretation can be debatable. |
| NoDerivatives (ND) | You may share it unchanged but not adapt it. |
| CC0 / public domain dedication | The creator waives rights as far as the law allows, so reuse is unrestricted. |
These combine, for example attribution with ShareAlike. Because the combinations differ, two resources licensed differently may not be freely mixable. A resource under a license with a NoDerivatives condition cannot be modified into a new version, which matters for translation or remixing.
Some OER are in the public domain because copyright has expired or never applied. Rules on copyright and licensing, including how long copyright lasts, differ between countries. Also, a single page may include third-party items, such as photographs, with separate terms, so look for notes on each. This is general information and not legal advice; for a specific case, consult the license text, the creator’s guidance or an institution’s advice.
Where to find and reuse them
There is no single catalog, only a patchwork of repositories and libraries of varying scope. Typical places to look include:
- Libraries and library guides, where librarians often compile lists of open materials by subject.
- Collections maintained by universities, school systems and public agencies.
- Subject-specific repositories of open textbooks and lessons.
- Search tools that allow filtering by reuse rights, used carefully and confirmed on the source page.
- Teacher networks and communities, which often share recommendations.
When you reuse a resource, keep a record of its source and license. Attribute properly, and state what you changed. If you store a copy, use clear file naming so you can trace it later.
Benefits
The advantages claimed for OER are mostly practical.
- Cost. Students and schools can spend less on materials. Reduction in textbook costs is the benefit that is easiest to see and measure.
- Adaptability. Teachers can update examples, fix errors, translate and fit content to their learners.
- Availability. A learner can use materials without purchase, and copies can be kept offline.
- Sharing of effort. Teachers do not each have to produce everything from scratch.
- Longevity. Open licenses let others preserve and continue to maintain material that its original authors can no longer support.
Cautions
- Free is not automatically good. Check accuracy, level and date.
- Maintenance is a real cost. Someone must update and host the material, and funding is not always stable.
- Teaching still matters. A resource is not a course. Learners often need explanation, feedback and practice beyond a text.
- Accessibility needs attention. Open materials may lack captions, text alternatives or other features that some learners need.
- Evidence on learning outcomes is mixed. Many studies of OER textbooks find that students do about as well as with conventional books, with cost savings as the main clear difference. Claims of larger gains should be read with caution.
- License compliance is your responsibility. Misreading conditions can cause problems, so read them.
Getting the most from them
A sensible approach is to start with one need, such as a unit that lacks a good text, then search, check the license and quality, adapt lightly, credit the source and ask for feedback from learners. Over time, you can build a small collection that suits your context and share improvements back. Where learners need accessible learning materials, check formats and captions before adopting a resource.
Open education resources do not unlock knowledge by themselves. They remove some practical and legal barriers, which makes it easier for people to learn and to teach. What they deliver in a given setting depends on how well they are chosen, adapted and supported.