OER - Open Educational Resources (OER) - Faculty - Research Guides at Golden Gate University

A Catalyst for Innovation

OER: A Catalyst for Innovation

Open Educational Resources by Centre for Educational Research and Innovation Staff; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Staff; Dominic Orr; Michele Rimini; Dirk Van Damme
Publication Date: 2016-01-19
Education is the key to economic, social and environmental progress, and governments around the world are looking to improve their education systems. The future of education in the 21st century is not simply about reaching more people, but about improving the quality and diversity of educational opportunities. How to best organise and support teaching and learning requires imagination, creativity and innovation. Open educational resources (OER) are teaching, learning and research materials that make use of tools such as open licensing to permit their free reuse, continuous improvement and repurposing by others for educational purposes. The OER community has grown considerably over the past 10 years and the impact of OER on educational systems has become a pervasive element of educational policy This report aims to highlight state of the art developments and practices in OER, but also to demonstrate how OER can be a tool for innovation in teaching and learning.

What is OER?

Open Educational Resources (OER)

“…teaching, learning and research materials in any medium, digital or otherwise, that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.” - OER Paris Declaration of 2012

About OER

A Basic Guide to Open Educational Resources [PDF]
Commonwealth of Learning & UNESCO, 2015
"This Guide comprises three sections. The first – a summary of the key issues – is presented in the form of a set of ‘Frequently Asked Questions’. Its purpose is to provide readers with a quick and user-friendly introduction to Open Educational Resources (OER) and some of the key issues to think about when exploring how to use OER most effectively."
7 Things You Need to Know About Open Educational Resources - EDUCAUSE
What is it?
How does it work?
Who’s doing it?
Why is it significant?
What are the downsides?
Where is it going?
What are the implications for teaching and
learning?
OER "Petting Zoo"
Get to see what OER resources are and how they work. Courtesy of San Mateo County Community College District.

Why Use Textbook Alternatives?

Using the Library & OER for course materials

Reduces or eliminates the cost of textbooks for students
Increases multi-modal learning opportunities

Increases flexibility and autonomy in course content and delivery for faculty

Find OER Resources

Websites with OER materials

California Open Online Library for Education (Cool4Ed)
Includes MERLOT resources and an easy-to-use interface. Many of the resources are peer reviewed. There is also an ISBN finder at the bottom of the page that will find related OER materials. Originally developed for the CSU schools, but anyone can access and use the site.
Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER)
A list of sites that collect or search for open resources, including open textbooks, open courseware, and other OER.
MERLOT Business Community Portal
"The Business Editorial Board strives to provide valuable resources to help in your business teaching career. While our focus is on accounting, economics, management, and marketing, we provide materials for other business disciplines as well. Please join MERLOT and contribute to this growing community of business instructors by using the resources, submitting your own materials and assignments for evaluation, and sharing ideas to help you teach online and in the classroom. We also invite you to become a Business Peer Reviewer. "
MERLOT II
Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching
MIT OpenCourseWare
OER Commons
Open Educational Resources (OER) - EDUCAUSE
"Explore this resource site—a collection of all EDUCAUSE resources related to open educational resources (OER) in higher education."
Open Resource Library
The Open Research Library (ORL) is planned to include all Open Access book content worldwide on one platform for user-friendly discovery, offering a seamless experience navigating more than 14,000 Open Access books. This vital infrastructure is slated to comprise the most comprehensive collection of peer-reviewed Open Access books accessible for everyone.
OpenStax
Choose from tens of thousands of learning objects, called pages, that are organized into thousands of textbook-style books in a host of disciplines, all easily accessible online and downloadable to almost any device, anywhere, anytime.

Permissions

Public Domain, Fair Use, & Copyright

Cornell University Copyright Information Center FAQs
What is the public domain?
How do I find out if a work is in the public domain?
Is my use a "fair use"?
We're an educational institution, so aren't all uses fair use?
We're an educational institution so no one would sue us, would they?
Academic and Educational Permissions (Stanford Copyright & Fair Use Center)
"This chapter focuses on getting permission to use copyrighted works for academic purposes. It provides information on assembling academic coursepacks and using copyrighted material in the classroom. The chapter also includes form agreements you can use to obtain clearances for coursepacks and information on educational fair use guidelines."
Creative Commons
"Creative Commons helps you legally share your knowledge and creativity to build a more equitable, accessible, and innovative world. We unlock the full potential of the internet to drive a new era of development, growth and productivity."

Creating OER-Based Courses

OER Basics and Distance Learning Microlecture OEW 2021 - Courtesy of Skyline College

OER Basics: Lowering the Cost Barrier - Courtesy of CCCOER