Skip to Main Content

Open Educational Resources: Summed Up

This guide is designed as a tool kit for engaging with various aspects of OERs - from finding to distributing open educational materials.

OER

Carnegie Mellon University Libraries promotes free or low-cost educational resources on its campus through increased outreach and programing that supports the exploration, identification, evaluation and creation of teaching and learning materials that are customizable, student-driven, and drive lasting educational experience. These  publicly accessible materials are characterized by the 5Rs: they allow authors to retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute said resources.

DISCLAIMER: Material provided is only intended as a guide. This guide is not a substitute for professional legal advice.
Get Help Logo - various color hands reaching out for helpl

OER QUESTIONS?
If you have any questions related to Open Educational Resources. Please contact the OER Team.
HAVE A SUGGESTION?
Found a resource you would like to see on the OER guides? Please e-mail the OER Specialist.

WHAT ARE OERs?

Introduction to Open Educational Resources      

brought to you by the Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC)

OERs include:

  • Content: Full courses, course materials, modules, learning objects, collections, guides, data, journals, and any materials used for teaching and learning.

  • Tools: Software to support the creation, delivery, use, and improvement of open learning content development, including but not limited to content management tools, and online learning communities.

  • Implementation resources: Intellectual property licenses to promote open publishing of materials, design principles, and localization of content.

WHY DO WE NEED OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES?

Why OER? Cost of Textbooks, for one.

What can you do with OER?

The 5 Rs of Open Educational Resources


Retain

 Download OERs and keep them on your device(s). The table on the left is one instance of OER content that was revised, remixed, retained, and retained from an infographic designed by SUNY OER Services.  See the bottom of this page for credits and license information for this guide.


Reuse

 Use existing OER content as is as often as you need.  


Revise

 Make small or large-scale changes to suit your needs.  


Remix

 Combine or blend existing materials to add your own touches.  


Redistribute

Share your version with the community based on licensing as outlined by original materials.

  

Licence

This guide was created by Ethan Pullman and is maintained by the OER team.  The content was based on OER guides at the following Universities (in alphabetical order):  Oakland University by Julia Rodriguez, Portland Community College by Jen Klaudinyi, University of Pittsburgh by Lauren B. Collister, UMass Amherst Libraries, and Virginia Tech. 

License:
All original content and images on this page are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Any third-party content or images are linked to the original source and are subject to their own license terms.