Open Educational Resources (OER) refers to freely accessible content, digital or otherwise, that can be used for teaching and learning -- lesson plans, textbooks, lecture notes and videos, and even full courses. In order to be considered OER, content must be openly licensed, allowing for a wide variety of uses. While licensing agreements vary, most OER allows for the following, known as the “Five Rs”:
- Retain - users can download, duplicate, and control copies of the content
- Reuse - the material can be used in a wide variety of ways, including in-person classes, via video, or online
- Revise - users can adapt or modify the content to suit their specific teaching and learning needs
- Remix - users can combine the content with other information, either original or from other open sources, to create a completely new resource
- Redistribute - users can disseminate the content, along with any modifications or remixes, as widely as they need to (for example, share it with other instructors)