Getting started
UNESCO describes OERs as “learning, teaching and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license, that permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others”.
Some benefits of using OERs
- Instructors can revise course content to suit their and their students’ needs in the context in which education takes place. This allows teachers to select and use only content they deem relevant to their teaching context. The one size fits all model traditionally used in education does not allow teachers to customize materials based on their students’ individual needs.
- As the world around us is evolving, education materials need to keep up. Teaching materials need to be constantly updated which can prove to be an expensive exercise given the already high cost of some textbooks. Many OERs are the result of collaborations among multiple individuals which makes it easier to keep them updated. Timelines of information included in OERs can be addressed much faster than updating static sources of information, such as already published textbooks which would require the publication of a new edition to address those changes.
- Costs of educational materials can be quite high; using OERs helps educators eliminate cost barriers to education. Many students report opting out of purchasing required materials for their classes because they find the cost prohibitive, and some listed this as one of the reasons for dropping classes.
- Ease of access – students can access these materials anytime, anywhere.
- Use of OERs encourages collaboration among teachers or between teachers and students. Experts from various social, geographic and education backgrounds can contribute their expertise.
OERs @ NSU
- How the NSU Libraries Can Support Faculty OER Initiatives at Nova Southeastern UniversityBy Jaime M. Goldman, March 2019.
Presented at the NSU Technology Integration Learning Community (TILC) Meeting
The following are recordings of workshops offered by NSU Libraries as part of our Gear Up series.
- Gear-Up: Learn more about OERs "Open Education Resources"by Jaime M. Goldman, November 2022
- Gear-up: Creating and Working with Open Education ResourcesBy Vicenç F. Feliú, November 2022
- Gear Up: Textbook Alternatives: OER & LERBy Jaime M. Goldman, April 2020
Adoption and impact of OER in the Global South by
This volume examines aspects of educator and student adoption of OER and engagement in Open Educational Practices (OEP) in secondary and tertiary education as well as teacher professional development in 21 countries in South America, Sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia. The ROER4D studies and syntheses presented here aim to help inform Open Education advocacy, policy, practice and research in developing countries.
ISBN: 9781552505991Publication Date: 2018
Advances in educational technologies and instructional design: Open Educational Resources (OER) Pedagogy and Practices by
Access to learning materials has been an issue within education that has had a profound impact on student outcomes and equality among students. New strategies for promoting more equal access to these materials began within institutions of higher learning and can be adapted at lower levels to facilitate equity within educational systems. Open Educational Resources (OER) Pedagogy and Practices is a comprehensive research publication that explores open access to educational materials and its impact on educational cost, educational equity, and poverty. Featuring a range of topics such as instructional design, pedagogy, and gamification, this book is essential for teachers, curriculum developers, instructional designers, principals, school boards, educational professionals, academicians, professors, administrators, educational policymakers, researchers, and educational agencies.
ISBN: 9781799812029Publication Date: 2019-11-29
Affordable course content and open educational resources by
This SPEC Kit includes examples of library and institution ACC/OER webpages; educational events; incentive programs; resources adopted, adapted, or created; and job descriptions.
ISBN: 1594079617Publication Date: 2016
Challenges and Opportunities of Open Educational Resources Management by
Education is a fundamental human right, yet much of the world's population lives with poor literacy. Due to rapidly growing technology and internet usage, open educational resources (OER) are increasingly being used to help transcend barriers to literacy while also aiding in educational attainment. With tremendous developments in ICTs, the education system of today has been enriched by various OERs. The optimal utilization of opportunities provided by the technological developments presents a profound challenge for education systems and has serious implications involving cost, access, equity, pedagogy, and quality. Challenges and Opportunities of Open Educational Resources Management is an essential research publication that explores access to information and societal and economic hurdles that contribute to informational inaccessibility. Highlighting topics such as e-resources, digital libraries, and information management, this book is ideal for librarians, academicians, computer scientists, researchers, policymakers, and students. Moreover, the book will provide insights and support executives concerned with the management of expertise, knowledge, information, and organizational development in different types of work communities and environments.
ISBN: 9781799835622Publication Date: 2020-06-26
Collaborative Learning 2.0: Open educational resources by
Current advances and convergence trends in Web 2.0 have changed the way we communicate and collaborate, and as a result, user-controlled communities and user-generated content through Web 2.0 are expected to play an important role for collaborative learning. Collaborative Learning 2.0: Open Educational Resources offers a collection of the latest research, trends, future development, and case studies within the field. Without solid theoretical foundation and precise guidelines on how to use OER and Web 2.0 for collaborative learning, it would certainly be very difficult to obtain all the benefits that these "user-generated content, resources and tools" promise. The purpose of this handbook is to understand how OERs and Web 2.0 can be deployed successfully to enrich the collaborative learning experience and ensure a positive outcome in terms of user generated knowledge and development of skills.
ISBN: 9781466603011Publication Date: 2012-03-31
Interactive Open Educational Resources:A guide to finding, choosing, and using what's out there to transform college teaching by
A Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2014! Sponsored by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), this one-of-a-kind book demonstrates the best tools, resources, and techniques for discovering, selecting, and integrating interactive open educational resources (OERs) into the teaching and learning process. The author examines many of the best repositories and digital library websites for finding high quality materials, explaining in depth the best practices for effectively searching these repositories and the various methods for evaluating, selecting, and integrating the resources into the instructor's curriculum and course assignments, as well as the institution's learning management system.
ISBN: 9781118419670Publication Date: 2013-12-13
Please note some of these books might be reference books; reference books are only available for use in the library. You can identify those by looking at the Copies tab in the record of each book – the Location section should say Sherman Library Reference and the Status section should say LIB USE ONLY.
- Open Educational Resources (OER) library guideThis NSU Libraries Open Education Resources (OER) LibGuide is a derivative of several OER guides, with attribution noted in specific pages along with the corresponding Creative Commons license.
OERs in Florida
For those interested in OERs, collaborate with fellow Florida educators by joining the listserv or add your name to the OPEN FL Community Directory.
Florida Virtual Campus - OATER Task Force
An Action Plan for Building a Statewide Infrastructure to Support OER in Florida’s Public Institutions of Higher Education (September 2016)
This report combines the recommendations made to the Florida Virtual Campus (FLVC) in A Preliminary Report of the Open Access Textbook and Education Resources (OATER) Task Force, November 10, 2015, with the results from OATER’s OER Survey of Statewide Efforts to Reduce Textbooks Costs conducted from February 29 through March 25 of 2016. The goal of both the preliminary report and the survey was to determine how best to build a statewide infrastructure to support the successful implementation of Open Educational Resources (OER) in Florida’s public institutions of higher education. The recommendations in this report focus on building an OER community and Knowledge Base.