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OER Basics

Everything you need to know when getting started working with OER, from what OER is to how to use it, copyright protections and general information.

Things to remember when creating OER

If you have searched and evaluated resources and still do not have the right OER for your course it might be good to look at creating your own. This can be something you do from scratch or do where you combine all of your previous notes and presentations and compile into a textbook or other materials. 

If you go this route you will be in full control of your work but there are some things to consider

  1. Time. Do you have time to build something completely new? This is where using notes and lectures you have already created and evaluating how much you can cover with the materials come into play. 
  2. What kind of content will you create?- Do you want there to be just one textbook or a mixture of various resources? It is essential to know what types of materials will be useful and accessible for all your learners.
  3. What license will you apply? If you create something new it will be up to you to determine what OER license it has or if you would prefer general copyright. Still if you want to share your work check out Creative Commons-choose a license
  4. Where will you upload your work?- There are various sites some you can just upload to without any oversight such as a lecture directly to youtube while others review the work before it is put in the database such as Open Textbook Library

Creating OER Video

Remember the 5 R's

The 5 R's

OER should be designed with keeping the 5 R's in mind

Open content is licensed in a way that grants users the permission to:

Retain Make, own, and control copies of the content (e.g., download, duplicate, store, and manage)
Reuse Use the content in a wide range of ways (e.g., in a class, in a study group, on a website, in a video)
Revise Adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content (e.g., translate the content into another language)
Remix Combine the original or revised content with other material to create something new (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup)
Redistribute Share copies of the original content, your revisions, or your remixes with others (e.g., post a copy of the content online for others to download)

This material is based on original writing by David Wiley, which was published freely under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license at: Defining the "Open" in Open Content and Open Educational Resources.

OER and Creative Commons