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Open Educational Resources (OER) and Affordable Course Content

A guide for DCCC faculty interested in integrating open and affordable course content into their classes.

What is OER (Open Educational Resources)

OER definition:

"Open Educational Resources are 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." Source:  UNESCO

What about library resources?

Library resources are not strictly OER, but are another option to provide DCCC students with affordable educational resources.  Copyright may restrict how Library Services' subscription databases' eBooks and articles can be used in the classroom, so please contact us with questions.

Questions?

Please contact Louise Feldmann, Associate Professor/Reference Librarian

Getting Started

Want to get started or learn more? 

  • Take a look at "The OER Starter Kit Workbook" from CUNY to help you find, use, and create OER
  • Review the "What is Open Education" information and overview from CCOER (Community College Consortium for OER)
  • Take a look at the video below for a brief overview of OER.

"OER Basics" by Open Oregon is licensed under CC BY 4.0

5 R's of OER

Open Educational Resources fall under the following permissions.  

  1. Retain - the right to make, own, and control copies of the content (e.g., download, duplicate, store, and manage)
  2. Reuse - the right to use the content in a wide range of ways (e.g., in a class, in a study group, on a website, in a video)
  3. Revise - the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself (e.g., translate the content into another language)
  4. Remix - the right to combine the original or revised content with other material to create something new (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup)
  5. Redistribute - the right to share copies of the original content, your revisions, or your remixes with others (e.g., give a copy of the content to a friend)

          This material was created by David Wiley and published freely under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license at http://opencontent.org/definition/.