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Copyright: Open Educational Resources (OER)

Guidance on permitted use of copyright works for study, research and teaching purposes

What are Open Educational Resources?

Open Educational Resources (OER) are educational materials and resources offered freely and openly for anyone to use and under some licenses to re-mix, improve and redistribute.

The terms “open educational resources” and “open content” describe any copyrightable work that is either in the public domain or licensed in a manner that provides users with free and perpetual permission to do the following:

  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)

Please Note: OER traditionally excludes software, which is described by other terms like “open source”.

Open Educational Resources

Photo: "Open" by Chuck Coker on Flickr

Where to find OER Resources

How to create OER Resources