Here's a short video from UNESCO giving a working definition of OER (I really mean it, it's less than a minute long).
You can also read the definition in plain text.
This video briefly mentions what are commonly known as the "5 Rs" of OER (though it used different words for some of them). These are the 5 rights that open licensing provides to users of OER. The user, in this case, is you! So when you find an OER you'd like to utilize, you should be able to:
- RETAIN - make, own, and control copies
- REVISE - edit, adapt, or modify your copy
- REMIX - combine original/revised copy with other work to make new work
- REUSE - use your original, revised, or remixed copy publicly
- REDISTRIBUTE - share copies of your original/revised/remixed resource with others
What does this mean in practice?
Here are some examples of how these 5 Rs could play out, specifically highlighting how they differ from commercial textbooks:
- RETAIN - you and your students can access an open textbook in perpetuity; they won't lose access at the end of the semester, and you won't lose access when it's pulled from a publisher's catalog
- REVISE - you and your students can reproduce the OER in any format that you need (PDF, print, plain text); you can alter any included information to increase relevancy (change examples to represent specific time and place, reorder chapters)
- REMIX - if you like 4 chapters of Open Textbook A and 2 chapters of Open Textbook B, you can combine them to make Open Textbook C that fully supports your course (basically like Revise, but multiple OER are involved)
- REUSE - you can use the OER in as many classes and in as many contexts as you'd like; you don't have to get permission to use it every semester
- REDISTRIBUTE - you can share copies of the OER with whoever you would like (like Reuse, but specifically providing copies to others, rather than just access)
I can really do all of that?
Ideally, yes, But as we will learn, some open license are less open than others. We'll talk more about how to interpret and apply license in the second workshop. But for now, hang on to this ideal.
Additional Links about OER:
- My guide to OER covers a lot of OER topics very briefly and we'll probably look at it during our workshops
