Open Education Resources (OERs) are any type of educational material (textbooks, images, syllabi, lecture notes, assignments, etc.) that are in the public domain or published under an open license (Creative Commons). This allows them to be used, re-used, adapted, and shared according to needs for no cost and with no or limited restrictions.
Open Access content and OERs are often conflated, but there are some key differences in the two to be aware of:
| Open Access | OERS |
|---|---|
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Benefits of OERs include:
A key feature of OERs is that they are open and can be distributed freely for educational purposes, and even modified to suit your class needs. As such, they are often licensed under Creative Commons licenses. Creative Commons licenses are conditions under which material can be legally used (for example, modifications allowed, non-commercial use only, etc.). See the diagram below for information on each CC license:
When using OERs and resources under Creative Commons, you are required to attribute. Attributing is the practice of giving credit to the person or organisation who created the work you are using. Attributions usually include:
Be aware that some creators will specify how they would like their work attributed.
See Smartcopying - Labelling and Attributing for more information and examples
See the below sections for places to being searching for OERs.
Remember that many places will also allow you to filter for access and usage rights when searching for resources to use.
To start finding open access books and textbooks, try looking in the following locations:
Australian:
International:
To search for open photographs, artworks, and graphics, start with the following sites and if necessary, filter for open access or Creative Commons
Be aware that under Australian law, you must attribute all images used (some sites located overseas may state otherwise, but it is important that you follow Australian guidelines)
To find open access audio and video, try the following sources:
Audio:
Videos:
To find open access collections of case studies and journals with case studies, try the following sources:
Use the following points to evaluate OERs for potential use:
