Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that are freely and openly available, and can include course materials, textbooks, audio and visual materials, multimedia applications, software, learning objects or any other tool used for learning and teaching.

What makes a resource "open"?

David Wiley’s 5 R’s of open education defines the characteristics of open content:

1. Retain – You are welcome to download and keep the materials whether you are an author, an instructor, or a student.
2. Reuse – You are free to use materials in a wide variety of ways without expressly asking permission of the copyright holder.
3. Revise – You can adapt, alter, or modify the content to suit specific purposes, such as educators who make the material more relevant to their students. You can also make the resource available in a number of different formats.
4. Remix – You can combine content with other open content to create something new.
5. Redistribute – You are free to share with others, so they can reuse, remix, improve upon, correct, or review the work.

Learn more about OER by watching our OER Foundations workshop recording.