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Open Educational Resources (OER)

Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials that are free to access, adapt, and share thanks to open licenses that explicitly permit retention, reuse, revision, remixing, and redistribution —the “5 R rights”.

Why Use OER?

  • Cost savings for students by replacing high-priced textbooks with free alternatives.
  • Pedagogical freedom for instructors to customize, localize, and update materials.
  • Equitable access for learners worldwide, removing paywalls and permission barriers.

Major OER Platforms & Repositories

Platform Primary Focus Key Features License Scope
MERLOT Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning & Online Teaching 100,000+ peer-reviewed learning objects across disciplines; member ratings and comments Varies; most under Creative Commons
MIT OpenCourseWare Full course content from MIT (syllabi, lectures, assessments) 2,600+ courses; high-quality STEM & humanities materials; translated into multiple languages CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
OER Commons Aggregator of lesson plans, textbooks, simulations, etc. Advanced search, alignment to curricula, authoring & remix tools, hubs for institutions Predominantly CC licenses
Open Textbook Library Peer-reviewed open textbooks 1,400+ titles; faculty reviews; PDF & editable formats CC BY or similar
Wikimedia Commons 95+ million media files (images, audio, video) Free cultural & educational media; integrates with Wikipedia; category and quality ratings CC BY, CC BY-SA, or public domain
OpenStax High-quality college textbooks Professionally developed textbooks with ancillaries; print copies at low cost CC BY 4.0
LibreTexts Dynamic, modular textbooks & homework systems 400+ books in STEM, social sciences, humanities; Remix tool; integration with LMS CC BY-NC-SA (default)
Teaching Commons Aggregated scholarly teaching materials from university repositories Faculty-authored syllabi, modules, multimedia Varies; mostly CC licenses
NOBA Project Psychology textbooks & modules Customizable texts authored by scholars; instructor ancillaries CC BY-NC-SA
Open Case Studies Real-world case studies (public policy, health, environment) Editable case repositories; interdisciplinary CC BY

Evaluating & Adopting OER

  1. Search strategically: Start with discipline-specific hubs or use OER Commons’ aggregated search.
  2. Check licensing: Confirm the Creative Commons license permits your intended adaptation.
  3. Assess quality: Look for peer reviews (MERLOT, Open Textbook Library) and version history.
  4. Align to learning outcomes: Map OER content to course objectives and accreditation requirements.
  5. Plan accessibility: Ensure materials meet WCAG standards; many repositories flag accessibility features.

Creating & Sharing Your Own OER

  • Author in open formats (Markdown, HTML, Pressbooks).
  • Apply a suitable CC license (e.g., CC BY for maximal reuse).
  • Deposit in a visible repository (OER Commons, institutional repository, MERLOT).
  • Supply editable source files (e.g., .docx, .xml) to enable remixing.