Open Educational Resources (OERs) are digital materials that are made available online to be used or re-purposed for teaching, learning and research. They can include images, audio, video, animations, content modules and other digital resources.
If you create high quality original learning and teaching resources then you can choose to share them with the world by making them OERs. This involves uploading your resources to an online repository and attaching a legally binding licence to tell users what they can and cannot do with your work. Creating OERs allows you to:
Showcase your expertise in a particular subject area Share teaching resources with your peers and with the world Improve the quality of the student learning experience Contribute to the GCU blended learning strategy
Creative Commons licensing
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When content is created copyright on it is automatically assigned under UK law. The creator doesn't need to use the copyright symbol or assert their rights as creator, the very fact that they have given the idea a fixed form means that they own the copyright. You can’t ignore copyright when reusing resources, but you can ensure you stay legal by only using licensed content.
The Creative Commons (CC) licensing movement was set up to enable creators to specify how they would like their content to be used. CC licences are legally binding and internationally recognised. CC licensed content is easy to reuse as the licence states exactly what you can and can’t do with the content. They are made up of five main components which are combined to specify how a resource can be reused:
You will normally find a number of these elements have been added together to produce a licence. Here are some common examples:
CC-BY lets you distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon a work, even commercially, as long as you credit the creator CC-BY-SA lets you distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon a work, even commercially, as long as you credit the creator and license your new creations under identical terms CC-BY-ND allows redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as the content is passed along unchanged and you credit the creator CC-BY-NC lets you distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon a work non-commercially, as long as you credit the creatorCC0 – Public domain licence
There is one CC licence that we have not yet mentioned. CC0, or a public domain licence, lets creators place their content in the public domain so that others may freely build upon, enhance and reuse the work for any purpose without any restrictions. This means that you don’t need to give credit to the creators when you reuse their work and that you can alter it freely. An example of this would be the Open Clipart collection, where you can reuse items without having to even attribute the source.
Guidance on creating OERs
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GCU staff use a wide range of self-generated teaching materials to support high quality teaching, including teaching notes, handouts, audio, video, images, animations and others. Staff who wish to create and publish these resources as Open Educational Resources (OERs) should use the following guidance:
GCU encourages staff to create and publish OERs to enhance the quality of the student experience, provided that the resources created are fit-for-purpose and relevant Staff should clearly identify themselves as the creator(s) of an OER by adding their names to the resource and, when publishing an OER, to any associated metadata. This allows those reusing the OER to clearly attribute the creator(s) Staff should clearly identify their affiliation by adding it to the resource and, when publishing an OER, to any associated metadata For example: Staff should ensure that they are legally allowed to reuse any third party content within their OERs by complying with the terms of the licence of use on such third party content. For more information please visit our reusing content page It is expected that OERs created and published by staff will normally be single units (learning objects) or small collections (such as podcast episodes or small collections of images) rather than whole courses If you are creating a whole course, such as a MOOC, then you should consult your Head of School, Department or Service as they may wish to restrict publication based on the protection of GCU’s commercial interests All OERs created should where possible comply with the GCU accessibility guidance It is the responsibility of staff to ensure that they have the necessary rights to publish an OER GCU suggests staff publish OERs using a CC-BY Creative Commons attribution licence. Other Creative Commons licences may be used if staff feel this is necessary or appropriate for their particular resource, or to comply with the licence terms of any third party content used in the resource If possible OERs should include GCU branding. Templates and advice are available from the Marketing and Communications Department Where students produce OERs as part of their programme of study or within a staff-directed project, these guidelines should be followed and a procedure for staff checking of OERs should put in place before external publication.
For further advice and guidance please email libraryresearch@gcu.ac.uk .
Read the full GCU interim OER policy .
Publishing OERs
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We recommend that all Open Educational Resources (OERs) be deposited in edShare@GCU , the University’s educational resources repository and, if mandated or desired, an external multimedia repository.
edShare@GCU is a repository for the GCU community. It allows staff to store, share and preserve a wide variety of learning and teaching materials in one central location. Staff can upload and manage their own resources and have the option to share them openly on the internet, with all members of the University, or with a select group of students or staff. The repository accepts any permanent resources created by GCU staff and provides a point of contact for copyright and intellectual property rights (IPR) advice within the GCU community. More information is available on the edShare web page and for queries or training requests please contact the library’s edShare team at edshare@gcu.ac.uk .
We encourage staff to collect data on the usage of their OERs by students and external institutions for quality assurance mechanisms (such as module or programme review). Collection of this data may aid staff recognition, reward and progression. Both Jorum and edShare@GCU have in-built statistics functions.
Read the full GCU interim OER policy .
