Understanding open

This section explores the concept of open education and the definitions and basic principles of open educational resources (OER) and open educational practices (OEP). It also presents interpretations of the meaning and value of ‘being open’, especially in higher education in the digital age.

Open Educational Resources (OER) are resources that are made available by their creator for others to use to support learning. OER are defined by UNESCO as:

"… teaching, learning and research materials in any medium, digital or otherwise, that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions." (UNESCO)

So what does this mean in practice? Upon creation, all original works of authorship, including educational resources, are subject to copyright. In order to reuse or adapt a resource, permission from the copyright holder must be sought. To avoid this step, and to facilitate wider sharing and use, a creator can add an open licence to any resource to make it an open educational resource or OER.

The use of an open licence, such as a Creative Commons licence, clarifies to educators, students and others how the resource may be reused. From simply correcting typos or grammatical errors to more involved activities such as translating into another language, updating the content for local contexts (disciplinary, institutional or geographic) or adding up-to-date research or examples, sharing a resource as OER allows others to adapt and use the materials as they wish.

In the case of a specific OER, the creator retains all rights that apply under the relevant copyright law, but the open licence communicates to users the specific terms under which they may adapt and reuse the resource. Thus, OER are more than simply free resources; they can be thought of as free resources with permissions. David Wiley describes these permissions as “the 5 Rs”.

The 5Rs of OER

Retain – make, own, and control a copy of the resource (eg download and keep your own copy)

Revise – edit, adapt, and modify your copy of the resource (eg translate into another language)

Remix – combine your original or revised copy of the resource with other existing material to create something new (eg make a mashup or a collection)

Reuse – use your original, revised, or remixed copy of the resource publicly (eg on a website, in a presentation, in a class)

Redistribute – share copies of your original, revised, or remixed copy of the resource with others (eg post a copy online or give one to a friend)

(Adaptation of Defining the “Open” in Open Content and OER, originally written by David Wiley, CC BY http://opencontent.org/definition/)

Examples of OER

OER can include anything from an openly-licensed course or open textbook to individual openly-licensed images, assignments, rubrics, lesson plans, guides, datasets, articles, blog posts, reflections, etc. OER can be produced in any media: text; image; video; audio; or any combination of these. And perhaps most importantly, OER can be created by anyone: teachers; learners; librarians; instructional designers; educational developers; photographers; artists; or anyone.

What is/is not an OER?

One simple way to determine what is and is not an OER is to see whether or not the resource in question has an open licence.

Any educational resource that has an open licence is an OER
Any educational resource that is only available under copyright is not an OER

There is sometimes confusion, however, about the difference between free and open. For example, if you find a resource such as an image in an online search, can that be reused in your course, assignment, blog post, etc? This helpful table from the OER Starter Kit (Elder & Katz, 2020, CC BY) summarises the different permissions available with openly licensed versus freely available resources:

Material type	Openly licensed	Freely available	Modifiable
Open educational resources (OER)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Free online resources (under all rights reserved copyright)	No	Yes	No
Materials available through an institution library	No	Yes	No
Open access articles and monographs	Yes	Yes	Maybe (depends on terms of licence)

This resource that you are using now is an example of an OER (you can see the Creative Commons ‘CC BY’ licence in the footer on every page). This means you can reuse or modify this resource, in whole or in part, as long as attribution is included. We have also reused and remixed many OER in making the resource, and have provided the necessary attributions.

You can find out more about open licensing, remixing and attribution in the Using OER and Creating OER sections of this resource.

STYLE NOTE: Throughout this resource we use the OER naming convention used by UNESCO, the Hewlett Foundation, Creative Commons and others, ie ‘OER’ refers to open educational resources both singular and plural.

Just as education cannot be reduced to textbooks and learning materials alone, so open education is not focused on OER alone. As described by OER Commons:

"...The worldwide OER movement is rooted in the human right to access high-quality education. This shift in educational practice is not just about cost savings and easy access to openly licensed content; it’s about participation and co-creation."

Another way of conceptualising and realising the potential of open education is through the enactment of open educational practices (OEP). OEP is a broad ‘umbrella term’ that is inclusive of the use of OER and open pedagogy. OEP can be defined as:

"...collaborative practices that include the creation, use, and reuse of OER, as well as pedagogical practices employing participatory technologies and social networks for interaction, peer-learning, knowledge creation, and empowerment of learners." (Cronin, 2018, CC BY)

Some examples of OEP include co-creating open textbooks with students, collaboratively annotating web-based texts, creating OER assignments, encouraging students to publish their work openly, supporting students in editing Wikipedia, and many more. These and other forms of OEP can help students not only to navigate but also to develop new ways to engage on the open web, sharing their work and building a digital presence. In general, the use of OEP can support students in developing digital literacies and web literacies, an important foundation for engaging online as learners, researchers, creators and citizens.

In practice, educators who use OEP seek to build opportunities for learners to:

Access education, open educational resources, open textbooks, and open scholarship
Collaborate with others, across the boundaries of institutions, institutional systems, and geographic locations
Create and co-create knowledge openly, and
Integrate formal and informal learning practices, networks, and identities.

OEP and open pedagogy are explored in depth in the section Using OEP.

UNESCO, the Hewlett Foundation, Creative Commons and open education advocates globally, including many in higher education, have been making the case for open education and OER for the past two decades. According to UNESCO:

"...Universal access to information through high quality education contributes to peace, sustainable social and economic development, and intercultural dialogue. OER provide a strategic opportunity to improve the quality of learning and knowledge sharing as well as improve policy dialogue, knowledge-sharing and capacity-building globally."

With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the urgency of open education became even clearer. At the height of the pandemic, UNESCO estimated that 1.57 billion learners in 191 countries worldwide had had their education disrupted. In response to this unprecedented crisis, the organisation issued a 'Call for Joint Action' to support learning and knowledge sharing through open educational resources. The call highlighted the important role that OER can play in supporting the continuation of learning in both formal and informal settings, meeting the needs of individual learners, including people with disabilities and individuals from marginalised or disadvantaged groups, with a view to building more inclusive, sustainable and resilient Knowledge Societies.

Overall, the benefits of using OER and OEP can be considered in three main areas: access, equity and pedagogy.

Access

All can access, adapt and reuse OER created by others, e.g. to assist in the process of developing digital learning materials
Students have continual access to OER, without incurring costs or requiring access codes
OER are available for anyone to access, enabling the value of OER to be shared globally

Equity

OER can help to reduce the overall costs of education for students
OER are persistently available to students (ie before, during and after taking a module as well as during any breaks in study)
OER are available for anyone to access – students and staff within and beyond a specific module or institution, as well as learners outside the formal education system
OER are an important contributor towards UN Sustainable Development Goal 4

Pedagogy

OER provide freedom to educators to reuse, adapt, update, translate and/or enhance existing learning materials
OER can be adapted for specific contexts (eg country, region, discipline, programme, specific learners)
OER can be used to help diversify the curriculum, adding content or perspectives that may be missing
Use and creation of OER provides opportunities for partnership and collaboration
Students can become involved in co-creating learning materials
Use and creation of OER provides opportunities for authentic assessment, with students connecting with issues that are current and meaningful to them
Students can contribute to public knowledge, eg editing Wikipedia
Use and creation of OER provide opportunities to teach and model key digital literacies and digital competences
Use of OER within specific teaching contexts can enhance engagement with cultural heritage collections, many of which are openly licensed (eg National Gallery of Ireland, Rijksmuseum, Smithsonian Institution)

This section of the GCU Library website "Using OER and OEP for Teaching and Learning", is adapted from "Using OER and OEP for Teaching and Learning" by National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, which is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Unless otherwise stated, "Using OER and OEP for Teaching and Learning" is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by the GCU Library.