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Open Educational Resources (OER): Overview

Learn about open educational resources (OER). Resources to help you find OER.

What is OER?

Open Educational Resources

Open Educational Resources are "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

OER includes full courses, textbooks, or any instructional materials including images, videos, or documents associated with teaching and learning. – CCOER

UN logo Open Educational Resources

5R Permissions – The Core of OER

The 5R permissions or activities are the core of open educational resources. These five legal permissions are:

  • Retain – the right to make, own, and control copies of the content (e.g., download, duplicate, store, and manage)
  • Reuse the right to use the content in a wide range of ways (e.g., in a class, in a study group, on a website, in a video)
  • Revise the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself (e.g., translate the content into another language)
  • Remix the right to combine the original or revised content with other material to create something new (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup)
  • Redistribute the right to share copies of the original content, your revisions, or your remixes with others (e.g., give a copy of the content to a friend)

Reference

"The 5R Permissions of OER" from Defining OER | Lumen Learning.

Vol State OER Starter Kit

VSCC starter kit logo

Faculty and staff are invited to email Bryan Saums (bryan.saums@volstate.edu) to enroll in the Vol State OER Starter Kit, a resource in eLearn for anyone interested in learning more about and/or transforming their courses to include OER materials. Including OER materials in your courses could be as simple as switching one material for another or as radical as completely changing your teaching style.

Join us to learn about OER and become a part of the Vol State OER community!

What is Vol State doing?

2022 Cycle 3 TBR OER Grant Recipients

The Tennessee Board of Regents awarded the following grants to Volunteer State faculty for the following projects. Congratulations!

 Kelly Ormsby (team lead) along with Agapi Theodorou-Shapiro, Taylor Moore, Lucas Flatt, and Diana Hardin are creating OER materials for ENGL 0810: Skills for English Composition.

 

 Stella Pierce (team lead) and Melanie Cochran received a grant to revitalize two courses: HIST 2010: Early U.S. History and HIST 2020: Modern U.S. History, which will help students save on textbook costs in two classes.

 

 Jeremy Shipley (team lead) and Matthew Williams-Wyant are writing a textbook that will be free for students enrolled in PHIL 1030: Introduction to Philosophy.

Faculty at Vol State are adopting, adapting, and creating OER to use in their classes. 

OER Textbooks are used in

  • CITC 1334
  • COMM 2045
  • ENGL 1010
  • SOCI 1010
  • SOCI 1040
  • PSYC 1030
  • PSYC 2130
  • READ 0810

OER materials are used by professors teaching Education, English, Mechatronics, and Theater courses.

Faculty are using free content or library resources to reduce the costs of learning materials for students.

The College is a member of these organizations that support open learning.

Vol State OER Starter Kit

VSCC starter kit logo

Faculty and staff are invited to email Bryan Saums (bryan.saums@volstate.edu) to enroll in the Vol State OER Starter Kit, a resource in eLearn for anyone interested in learning more about and/or transforming their courses to include OER materials. Including OER materials in your courses could be as simple as switching one material for another or as radical as completely changing your teaching style.

Join us to learn about OER and become a part of the Vol State OER community!

What are other colleges doing?

In this section are examples of how Higher Education promotes and uses OER.

Teaching & Learning Center Resources

Guides from the TLC to assist faculty.