2 What makes a good OER?
What is an open educational resource?
The term ‘open educational resource’ is one that encompasses a broad range of items. It can describe a single image or an entire short course, and materials can be in any medium or a mixture. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has defined OERs as ‘digitised materials offered freely and openly for educators, students and self-learners to use and re-use for teaching, learning and research’.
Now view the following video.
What’s so special about OER?
It is a simple idea – that you license content in a manner that explicitly encourages use and adaptation – but it has proved a very powerful one. Watch the following video for an elaboration of what’s so special about OER.
Characteristics of a good OER
A good OER is:
- findable – it can be in multiple locations
- clearly described
- clearly licensed (normally through Creative Commons)
- from a source you trust
- easy to modify
- free-standing – it does not assume knowledge of other resources
- free of copyright content
- being used by/recommended by people like you
- imperfect – it just needs to work for you.
OpenLearn - Creating open educational resources
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