Open Research

Open Educational Resources are " learning, teaching and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license, that permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others" (UNESCO Recommendation on Open Educational Resources). 

Creating an OER (Open Educational Resource) means producing learning materials that are free to use, adapt, and redistribute under an open license. Here’s a clear, practical guide to get you started:

• Ensure enduring access: Students will be able to access resources even after they have completed their course.

• Support inclusion: OER can be adapted to reflect students’ profiles and scenarios, addressing inclusion needs at different levels.

• Promote diversification of learning: OER are accessible from every place at any time, repeatedly (and don’t underestimate the value of repetition!), and from a variety of devices and formats. OER also support non-formal and less-formal learning settings.

• Promote lifelong learning: OER are available to everyone of all ages, anytime anyone wants to learn something or go back to something to refresh the memory of it.

• Save costs: High price tags may lead students to use older versions of certain publications; with OER this is not an issue.

This work is a derivative of OER Benefits - ENOEL slides [https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.5568482] by SPARC EUROPE (ENOEL), CC BY.

• Allow adaptation: Teachers can customise OER, creating the best course materials mixture for each learning experience, continually improving the quality of the OER.

• Ensure open pedagogies: With OER, students are deeply engaged in the educational process and in the creation of learning materials, essentially making them their own, with the teacher’s guidance.

• Increase reputation: Quality OER increase the reputation of the teacher at local and global levels, offering at the same time new opportunities to collaborate with colleagues around the world.

• Reduce workload: Teachers do not have to reinvent the wheel every time, but can re-use what is already there.

• Inspire: OER are a way to get new ideas.

• Foster active approaches: Teachers can design diverse hands-on strategies to support learning-by-doing experiences based on remixing/adapting OER.

• Foster collaboration: Peer-to-peer feedback, student collaboration, and expert involvement are magnified and they enrich the teachers, thanks to the process enforced by open licences.

• Support innovation: OER offer opportunities to enhance the quality of teaching and learning materials, allowing others to build upon them and to provide constructive feedback.

• Ensure legacy: The process of reuse ignited by OER continues even after retirement.

• Expand choices: OER textbooks enlarge teachers’ resources and can guarantee the same high level of quality as traditional textbooks.

• Enhance academic freedom: Open licences on OER allow faculty to regularly modify and update the learning resources for their courses.

• Showcase innovation and creativity: Creativity of the faculty can impress potential students and sponsors. This will help increase student enrollment for certain courses and increase the value of individual teachers.

This work is a derivative of OER Benefits - ENOEL slides [https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.5568482] by SPARC EUROPE (ENOEL), CC BY.

• Promote economies of scale: OER are free online, can be printed, be saved, and are easily updated. Instead of purchasing textbooks, resources can be redirected toward technology, improving instruction, or reducing debt.

• Support faculty development: Enhanced access and use of OER and peer-to-peer learning between inter-institutional faculty members improve the quality of educational materials.

• Make the most of public investments: Resources coming from public funding are used to create public knowledge and shared through multiple institutions at reduced additional cost.

• Support self-promotion: The public image of the institution can largely benefit from its shared and reused quality OER.

• Support international collaboration: Working with OER increases the institution’s visibility, improves its reputation at the international level through active collaboration with other institutions globally.

• Facilitate recruitment: The use of OER increases participation in higher education by expanding access to non-traditional learners who make choices based on the quality of the educational materials being offered.

• Enhance alumni retention: Offering quality OER to alumni helps the institution keep the link with them active.

This work is a derivative of OER Benefits - ENOEL slides [https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.5568482] by SPARC EUROPE (ENOEL), CC BY.

• Unlock information: Knowledge can be shared at large by unlocking educational resources through licences, for anyone who is interested.

• Transfer knowledge: Educational resources created with public taxes are available to the public, reusable and shareable.

• Make learning lifelong: Being up to date and providing continuous learning is more affordable for everyone, bridging the gap between formal, informal, and non-formal open opportunities.

• Boost equality: Free online resources make it easier to deliver the same quality knowledge to everyone, regardless of their social and economic status.

• Promote diversity and inclusivity: OER materials, easily shared and accessed via the Internet, are a great tool to discover and familiarise oneself with different viewpoints.

• Foster citizen science: Knowledge can be created by everyone, and the availability of materials makes it easier for people to continue gaining knowledge.

• Enhance quality: Anyone can support quality enhancements of OER by simply asking questions to clarify them; no access means no questions, no questions means no doubts, no doubts means no improvements.

• Expand boundaries:  OER are a wonderful way to share knowledge across borders that enable adaptations that truly work locally.

This work is a derivative of OER Benefits - ENOEL slides [https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.5568482] by SPARC EUROPE (ENOEL), CC BY.

• Introduction to Biological Psychology – Simple Book Publishing 
• Develop Your English – Simple Book Publishing
• 100 Ideas for Active Learning – Simple Book Publishing 

If you’re interested in exploring open educational resources and getting more involved in OER initiatives, the networks below are a great place to start:

• Open Educational Network
• OER Community of Practice for the UK & Ireland