Open Educational Resources

"Creative Commons defines OER as teaching, learning, and research materials that are either (a) in the public domain or (b) licensed in a manner that provides everyone with free and perpetual permission to engage in the 5R activities - retaining, remixing, revising, reusing and redistributing the resources."
- Hewlett.org

Instructions for Finding OPEN Courses at SLCC

Student

No cost, low cost instruction video.

Instruction Video

OER is more than free. OER is free with permissions.

The 5Rs of Open Content

The terms " open content" and "open educational resources" describe any copyrightable work (traditionally excluding software, which is described by other terms like "open source") that is licensed in a manner that provides users with free and perpetual permission to engage in the 5R activities:

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 open content 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).

Creative commons licensing allows authors to create, remix and redistribute using the permissions and terms of their choosing.

For more info about Creative Commons Licensing visit the Creative Commons website.

Have any questions about OER? Schedule a consultation.

"Student access is the reason I have shifted to OER. Finances should not limit students access to course materials and having these materials available is especially important in the online setting. OER also enables me to update materials and provide students access to diverse knowledge they may not attain from a traditional textbook."

Ashley Givens, Assistant Professor, Communications
The School of Arts, Communication and Media

"I was inspired to create an OER to support our students learning clinical skills. We took an open pedagogical approach, recording instructional videos of each skill and having students write descriptions of each skill, compile resources, and reflect on learning. Creating and implementing an OER has allowed us to flip the classroom and give students more time to practice and apply what they are learning, while at the same time providing them a long-term instructional resource."

Gabe Byars, Assistant Professor, Occupational Therapy
The School of Health Sciences

"Conducting research for the OER geography textbooks I've created for students offers profound reminders about how dynamic, expansive, and integral geography is to culture, geopolitics, economics, history, human innovation, environment, and our responses to planetary challenges. OER affords students a multimedia platform for understanding the 'power of place' as they explore the expanses and minutia of Earth, of which humans are only a small part."

Adam Dastrup, Professor, Geosciences
The School of Science, Math and Engineering

"Moving courses from expensive textbooks to freely available resources has been among the most important work I have done in my academic career. For potential students, the (sometimes unexpected) cost of even a single textbook can make the difference between starting college and becoming discouraged. I am profoundly gratified to have the opportunity to directly improve the accessibility of education."

Jeff Davis, Associate Professor, Business Management
The School of Business