1. The OER Landscape

Open Education and Open Educational Resources

The open education movement stems from the need for an updated, global approach to learning and education. The global expansion of the internet has made the possibility of knowledge sharing and access to information easier and more affordable than ever before, but it is still not a perfect system. Open Education seeks to remedy this by providing resources that promote increased access to education without any financial, technical, or legal barriers.^[1]

The foundation of the open education movement is built on open educational resources (OER). OER are defined as teaching, learning, and research materials that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others.^[2] This means that OER can be any kind of educational material (like a textbook, course module, lecture slides, etc.) that anyone can copy, mix, share, keep, edit, or use – all for free! OER use open licenses (something we’ll talk more about in Chapter Six) to specify which rights and permissions apply.

As citizens of the world, open education should matter to all of us. As you watch the video below keep in mind how OER help support the idea of open education, create opportunities to keep up with the changing world around us, and support inclusive and equitable educational practices.