This guide will help you to select Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Affordable Resources (OAR) for your courses.
When we approach using OER or OAR, we usually look for an item to replace a textbook in a course. We generally think of a 1 to 1 substitution. In reality, because there is no price tag attached, we can use as many resources as we would like to cover the concepts and meet objectives. To utilize this Framework to identify OAER, think about what book, chapter, article, video, etc., best supports your learning objective. Utilizing OAER resources now opens up an entirely new way to look at required course materials.
According to UNESCO, Open Educational Resources (OER) are defined as "... 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)
Open Affordable Resources are defined as "Any required course material that students purchase for less than $50. This may include low-cost or no-cost options and library materials that do not have an open license." (Penn State University OER Task Force Report).
This guide will help instructors and librarians to work collaboratively to find and utilize open and affordable educational resources for their courses.
