Why oer?

OER Commons would like to welcome you to the ever-expanding community of educators and life-long learners who are using and creating content in the open education movement. The objective of this hands-on course is to help you quickly start using and creating open educational resources (OER). This module “Why OER?” is the first module in this self-paced online course “The How-tos” of OER Commons.” Here is the complete list of modules:

• Why OER?
• Finding OER Materials You Can Start Using Now
• Tagging, Rating, and Reviewing OER Materials
• My OER Portfolio
• Submitting Materials to OER Commons
• OER Licensing and Conditions of Use
• What is Localization?
• Students and OER
• What are Open Textbooks?
• OER Case Study
• Glossary

These modules can be completed in any order; work on the ones most relevant to your needs. Consider working through this module “Why OER?” first: it provides the framework you’ll need for the other modules.

Let’s begin by making sure we are on the same page with some OER basics.

What is oer?

Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that are freely available online for anyone to use, whether you are an instructor, student, or self-learner. OER can exist as smaller, stand-alone resources that can be mixed and combined to form larger pieces of content, or as larger course modules or full courses.

OER is also a process of engaging with the materials. This process involves sharing materials that you have created, either individually or in groups with other teachers and/or learners; using and adapting others’ materials for your own use; and sharing back modifications to or comments about others’ materials so that future users can benefit. In this course, when we use the term OER, we are talking about the process of engaging with the materials.

Here are a few examples of materials that have been submitted for anyone to use and adapt for their own use:

Circle of Pong

From The Tech Museum of Innovation come a collection of fun design challenges which present students from grades 4 to 8 with problems that require them to apply their knowledge just like designers and engineers in the "real world." In this challenge, learners use their knowledge of potential and kinetic energy, and explore forces and motion to place a ball into the center of a 6-foot diameter circle. These informal exercises are licensed for use and reuse under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5.

Time Management

From KQED Education Network, this lesson's aim is to develop students' understanding of the importance of managing time. It is the first lesson in the study skills series and is intended to support adult learners who are embarking on a course of study and need to acquire skills which will help them to be successful. The lessons are designed as a package with key skills reinforced in each subsequent lesson so that a study culture is developed over time. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5.