What is OER?
Open Educational Resources (OER) are 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.
The "5Rs": A key aspect of OER is that they provide users with the "5R" permissions, which allow them to:
- Retain: Make, own, and control a copy of the resource.
- Reuse: Use the resource in a wide variety of ways.
- Revise: Adapt, modify, or alter the resource to better suit one's needs.
- Remix: Combine the original or revised resource with other materials to create something new.
Redistribute: Share copies of the original, revised, or remixed resource with others.
What is Creative Commons (CC)?
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that provides a set of standardized, free-of-charge copyright licenses. These licenses allow creators to share their work with the public while retaining their copyright.
Creative Commons licenses offer a range of options, allowing creators to specify which rights they are willing to grant to others. All CC licenses require attribution (giving credit to the original creator).
Other options include:
- ShareAlike (SA): Requires that any new works created from the original must be shared under the same license.
- Non-Commercial (NC): Prevents others from using the work for commercial purposes.
- No Derivatives (ND): Prohibits others from altering or remixing the work.
Creative Commons licenses are a legal tool that provides a simple and standardized way for creators to manage their copyrights and grant permissions to others.
While most OER are licensed using a Creative Commons license, not all Creative Commons licensed works are OER. For example, a photograph licensed with a CC BY-ND (No Derivatives) license is not considered an OER because it restricts users from revising or remixing the content, which are two of the "5R" permissions central to the definition of OER.
Why OER?
EducationData.org published a report on the cost of college textbooks:
Report Highlights. The cost of college textbooks ballooned for years, but increased use of ebooks has reduced the cost to the consumer; an ebook can be 50% less expensive than its hard copy counterpart.
- The average college student spends $174 on new, printed textbooks for the year.
- The textbook publishing industry is valued at $3.18 billion.
- The average college student pays $285 for course materials in one academic year.
- 25% of students reported they worked extra hours to pay for their books and materials; 11% skipped meals in order to afford books and course materials.
- 65% of college students skipped buying textbooks because they were too expensive.
Average College Textbook Costs
The average cost of college books and supplies declined in the 2021-2022 academic year, in part due to an increased rate of textbook rentals and use of digital course materials.
- The average postsecondary student spends between $1,212 annually for books and supplies as of the 2022-2023 academic year.
- Hard copy books can cost as much as $400, with an average price between $100 and $150.
- The price of textbooks increases by an average of 6% each year, doubling every 11 years.
- Textbook prices are rising roughly 3 times the rate of inflation.
- College tuition and fees have risen over 167% in the past 20 years.
- Between 1977 and 2015, the cost of textbooks increased 1,041%.
- Most of the postsecondary faculty do not know the cost of course materials when they select them for their classes.
Average Cost to Students
Most professors believe the cost of course materials is a burden to their students.
- 20% of students who fail college courses are due to the cost of textbooks and class materials.
- 2022 had the lowest reported course material cost over the past 15 years.
- 82% of professors say textbooks and course materials cost their students too much.
- Yet, only 8% of professors have initiated textbook cost-saving programs for students.
- Consumer prices for textbooks has increased up to 7.2% from 2020 to 2023.
Average College eBook Costs
Increased online and distance learning necessitates a wider use of e-texts, which students may purchase for sale, subscription, or rent.
- The cost-per-student of eTextbooks increased by 37% over 12 months.
- 40% of professors support the use of eBooks and online technology for their coursework.
Low-Cost & No-Cost College Textbooks
One response to rising prices is the adoption of course materials that are part of a shared resource system. These systems are most beneficial to students and faculty; meanwhile, publishers and institutions miss out on profits.
- 13% of postsecondary institution professors require the use of open education resources (OERs) for students.
- 39% of faculty members are aware of OER licensing.
- 61% of professors say that over 90% of their students have access to all required course materials such as textbooks.
- 16% of faculty have adopted free or open-source textbooks.
- Less than 50% of professors replace textbook material with information they wrote or from other available sources.
- There was a shift in the teaching paradigm that was noted by professors currently preferring online materials vs. hard copy or printed textbooks for teaching.
- 29% of higher educational faculty require an OER in their class, and 50% of faculty rank their course material at an A or B level.
Source:Hanson, Melanie. 鈥淎verage Cost of College Textbooks鈥� EducationData.org, October 12, 2024,
Open textbooks...
- Save students money. Open textbooks offer both digital editions and printed copies. Students can download digital editions for free or order print copies at a low price.
- Allow for flexible content. Students can access the content in their preferred format, on their preferred platform. Professors can customize the material to match their course needs. Video, audio, and other interactive content can be embedded into digital editions.
- Help students succeed. Students using online open textbooks also gain ICT (information communication technology) skills.
OER Resources
Franklin 51福利社 does not endorse any of these sites or resource tools. They are being provided as a point of information.
- The Open Textbook Library at the University of Minnesota offers a catalog of open, peer-reviewed textbooks that can be downloaded for free.
- OpenStax from Rice University offers free, online educational materials and textbooks, some of which can be printed at an affordable price.
- A pilot open textbook publishing initiative established by State University of New York that engages faculty as authors and peer-reviewers and libraries as publishing service and infrastructure.
- BCcampus has curated a collection of open textbooks that align with the top 40 highest enrolled first and second year post-secondary subject areas in British Columbia. Many books have been reviewed by faculty and include ancillary resources.
- In addition to other open educational content, Saylor Academy offers over 100 open textbooks under a variety of Creative Commons licenses.
- Open textbooks that have been approved by the American Institute of Mathematics.
- InTech is the publisher of one of the largest open access collection of books in the fields of Science, Technology and Medicine.
- An index of online textbooks in MIT OpenCourseWare, including open-licensed electronic versions of print books, self-published online books, or course notes which are so thorough that they serve as an alternative to a conventional textbook.
- A free, collaboratively-built collection of manuals about free and open source software.
- MyOpenMath runs on the open source, IMathAS platform, providing free hosted use of this platform in support of free, open textbooks. The intent is to provide classroom use of the platform, without any required cost to students, for schools wanting a managed install of the IMathAS platform, and to provide students self-study opportunities.
- Founded in 2002 by Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman, the PhET Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado Boulder creates free interactive math and science simulations. PhET simulations are based on extensive education research and engage students through an intuitive, game-like environment where students learn through exploration and discovery.
- Graph functions, plot data, evaluate equations, explore transformations, and much more 鈥� for free! Explore math with our free online graphing calculator and networked classroom activities.
- Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. We tackle math, science, computer programming, history, art history, economics, and more. Our math missions guide learners from kindergarten to calculus using state-of-the-art, adaptive technology that identifies strengths and learning gaps. We've also partnered with institutions like NASA, The Museum of Modern Art, The California Academy of Sciences, and MIT to offer specialized content.
- "Wisc-Online is a repository of high-quality educational learning materials FREE to learners and educators.Wisc-Online offers an ever-growing library of learning objects freely available to students and learners at any level."
- Each subject area in LibreTexts contains a mix of content such as texts, homework exercises, interactive applications, visualizations and simulations, laboratory experiments, and worksheets. Although the resource still leans toward the physical sciences, it also carries materials for humanities, mathematics and statistics.
- MIT OpenCourseWare offers full online courses which include insight from instructors, lecture notes, textbook materials, assignments, exams with answers, and multimedia resources. All course content is downloadable.
- Harvard Online Learning offers resources like podcasts, lectures, and interactive educational programs for educators, students, and lifelong learners alike. While many of the available courses and materials are open and free, some are fee-based.
- Khan Academy offers courses in a variety of subjects, including math, science, art, economics, and the humanities. It provides short but effective videos, practice problems and tests for users to learn core academic concepts from preschool to high school and beyond. Content is freely available for personal, non-commercial use.
- Founded by Harvard and MIT in 2012, edX is now a leading provider of open courses from top universities. Courses include videos, automated feedback, interactive elements, and a community of professors and fellow students. edX is built on an open-source platform and some content is made available under open licenses.
- Lumen Learning supports OER adoption at K12 and higher education institutions in order to remove cost as a barrier to education. Lumen contributions to online open courses are licensed under CC BY.
- Provides free online classes from 120+ top universities and educational organizations. Content is available for personal, non-commercial use.
- ROAM offers high-quality learning materials written by Penn State faculty, with more than 90 courses entirely online.
- Openstax give educators and students access to tens of thousands of educational pages, which can be downloaded in the form of preexisting textbooks, or remixed by teachers into a unique collection designed specifically for their classroom.
- A collection of open education resources from the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME). Projects, districts, states, and open initiatives make use of Hubs to bring groups of educators together to create, organize, and share OER collections that meet their common goals. A Hub would be the right fit for your organization if you wish to curate and collaborate around OER that is shared with the wider OER Commons audience.
- Merlot is a repository of peer reviewed, open access resources designed to aid in teaching, learning, and faculty development. It includes OER instruction and pedagogy resources for faculty & students of higher education from around the world and is maintained by the California State University System.
- A collection of shareable course materials, including syllabi, course activities, readings, and assessments. Materials are licensed under CC BY unless otherwise noted.
- The Library of Congress offers classroom materials and professional development resources to help teachers use primary sources from the Library's vast digital collections.
A consortial curricular project led by librarians from K-State and KUMC, addressing the new literacies required for academic success and lifelong learning.
- The BCcampus Open Education OER by Discipline Directory lists a wide range of open educational resources organized by discipline. This directory is updated as new resources are identified.
- LibreStudio is a free an open platform for creating interactive learning objects using the H5P technology.
and the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has archived over 60,000 books for open access.
Further Reading in OER
, by EDUCAUSE and is licensed under , 2018.
, was prepared by Neil Butcher for the & and is licensed under , 2011, 2015.
LOCATING CC IMAGES IN GOOGLE
LOCATING CC VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE
How to Properly Attribute Open Educational Resources (OER) and Creative Commons (CC) Content
Using open resources is a fantastic way to enhance your projects, but it's essential to give credit where it's due. All Creative Commons licenses and the principles of Open Educational Resources (OER) require proper attribution. This guide will help you create clear and correct attribution statements.
The Golden Rule: The "TASL" Acronym
A good attribution statement should always include the following four pieces of information. A simple way to remember them is with the acronym TASL:
- Title: The name of the work.
- Author: The creator of the work.
- Source: A link to where the original work can be found.
- License: The specific Creative Commons license, with a link to the license deed.
Example of a good attribution:
"Creative Commons 10th Birthday Celebration San Francisco" by tvol is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Best Practices for Attributing Content
Place Attributions Clearly: Make it easy for your audience to see the attribution.
For images, charts, and media: Place the attribution directly beneath the item.
For text and articles: Place the attribution at the bottom of the page or section where the content is used.
For presentations: A slide dedicated to attributions at the end of the presentation is a common and effective practice.
Provide a Link: When possible, make the Title, Author, Source, and License clickable links. This allows others to easily find the original work and understand the license terms for themselves.
Specify Any Changes You Made: If you have revised, remixed, or adapted the content in any way, you must state this in the attribution. This is a requirement of most CC licenses.
Example for an adapted text:
This chapter is an adaptation of "Biology" by OpenStax, used under a CC BY 4.0 license. This version has been revised to include new examples and a summary of key terms.
Use an Attribution Builder: There are free online tools, like the (link provided as an example), that can help you generate a correctly formatted attribution statement.
Attribution vs. Citation
It's important to understand the difference between an attribution and a citation.
- Attribution is a legal requirement of a license. It gives the necessary credit to the creator for their open work.
- Citation is an academic practice used to avoid plagiarism and to acknowledge a source in a formal paper or project.
While both are about giving credit, they serve different purposes. For an open resource, you may need to do both depending on the context of your work.
What about Public Domain (CC0)?
Content in the public domain (or released under a CC0 dedication) does not legally require attribution. However, as a best practice, it is still a good idea to credit the original creator if you know who they are. It's a way of showing respect for their work and helps others trace the origin of the material.
The information provided on this page is not meant to be exhaustive. If you have any questions abotu OER or Creative Commons, please contact the Center for Teaching and Learning.