Open Educational Resources (OER)

Open Education - Open Access - Creative Commons - Open Data - Open Educational Resouces

The concept of OER was first introduced in 2002 at a UNESCO conference in whichparticipants  identified  a  need  for  ‘provision  of  OER,  enabled  by  information technology and communication, for consultation, use and adaptation of these by a user community for non-commercial purposes’ (UNESCO 2002). This was echoed bythe OECD (2007) who also called for OER, defined as ‘digitised materials offered freely  and  openly  for educators, students  and  self-learners  to  use  and  reuse  for teaching, learning and research’ (p. 11).

More recently UNESCO (2011) have provided a more nuanced description, understanding OER as "any  educational  resources  (including  curriculum  maps,  course  materials,  textbooks, streaming videos, multimedia applications, podcasts, and any other materials that have been designed for use in teaching and learning) that are openly available for use by edu-cators and students, without an accompanying need to pay royalties or licence fees". (p. 5)

References

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Developmen (OECD). (2007). Giving knowledge for free: The emergence of open educational resources. Paris: OECD Publishing. Retrieved from www.sourceoecd.org/education/9789264031746

UNESCO. (2002). Forum on the impact of Open Courseware for higher education in developing countries final report, 534. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/20001285/128515e.pdf. 

UNESCO. (2011). Guidelines for Open Educational Resources (OER) in Higher Education. Paris & Vancouver: UNESCO – COL. Retrieved from http://www.col.org/resources/publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=364

If you have any questions please contact Javiera Atenas (UCL STEaPP) at j.atenas@ucl.ac.uk - @jatenas