Open Educational Resources at Stevenson University

The Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.) Initiative defines open educational resources as:

Open educational resources (OER) are freely available, fully accessible instructional materials that either reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits the use, revision, improvement, and redistribution by others. OER include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support learning (adapted from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s definition).

OER are “openly licensed,” typically under a Creative Commons (CC) license, which enables the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work.

Different groups have slightly different definitions of OER.  However, most agree that to qualify as OER, materials must be:

• Produced under an open, non-commercial license, such as Creative Commons
• Freely available and accessible in full-text
• Able to be retained and used forever
• Able to be revised, remixed, and redistributed without needing to ask permission