What is an OER?

Defining the "Open" in Open Content and Open Educational Resources

The terms "open content" and "open educational resources" describe any copyrightable work (traditionally excluding software, which is described by other terms like "open source") that is either (1) in the public domain or (2) licensed in a manner that provides everyone with free and perpetual permission to engage in the 5R activities:

• 1. Retain - the right to make, own, and control a copy of the resource (e.g., download and keep your own copy)

  2. Revise - the right to edit, adapt, and modify your copy of the resource (e.g., translate into another language)

  3. Remix - the right to combine your original or revised copy of the resource with other existing material to create something new (e.g., make a mashup)

  4. Reuse - the right to use your original, revised, or remixed copy of the resource publicly (e.g., on a website, in a presentation, in a class)

  5. Redistribute - the right to share copies of your original, revised, or remixed copy of the resource with others (e.g., post a copy online or give one to a friend)

Legal Requirements & Restrictions Make Open Content and OER Less Open

While a free and perpetual grant of the 5R permissions by means of an "open license" qualifies a creative work to be described as open content or an open educational resource, many open licenses place requirements (e.g., mandating that derivative works adopt a certain license) and restrictions (e.g., prohibiting "commercial" use) on users as a condition of the grant of the 5R permissions. The inclusion of requirements and restrictions in open licenses make open content and OER less open than they would be without these requirements and restrictions.

There is some disagreement about which requirements and restrictions should never, sometimes, or always be included in open licenses. For example, Creative Commons, a primary provider of open licenses for content, offers licenses that prohibit commercial use. While some in the community believe there are important use cases where the noncommercial restriction is desirable, many in the community strongly criticize and eschew the noncommercial restriction.

As another example, Wikipedia, one of the most important collections of open content, requires all derivative works to adopt a specific license - CC BY SA. MIT OpenCourseWare, another of the most important collections of open content, requires all derivative works to adopt a specific license - CC BY NC SA. While each site clearly believes that the ShareAlike requirement promotes its particular use case, the requirement makes the sites' content incompatible in an esoteric way that intelligent, well-meaning people can easily miss.

Generally speaking, while the choice by open content publishers to use licenses that include requirements and restrictions can optimize their ability to accomplish their own local goals, the choice typically harms the global goals of the broader open content community.

Poor Technical Choices Make Open Content Less Open

While open licenses provide users with legal permission to engage in the 5R activities, many open content publishers make technical choices that interfere with a user's ability to engage in those same activities. The ALMS Framework provides a way of thinking about those technical choices and understanding the degree to which they enable or impede a user's ability to engage in the 5R activities permitted by open licenses. Specifically, the ALMS Framework encourages us to ask questions in four categories:

• 1. Access to Editing Tools: Is the open content published in a format that can only be revised or remixed using tools that are extremely expensive (e.g., 3DS MAX)? Is the open content published in an exotic format that can only be revised or remixed using tools that run on an obscure or discontinued platform (e.g., OS/2)? Is the open content published in a format that can be revised or remixed using tools that are freely available and run on all major platforms (e.g., OpenOffice)?

  2. Level of Expertise Required: Is the open content published in a format that requires a significant amount technical expertise to revise or remix (e.g., Blender)? Is the open content published in a format that requires a minimum level of technical expertise to revise or remix (e.g., Word)?

  3. Meaningfully Editable: Is the open content published in a manner that makes its content essentially impossible to revise or remix (e.g., a scanned image of a handwritten document)? Is the open content published in a manner making its content easy to revise or remix (e.g., a text file)?

  4. Self-Sourced: It the format preferred for consuming the open content the same format preferred for revising or remixing the open content (e.g., HTML)? Is the format preferred for consuming the open content different from the format preferred for revising or remixing the open content (e.g. Flash FLA vs SWF)?

Using the ALMS Framework as a guide, open content publishers can make technical choices that enable the greatest number of people possible to engage in the 5R activities. This is not an argument for "dumbing down" all open content to plain text. Rather it is an invitation to open content publishers to be thoughtful in the technical choices they make - whether they are publishing text, images, audio, video, simulations, or other media.

Suggested Sites:

• 1. 1. Discovering Open Educational Resources (Dr. Steven Bell, Temple University)

     2. LibreTexts

     3. Khan Academy

     4. Mason OER Metafinder

     5. Merlot II

     6. OASIS

     7. OER starter kit (downloadable eBook)

     8. Open Textbooks Library

     9. Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium 

     10. Ted Talks

     11. PA GOAL website under Resources for Applicants

Full Text Databases

Most databases allow students to select “full text” options in their search parameters and provide some resources in that format.  However, some provide direct access specifically to their full text content, including: Education Full Text, Medline with full text, Omnifile full text, and SPORTDiscus Full Text, just to name a few.  If the library does not have full text, there is an option for interlibrary loan.

E-Books 

IU’s library collection houses over 30,000 e-books available through the library catalog!  Just choose “electronic book” in the “type” field to get to these resources.

Also, the database listings include collections of e-book content, including E-book Central and E-Book Collection.  In addition PsycBooks includes full book chapters along with several full text e-books considered foundational resources in the field of psychology.

Dissertations

The Gabriele Library’s catalog provides e-versions of all Ed.D. Dissertations from Immaculata University graduates (over 1,300 of them and counting).  Be sure to select “dissertation” in the “type” field when you search the catalog.

In addition, with PQDT Open (ProQuest Dissertations and Theses), you can read and save copies of the full text of open access dissertations and theses.

Streaming Video 

The Gabriele Library catalog lists over 150 academic video titles, available for streaming and at your fingertips. Select the “Streaming Video from Films on Demand” in the “type” field to see the options.

Topic-Based Multimedia

Did you ever wish someone could collect the latest, reputable resources on a given topic?  Well, you need look no farther than IU’s Database Collection and the “Gale in Context” topics.  This innovative and exciting approach to database content identifies multiple contemporary broad topic areas (biography, college, environmental studies, global issues, opposing viewpoints, and science) that are searchable.  The database then curates a plethora of resources across several media types - academic journals, images, videos, audio clips, new articles, magazines, websites and more – all related to the topic you’re investigating.  Talk about a one-stop shop for information!  If you haven’t tried them before, check out one of these exciting databases.