OER FAQs

What are OER?

Open educational resources (OER) are any type of materials used in teaching and learning that are freely available to be used and adapted by educators and students. This includes textbooks, course materials, articles, images, videos, software and other resources. OER are typically released under an open licence, which allows anyone to use, copy, and modify the materials without further permission.

Why use OER?

There are many benefits to using OER. Some of the most common benefits include:

• Cost savings: OER can save students and institutions money on educational materials such as textbooks

• Immediate and continued access: Students, and indeed anyone, can access OER anywhere in the world, at any time, provided they have an internet connection. This includes both before courses start and after courses end

• Enhancement of regular course content: You can use different types of materials, including multimedia, to help engage students. OER can be useful supplementary material when students need background information or are interested in extending their knowledge  

• Adaptability: You can add, remove and edit content to suit your needs. If you're using an OER textbook you don't need to worry about using the whole book to justify the cost to students. OER can be adapted to meet the specific needs of individual learners, and tailored to the local curriculum

• Increased diversity: You can use a selection of resources to include a wide range of perspectives, such as Indigenous voices, and/or edit resources to ensure language is inclusive and relevant to your students   

• Dynamic: OER can be quickly edited at any time without needing to wait for a new edition or going through a lengthy review process, increasing the timeliness and relevance of resources. This also means that OER can be incrementally developed and released, in an organic manner.  

• Innovation: OER can be used to create new and innovative teaching and learning materials, for example by embedding interactive activities through the use of H5P

How do learners benefit from OER?

Research conducted by the OER Hub at the Open University explores the direct impacts of OER in higher education: including an increase in factors relating to student performance, increased reflection on the part of educators, and the use of OER to trial and supplement formal study. There are also indirect impacts, whose benefits will be seen after several iterations. These include the wide scale reporting of adaptation, and the increase in sharing and open practice that results from OER usage.

OER content has been shown to have the following additional benefits:

• resources are customisable and adaptable

• students can be involved in this process, increasing their agency in curriculum co-creation

• knowledge dissemination is broadened beyond traditional academia

• costs and other barriers to study are reduced

• learning resources become more inclusive

Read more about the impact of OER from the Open Education Group.

What are the different types of OER?

There are many different types of OER including textbooks, course materials such as lesson plans, assignments, and presentations, images, software, podcasts and videos.

What freedoms do I have with OER?

The “5Rs” is a framework that encourages educators to capitalise on the unique rights associated with open content. These rights include the ability to:

• Retain: Make and own copies of the work (e.g. download, duplicate, store, and manage)

• Reuse: Use the work in a wide range of ways (e.g. in a class, in a study group, on a website, in a video)

• Revise: Adapt, modify and translate the work (e.g. translate the content into another language)

• Remix: Combine it with another resource to make a new work (e.g. incorporate the content into a mashup)

• Redistribute: Share the work with others (e.g. give a copy of the content to a friend)

These rights, or permissions, are made possible through open licensing. For example, Creative Commons open licences help creators of OER retain copyright while allowing others to reproduce, distribute, and make some uses of their work.

Acknowledgements:

David Wiley. Defining the 'open' in open content and open educational resources

What is the University's position on OER?

The University of Sheffield approved a policy on the use and creation of OER in December 2022. You can read the full text, along with associated guidance and the related IP policy at www.sheffield.ac.uk/govern/documents#Doc under ‘intellectual property’. 

Why is the University supporting the use of OER?

Many people within our academic community are already using existing OER or creating their own and sharing it widely. The use of OER aligns with our response to ongoing challenges around the rising costs of textbooks, diversifying the curriculum, and it supports open education, and UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. 

How is the University resourcing the use of OER within the institution?

The Academic Career Pathway specifically identifies the development of OER as evidence of impact under the criterion ‘Improving Teaching Practice’ for promotion to Senior University Teacher, Senior Lecturer or Professor.  If you are wishing to devote time to OER development, do discuss with your SRDS reviewer, line manager and/or Head of School how this time can be incorporated within your overall work allocation going forward.

The institution has also made available a small amount of funding to assist staff in specific aspects of OER use, either adapting existing OER or creating new OER. For further details, see www.sheffield.ac.uk/library/open-access/open-educational-resources.

How can I find out more about the basics of OER? 

Read the ‘Introducing OER’ section of the White Rose Libraries Toolkit. 

How can I find OER?

The OER Commons is a great place to start. For other sources see the ‘Finding OER’ section of the White Rose Libraries Toolkit.

How can I be certain about the quality of the OER I use? 

In line with all teaching material it’s important to decide whether the material is effective for the purpose you want to use it. Has the content been peer reviewed? Read any post-publication reviews written by others. Aside from evaluating the content, there are other factors to consider such as accessibility for your learners. Open Oregon provides a checklist that you could use to evaluate all course materials, including OER. 

What is an example of something that is not an OER?

This would include lecture slides, recorded lectures, research outputs that have been created as part of a knowledge exchange agreement, outputs that contain commercial value to the University and its partners, embargoed, patented and paywalled research outputs. If in doubt check with the University Library. Contact oer@sheffield.ac.uk

Is my work of value to anyone? Will anyone actually use it? How do I know? 

Unlike many other forms of publication OER can be published or widely shared relatively quickly, often with the expectation that others will build on it and provide post-publication feedback. Prior to publication share your work with colleagues in your school or networks and ask for feedback. Ask your students to read and comment on your work.

The nature of OER is that, in making content freely available, monitoring its usage and impact can be more elusive. At the point of creation try to select platforms or tools with built-in usage figures or other analytics. Consider incorporating a feedback mechanism (if the platform doesn’t already include one), such as a Google form so that your users can report any errors after publication, or provide reviews or let you know how they are re-using your work. Collecting such evidence can help in promotion cases.

What help can I access in developing my OER?

There is a growing community of people at the University with an interest and expertise in developing OER. From curriculum developers in Elevate to staff who have created and published OER. The Library can provide copyright advice and can put you in touch with appropriate people. Contact oer@sheffield.ac.uk. 

Who owns my work?

The University’s IP policy states (2023): “Where a member of staff creates IP during the usual course of their employment or in the performance of duties assigned to them, the University will own that IP.“ See www.sheffield.ac.uk/govern/documents#Doc under ‘Intellectual Property’.

The University supports the use and creation of OER (see ‘What is the University’s position on OER’) as long as the appropriate licence is applied and attribution is given.

Can I remove OER content I have created?

You can stop distributing your work under the open licence at any time, but anyone who already has access to a copy may keep using it under the terms of the licence.

How can I provide assurances about the quality of my work?

Peer review of your work is important, and OER demands a more nuanced approach to peer review than traditional published outputs. As a minimum we recommend that you ask colleagues who work in the same field as you (both at Sheffield and elsewhere) to read your work prior to publication. If you’re developing material aimed at students then it’s good practice to involve students to check if your work is useful in helping them to understand the subject. As part of the publishing process, consider including an option for readers or users to report any errors, perhaps via a Google form or sheet. After publication contact people or organisations in your professional networks and ask them to write a review. Good reviews can influence people to read and use your work.

How can I minimise the risk of reputational or physical harm in my OER?

At the outset, an OER proposal should be discussed with the Director of Education for the department/school primarily to ensure it fits with departmental / school priorities for education. Once approval has been obtained there should be an initial assessment of any inherent risk following the University’s broad approach to risk. 

It is expected that all content within OER, regardless of risk level, would be checked for errors and inaccuracies prior to public release and that material such as instructions, protocols, etc, should be thoroughly tested. Retain all documentation relating to testing. With regards to possible reputational risk, staff should be guided by the Code of Conduct.

Creative Commons licences, Section 5 (example here), seek to limit liabilities and therefore it is essential that licences are clearly displayed so that users can read and understand the terms of use. 

Practically, what measures can I put in place to reduce risk?

1. Make the licence visible, ensure there is a link to it, and add a plain text explanation. Example: This work is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. GitHub provides guidance for displaying licence information effectively in GitHub repositories

2. For any work that needs testing prior to public release, retain a record of the testing that was undertaken. 

3. Make it easy for people to report any errors they spot or provide feedback, for example through the inclusion of a Google form in the OER.

4. Seek legal advice for anything you think is high risk. The University has access to legal services and you can get a free initial 30 minute consultation (see https://staff.sheffield.ac.uk/uso/legal-services-panel#free-advice)

5. For high risk material, consider adding your work to the University’s licensing portal which enables you to put additional measures in place (for example forcing someone to acknowledge they have read and accepted the terms and conditions prior to downloading a work). The portal also enables the University to keep a record of who has downloaded your work.

Who’s my target audience?

The idea of OER is that it can be accessed by anyone who may be interested in the subject. This could include your own students, students at other institutions, lifelong learners and others with a general interest and a thirst for knowledge. Other educators may also be interested in your resources, and may wish to re-use/adapt it for their own teaching. It can be helpful to indicate somewhere in your OER the level of the content and your primary audience to make it easier for users to evaluate its appropriateness.

Can I involve collaborators outside the University?

Yes, absolutely! If you’re working with colleagues from other institutions it is important they understand the principles of open educational resources and that you all agree how you are going to licence the end product. Remember that individual sections, chapters, etc, can be licensed and attributed differently (but for material to be OER it should be licensed to allow others to modify and adapt it).

Where can I host OER that I have created?

If your teaching material already resides on Google Drive, then you can use this to host your material. Simply click on the “Share” button on a document or resource, and set the “General Access” to “Anyone with the link: can view.” You can then share the URL with anyone else on the internet. For other types of material, you may choose to host this on a Google Site, which can also be made public access the internet. See the website section on hosting platforms and tools for other options.

Is there a central platform at the University for hosting OER already?

Currently, no. It may not be necessary to have a central place to host OER since where you choose to host material may depend on the format you choose. However, having a central place to record and log OER created or adapted by the University may be something we should consider. In the meantime it’s worth recording your teaching outputs (as well as your research outputs) in myPublications. 

What is the University's stance on OERs - Will they see it as us giving away our content?

We already make a lot of our university created outputs and knowledge openly available, whether that is via Open Access research publications and the White Rose Research Online repository or through events such as Festival of the Mind. We are not referring to making formal teaching materials such as presentations and recorded lectures OERs, but other outputs we create as part of our work such as open books via the University's Pressbooks platform, or short explainer videos and content that has been published on our research repository ORDA. If in doubt, the Library can provide copyright advice and can put you in touch with appropriate people. Contact oer@sheffield.ac.uk. 

How can I make my OER discoverable?

Seek advice from the Library about creating quality metadata. This includes information such as subject headings, intended audience and descriptions of your work. When choosing a place to host and publish your work, check whether it will be indexed by Google and / or included in OER repositories, such as OER Commons and the Open Textbook Library. The Library can advise on this.

How can I promote my work?

Let the University’s OER community know! Promote your work internally by, for example, including an item in your faculty newsletter. It may also be appropriate to include it in the Elevate newsletter. Remember too to add a record to MyPublications and your ORCID account, and provide a link in your email signature.

Beyond Sheffield, consider how you might use your existing networks to help publicise your work. Will your professional / industry magazine or journal include a review? Use your and your faculty’s social media channels. If there has been involvement from the Library the OER team will write a news item for its public web pages.

Am I required to apply / use a Sheffield style or branding?

No. Although you may choose to include the University logo or apply a particular ‘house style’, especially if your work is part of a suite of materials from your school / faculty, there is no requirement to use Sheffield branding. You should, however, make clear that you are affiliated to the University of Sheffield, for example in an ‘about the author(s) / creators’ section. Similarly, any collaborators from other institutions should do the same.

I’ve got some material that’s not OER but would like to convert it to OER. What do I need to do?

See the section on the website ‘Convert your existing work into OER’.

Do I need to check with my funder before making outputs as a result of that work as an OER?

Many funders encourage (and often mandate) the open sharing of material that has been created with their assistance. It is always good practice to acknowledge where you have received support, whether financial or in kind. Any restrictions on dissemination imposed by the funder should be included in the original contract and made clear at the start of the project. 

What can I do if I offer my material under a Creative Commons licence and I do not like the way someone uses it?

If someone has made an adaptation of your CC-licensed work in a way that you no longer wish to be associated with, the adapter must comply with a request that your name be removed. (See Section 3(a)(3) of CC 4.0 legal codes.)

If you believe that someone is using your work in a way that is violating the licence terms, for example, not giving correct credit, or using an NC work commercially, Creative Commons provides a guide on licence enforcement here: What to do if Your CC-Licensed Work is Misused.  (Adapted from Creative Commons FAQs)

Which Creative Commons licence is right for me?

If a Creative Commons licence is appropriate for your material this flowchart might help you decide on the most suitable https://pressbooks.pub/app/uploads/sites/10912/2023/08/licensing-flowchart_CC_Aust.pdf

Creative Commons licences aren’t appropriate for my work. Are other licences available?

See the licensing section of this website and visit https://choosealicense.com/ 

Do I simply need to add an appropriate licence, like Creative Commons, to make my work OER?

Not quite. Although applying a permissive licence is an essential step, there are other considerations. If your aim is to make it straightforward for other people to use your work and adapt it, check there are no technological barriers to this and make it easy for people to export your work in a format which allows them to edit it. See the ‘Convert your existing work into OER’ section of the website. 

Can I still make money from a work I make available under a Creative Commons licence?

Yes. Creative Commons seeks to encourage creators and rights holders to experiment with new ways to promote and market their work. There are several possible ways of doing this.

CC’s NonCommercial (NC) licences allow rights holders to maximise distribution while maintaining control of the commercialisation of their works. If you want to reserve the right to commercialise your work, you may do this by choosing a licence with the NC condition. If someone else wants to use your work commercially and you have applied an NC licence to your work, they must first get your permission. As the rights holder, you may still sell your own work commercially. (Adapted from Creative Commons FAQs)

What happens if I fail to re-use someone else’s work in accordance with the terms of the licence?

All of the CC licences terminate if you fail to follow the licence conditions. If this happens, you no longer have a licence to use the material. In the 4.0 licences, your rights under the licence are automatically reinstated if you correct this failure within 30 days of discovering the violation (either on your own or because the licensor or someone else has told you). Under the 3.0 and earlier licences, there is no automatic reinstatement.

If you have lost your rights under a CC licence and are not entitled to automatic reinstatement, you may regain your rights under the licence if the licensor expressly grants you permission. You cannot simply re-download the material to get a new licence. Note that you may still be liable for damages for copyright infringement for the period where you were not in compliance with the licence.  (Adapted from Creative Commons FAQs)

There are unscrupulous people out there who deliberately upload, e.g., photos with an old Creative Commons licence (such as 2.0 or 3.0) and actively look for people who have incorrectly used or attributed the image. They then threaten legal action via companies such as Pixsy. Remember that with Creative Commons version 4.0 licences you have 30 days to correct any (usually innocent) mistakes. Interested in reading more? See Doctorow, C. (2022) A Bug in Early Creative Commons Licenses Has Enabled a New Breed of Superpredator: Copyleft trolls, robosigning, and Pixsy. Medium (blog). Reference Source

How can I involve students in my work?

Student involvement in the creation of OER can provide a useful introduction to publishing, copyright, licensing and intellectual property. You could ask students to contribute content including diagrams, illustrations, etc. You could involve them in reading or using the content to check whether it is understandable, if there is anything missing, and test any interactive elements. 

There are already cases in the University where students have, with programme leads, identified existing open material to incorporate in programme resources.

See also The Guide to making open textbooks with students and The Open Pedagogy Student Toolkit.

If my students are co-creating OER with me, do I need their consent to share the material?

Yes! Unlike staff who are University employees, a student’s intellectual property is their own. Co-creating OER is a good opportunity for them to learn about their rights as creators, to understand the options for sharing their work, and to provide informed consent. Additional guidance on this topic is currently under development and will be shared here in due course.

Can I re-use OER that other people have created?

Always check the licence. OER should be released under a general use licence, such a Creative Commons (see the licensing section for details of others). This should be made clear somewhere within the resource. If something is available online but no licence is provided then you DON’T have permission to use or adapt it, so you should not do so (strictly speaking though, such material isn’t really OER because it’s not licensed for re-use). Follow our guidance on managing third-party copyright in open publications.

What are my obligations if I use someone else’s work?

You must adhere to the licence which the content creator has applied to their OER and attribute them accordingly as part of your re-use. Even if something is in the public domain it’s good to attribute the creator. See https://sites.google.com/york.ac.uk/oertoolkit/licensing/re-using-others-work/attributing-others-work for best practice regarding attribution. Consider letting the original creator know how you have used their work, for example if you use a book or other OER in your module. It’s good for their development and career progression, and you would want to know how others were using your own work.

Can I edit and adapt someone else’s work?

This depends on what licence they have applied to their OER. For example, a CC BY 4.0 licence allows you to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even commercially. This is as long as attribution is given to the OER creator. A licence with a NoDerivatives (ND) clause allows you to adapt someone’s work but only for private use and not for sharing publicly. A CC BY NC 4.0 licence does not allow you to use the OER for a commercial purpose. It is important that you adhere to the terms of the individual licences.

How do I attribute a creator?

The licence of the OER will typically specify the attribution requirements. This may include; title of the resource, name of the creator, a copyright notice, a licence notice, a disclaimer notice, a link to the material and notification of any changes made. See https://sites.google.com/york.ac.uk/oertoolkit/licensing/re-using-others-work/attributing-others-work for examples.

This attribution should be clearly visible to users of the resource.

The Creative Commons website has a very good FAQ section. See https://creativecommons.org/faq/