Open Educational Resources

What is OER?

Dutchess Community College has adopted the definition of Open Educational Resources from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) which states: “Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning or research materials that are in the public domain or released with intellectual property licenses that facilitate the free use, adaptation and distribution of resources.” (UNESCO, n.d.). These resources include textbooks, videos, presentations, worksheets, and other learning resources that are available for modification, use, redistribution, sharing, and utilization without authorization of the creator/s.

5 Rs Of OER

OER material can be modified and aligned to your curriculum without the permission of the author or creator. Not all OER materials are created equally. Make sure that you check the Creative Commons license to understand which permissions are associated with the selected OER materials.

Retain: Can make, own, and control copies of the content. OER is compatible with most Learning Management System (LMS)

Redistrubute: Can Share original and altered versions of content with your students

Reuse: Can fully use content for any purpose, in different mediums

Revise: The content can be adapted, adjusted, modified, or altered

Remix: Can combine with other OER materials

OER AT DCC

Through Innovative Educator funding and other financial supports, faculty have been able to adopt OER pedagogy into their curriculum. Currently, DCC offers over 40 courses that utilize OER materials. Through OER utilization, DCC students have saved thousands of dollars on course materials. For a course to be designated as OER, 51% of the course material must be licensed as OER or reside in the public domain.

OER Opportunities at DCC

DCC was one of 15 SUNY institutions that participate in the first SUNY OER Sustainability Cohort. Through this work, we have established OER guidelines for the college, a stream of funding for faculty projects, and a proposal application for faculty adoption.

If you are interested in aligning OER with DEISJ educational frameworks, revising your current OER, or modifying an existing OER to implement in your course, see the documents below for information about the OER policies and application.

DCC OER Guidelines

DCC OER Application

If you are interested in learning more about OER or are interested in applying for OER course development funds, please contact us at the TLC for more information or join us for one of our Learning Community sessions. Dates can be access through the calendar.

Accepted OER Funded Proposals

There were 10 proposals approved for funding for Summer/Fall 2023. Click on the proposal to see the exciting work faculty are doing to incorporate OER into their curriculum.

ART110-Holly McCabe FLM243-Dana Weidman