What are Open Educational Resources?

Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning and research materials that are freely available for anyone to access, use and share. They include resources such as:

• Textbooks
• Lecture slides and teaching materials
• Videos and podcasts
• Datasets
• Quizzes

Most OERs are made available under open licences, usually through the Creative Commons framework. These licences allow us to reuse and adapt materials legally, provided the licence conditions are followed and appropriate attribution is given.

Using OERs can help reduce the cost of learning materials and support equitable access to core resources for all students.

Finding OERs

• Directory of Open Access Books - peer-reviewed open access books across a wide range of subjects
• MERLOT - curated online learning and teaching materials for higher education
• OER Commons - a large international repository of openly licensed resources
• Open Textbook Library - a catalogue of open textbooks suitable for university teaching

These platforms can provide a starting point for discovery. As with any teaching resource, OERs should be evaluated for quality and relevance before use. Discipline-specific repositories may also be available.

Using OERs

OERs can support flexible and inclusive approaches to teaching. This may involve adopting an open textbook, incorporating individual resources into a module, or adapting materials to suit specific teaching needs.

When using OERs, it is important to:

• Check the licence terms to understand how the resource can be reused
• Provide appropriate attribution to the original creator
• Ensure the material is accurate and suitable for the teaching context

Guidance on copyright, licensing and attribution is available from the Open Research Team.

Creating and Adapting OERs

You may choose to create or adapt teaching materials for sharing as OERs. For example, an existing open textbook chapter might be adapted to include local case studies or discipline-specific examples, making it more relevant for students.

When creating or adapting OERs, it is important to:

• Ensure you have the right to reuse and adapt any existing materials
• Apply an appropriate open licence
• Clearly attribute any third-party content

For more information about creating and adapting OERs, please see guidance here.

Help

The Open Research Team can offer:

• Advice on Creative Commons licensing and attribution
• Support for engaging with open education and open research practices

Quick Start

1. Find - search OER platforms such as OER Commons or MERLOT
2. Use or adapt - check the licence terms, integrate the resource into your teaching, and make any permitted modifications
3. Share - provide attribution to the original creator and consider sharing your own materials as OERs