What are Open Educational Resources?
Open Educational Resources (OER) are learning, teaching and research materials in any format residing in the public domain or released under an open license, that permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others. UNESCO
OER Quick Links
Why Use OER?
No cost course materials
Expensive course materials contribute to an inequitable classroom. OER removes cost barriers and increases student access to course materials before, during, and after your class.
Available on the first day of class
Because OER are free and available to anyone, course materials can be embedded in your learning management system or linked from your syllabus on day one, eliminating students’ need to order, borrow, or avoid purchasing the materials altogether.
Completely adaptable and customizable to your course
Unlike traditionally published textbooks and course materials, OER can be adapted to meet your teaching contexts and learning outcomes. Librarians are available to assist with adaptation projects and answer questions about open licenses.
Promotes diversity and inclusion
When you create, adapt, or remix OER material and share your work with an open license, you are contributing to the international open movement—providing more resources for others to use and build upon in the future.
Provides opportunities to contribute to shared scholarship
When you create, adapt, or remix OER material and share your work with an open license, you are contributing to the international open movement—providing more resources for others to use and build upon in the future.
OER Campus Success Stories
“I use OER in General Chemistry I and Biochemistry II. Students are overwhelmingly satisfied with the OER courses and report less financial stress because the materials are freely available. As a faculty member, I have enjoyed focusing on writing quality learning objectives and supporting them with open resources. The process resulted in courses that are more satisfying to teach.”
Dr. Emily Ragan
- Professor
- MSU Denver Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
“By making [learning materials] open access, you’re allowing a lot of other people—not only CU Denver students, but other institutions that may be interested in it—to start collaborating and opening up new ways for learning and sharing pedagogical ideas which can improve the teaching and learning process.”
Dr. Charles Musiba
- Professor
- CU Denver Department of Anthropology
“In Chemistry, we have implemented OER textbook and homework for CHE 1009, CHE 1111, and CHE 1112 courses. I love that OER has allowed faculty unrestricted freedom in augmentation of class materials to increase student success. I also love that it lowers cost. Students already deal with a lot of fear when first entering a Chemistry course due to how difficult the content is; they should not have additional barriers on top of that to prevent them from succeeding.”
Dr. Tina Zhao
- Department Chair & Assistant Professor
- CCD Department of Chemistry and Physics
For more information about OER initiatives on campus and around Colorado, please visit:
