Understanding OER

Need to know more about Open Educational Resources (OER)? The support base for OER has gained momentum in the last few years in part due to the 2019 UNESCO Recommendation on OER that encourages Member States to support ‘effective, inclusive, and equitable access to quality OER’. In May 2017, Creative Commons estimated that there were 1.4 billion open resources. By 2023 their website claimed the figure had climbed to 2.5 billion. So what exactly are OER and do they live up to the hype?

For more information, read a PDF version of our Understanding OER Guide.

In the following topics, we will explain the concept and help you understand OER. These OER topics have been divided into two tracks designed to support different orientations:

Tracks

Practice and trend tracks

In the following topics, we will explain the concept and help you understand OER. These OER topics have been divided into two tracks designed to support different orientations:

Practice Track (1-6)

Aimed at people who will be interacting with OER directly, such as course and materials developers, teachers and lecturers, who are essentially OER users. These topics aim to provide skills to find, evaluate, adapt and distribute OER.

Trends Track (A-E)

Aimed at people who are interested in OER as a movement and are wanting to investigate how best to encourage the growth of local, national, and regional communities of practice. This would include policy makers, education support staff, and researchers. Topics here focus on changing patterns of use, identifying exemplary OER initiatives, developments in open licensing, and adoption rates for African academics and institutions.