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Open Educational Resources (OER)

Find and evaluate OER materials such as ebooks, images, video, case studies, simulations and more. Understand copyright and Creative Commons (CC) licences.

Defining OER

Within the bounds of Creative Commons licensing there are 5 key points to consider when using OER:5R logo

1. Retain - Copies of content can be retained for personal archives or reference

2. Reuse - Content can be reused in its unaltered original format

3. Revise - Content can be modified or altered to suit specific needs

4. Remix - Content can be adapted with other similar content to create something new

5. Redistribute - Content can be shared with anyone else in its original or altered format
 

"The 5Rs of Openness" by David Wiley is licensed under CC BY 4.0

"5Rs logo" by BCcampus is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Creative Commons licences

Open Educational Resources (OER) are subject to Creative Commons licensing. These licences are as follows:

LICENCE TERMS                                                                          
CC BY logo

Attribution CC BY

Allow to copy, adapt, modify, share the work as long as the original creators are credited for any purposes. 
CC BY-SA logo

Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA

All rights as Attribution (BY) licence and new creations have to be licensed under same terms as the original work. 
CC BY-ND logo

Attribution-NoDerivs CC BY-ND

Allow to copy, share but keep the work unchanged and in whole for any purposes.
CC BY-NC logo

Attribution-NonCommercial CC BY-NC

Allow to copy, adapt, modify, share the work for non-commercial purposes only.
CC BY-NC-SA logo

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA

All rights as Attribution (BY) - Share Alike (SA) licence but for non-commercial purposes only.
CC BY-NC-ND logo

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND

All rights as Attribution (BY) - No Derivatives (ND) licence but for non-commercial purposes only.

You can find more information about licences from the Creative Commons website.

Note: Not all OER use the same licensing restriction. It is important to check the permissions of the OER before using them to ensure compliance with the terms. 

How to label third party content in Creative Commons licensed material Creative Commons licences are designed to let others know how they may use work without infringing on copyrights. Therefore, if you are distributing information under a Creative Commons licence, and it includes content that isn’t covered by the Creative Commons licence, this material needs to be clearly identified.
 

Creative Commons License and how it helps us share digital content (5.32 mins) by BrickPress (YouTube)

Open Attribution Builder

To assist in building your attribution to openly licensed material.