Learn about OER and Affordability efforts at BYU
What are open educational resources (OER) and affordability?
Affordability: This refers to efforts used by educational institutions to reduce or eliminate course materials costs while maintaining the expected high quality of a higher education experience.
Open Educational Resources: “teaching, learning, and research materials that are either (a) in the public domain or (b) licensed in a manner that provides everyone with free and perpetual permission to engage in the 5R activities,” (Creative Commons) that is, retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute (Wiley). Further, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation defines open education as “the myriad of learning resources, teaching practices and education policies that use the flexibility of OER to provide learners with high quality educational experiences.”
Open Educational Resources: “teaching, learning, and research materials that are either (a) in the public domain or (b) licensed in a manner that provides everyone with free and perpetual permission to engage in the 5R activities,” (Creative Commons) that is, retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute (Wiley). Further, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation defines open education as “the myriad of learning resources, teaching practices and education policies that use the flexibility of OER to provide learners with high quality educational experiences.”
News & Highlights
BYU Faculty Highlight
Royce Kimmons--OER Advocate in Educational Technology
Dr. Royce Kimmons uses and produces Open Educational Materials for his courses taught in the McKay School of Education. He has developed and published multiple textbooks and other course materials, many of which can be found on an open publishing platform he created at https://edtechbooks.org/.
Recent OER & Affordability News
University Students Saved $177 Million in 2018 by Using OpenStax.
Universities around the country are utilizing the OpenStax open educational resources. Schools are saving students millions every year and students are enjoying the benefits.