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
New Faculty Watch Report (2020) Published
The Faculty Watch report provides faculty perceptions and behaviors to allow you to effectively understand the evolution of course content. The report explores the course materials selection process, tracks faculty usage of materials, and analyzes faculty attitudes toward the college store.