Editing Open educational resources (section)

==Definition and scope==
Open educational resources (OER) are part of a "range of processes"<ref name=":3">Havemann. L. (2020). Open in the evening: Openings and closures in an ecology of practices. In ''Open(ing) Education'' (pp. 329–344). Brill.</ref> employed by researchers and educators to broaden access to scholarly and creative conversations.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":7">Nusbaum, Amy T. (2020). "Who Gets to Wield Academic Mjolnir?: On Worthiness, Knowledge Curation, and Using the Power of the People to Diversify OER". ''Journal of Interactive Media in Education''. '''2020''' (1). {{doi|10.5334/jime.559}} [[ISSN (identifier)|ISSN]]&nbsp;1365-893X.</ref><ref>Ossiannilsson, E. (2021). Human Rights and Social Justice through Open Educational Resources and Lifelong Learning. ''Macro Management & Public Policies'', ''3''(1).</ref><ref name=":4">Essmiller, K., & Asino, T. (2021). Will academic library publishing break OER? A diffusion of innovations study. ''Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2021 (1)''.</ref> Although working definitions of the term OER may vary somewhat based on the context of their use,<ref>{{cite web |title=What is OER? |url=http://wiki.creativecommons.org/What_is_OER |access-date=18 April 2013 |work=wiki.creativecommons.org |publisher=Creative Commons}}</ref> the 2019 definition provided by UNESCO provides shared language useful for shaping an understanding of the characteristics of OER.<ref name="Miao, F 2019">Miao, F, Mishra, S, Orr, D and Janssen, B. 2019. Guidelines on the development of open educational resources policies. UNESCO Publishing.</ref> The 2019 [[UNESCO]] definition describes OER as "teaching, learning and research materials that make use of appropriate tools, such as open licensing, to permit their free reuse, continuous improvement and repurposing by others for educational purposes."<ref name="Miao, F 2019"/>

While collaboration, sharing, and openness have "been an ongoing feature of educational" and research practices "past and present",<ref name=":3" /> the term "OER" was first coined to describe associated resources at UNESCO's 2002 Forum on Open Courseware,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=chRkDAAAQBAJ&q=OER+in+UNESCO+2002&pg=PA411|title=Science Education Research and Practice in Asia: Challenges and Opportunities|last=Chiu|first=Mei-Hung|date=2016-06-10|publisher=Springer|isbn=9789811008474|language=en}}</ref> which determined that "Open Educational Resources (OER) are learning, teaching and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license, that permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others."<ref>{{cite web |last= |date=25 November 2019 |title=UNESCO Recommendation on OER |url=https://en.unesco.org/themes/building-knowledge-societies/oer/recommendation |access-date=2022-03-11 |website=UNESCO |language=en}}</ref>

Often cited is the 2007 report to the [[William and Flora Hewlett Foundation]] which defined OER as "teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use or re-purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Atkins |first1=D. E. |last2=Brown |first2=J. S. |last3=Hammond |first3=A. L. |date=2007 |title=A review of the open educational resources (OER) movement: Achievements, challenges, and new opportunities |url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/A_Review_of_the_Open_Educational_Resources_Movement.pdf |access-date=1 July 2022 |work=Report to The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation}}</ref> The Foundation later updated its definition to describe OER as "teaching, learning and research materials in any medium{{snd}} digital or otherwise{{snd}} that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions." Of note in that definition is the explicit statement that OER can include both digital and non-digital resources, as well as the inclusion of several types of use that OER permit, inspired by 5R activities of OER.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://opencontent.org/definition/ |title=Defining the "Open" in Open Content and Open Educational Resources|website=opencontent.org|accessdate=July 2, 2023}}</ref><ref name="irrodl.org">{{Cite journal |last1=Wiley |first1=David |last2=Hilton Iii |first2=John Levi |year=2018 |title=Defining OER-Enabled Pedagogy |journal=The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning |volume=19 |issue=4 |doi=10.19173/irrodl.v19i4.3601 |doi-access=free}}</ref> In a 2022 overview of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation's activities supporting open education since 2002, the Foundation describes OER as "freely licensed, remixable learning resources",<ref name=":5">{{cite web |date=June 29, 2020 |title=Open Education |url=https://hewlett.org/strategy/open-education/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629150924/https://hewlett.org/strategy/open-education/ |archive-date=June 29, 2022 |access-date=June 29, 2022 |website=William & Flora Hewlett Foundation}}</ref> further including the [[Creative Commons]] definition of OER as "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{{snd}} retaining, remixing, revising, reusing and redistributing the resources."<ref name=":5" /><ref name="irrodl.org" />

The 5R activities/permissions mentioned in the definitions above were proposed by [[David A. Wiley|David Wiley]], and include:<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Wiley|first1=David|last2=Iii|first2=John Levi Hilton|date=2018-09-26|title=Defining OER-Enabled Pedagogy|url=http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/3601|journal=The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning|language=en|volume=19|issue=4|doi=10.19173/irrodl.v19i4.3601|s2cid=158674318|issn=1492-3831|doi-access=free}}</ref>
*'''Retain''' – the right to make, own, and control copies of the content (e.g., download, duplicate, store, and manage)
*'''[[Reuse]]''' – the right to use the content in a wide range of ways (e.g., in a class, in a study group, on a website, in a video)
*'''Revise''' – the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself (e.g., translate the content into another language)
*'''Remix''' – the right to combine the original or revised content with other material to create something new (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup)
*'''Redistribute''' – the right to share copies of the original content, your revisions, or your remixes with others (e.g., give a copy of the content to a friend)<ref>[[File:CC-BY icon.svg|50px]] [http://opencontent.org/definition/ Material was copied from this source], which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.]</ref>

Authors, creators, and communities may apply a range of licenses or descriptions such as those facilitated by [https://creativecommons.org/choose/ Creative Commons] or [https://localcontexts.org/labels/traditional-knowledge-labels/ Local Contexts | TK Labels] to their work to communicate to what extent they intend for downstream users to engage in the 5R activities or other collaborative research, creative and scholarly practices.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Would you use them? A qualitative study on teachers' assessments of open educational resources in higher education|first1=Marjon|last1=Baas|first2=Roeland|last2=van der Rijst|first3=Tjark|last3=Huizinga|first4=Ellen|last4=van den Berg|first5=Wilfried|last5=Admiraal|date=June 1, 2022|journal=The Internet and Higher Education|volume=54|pages=100857|doi=10.1016/j.iheduc.2022.100857|s2cid=248455635 |doi-access=free|hdl=11250/3063763|hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>Ovadia, S. (2019). Addressing the Technical Challenges of Open Educational Resources. Libraries and the Academy, 19(1), 79–93.</ref>

The [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] (OECD) defines OER as: "digitised materials offered freely and openly for educators, students, and self-learners to use and reuse for teaching, learning, and research. OER includes learning content, software tools to develop, use, and distribute content, and implementation resources such as open licences".<ref name="oecdrpt2007">{{cite book |title=Giving Knowledge for Free: THE EMERGENCE OF OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES |date=2007 |publisher=Center for Educational Research and Innovation, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) |url=http://www.oecd.org/education/ceri/38654317.pdf |access-date=28 March 2013}}</ref> By way of comparison, the [[Commonwealth of Learning]] "has adopted the widest definition of Open Educational Resources (OER) as 'materials offered freely and openly to use and adapt for teaching, learning, development and research{{'"}}.<ref>{{cite web|title=Open Educational Resources (OER)|url=http://www.col.org/resources/crsMaterials/Pages/OCW-OER.aspx|work=CoL.org|publisher=Commonwealth of Learning|access-date=16 April 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130503135718/http://www.col.org/resources/crsMaterials/Pages/OCW-OER.aspx|archive-date=3 May 2013}}</ref> The [[WikiEducator]] project suggests that OER refers "to educational resources (lesson plans, quizzes, syllabi, instructional modules, simulations, etc.) that are freely available for use, reuse, adaptation, and sharing'.<ref>{{cite web|title=Oer|url=http://wikieducator.org/Oer|work=WikiEducator.org|access-date=17 April 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Defining OER|url=http://wikieducator.org/Educators_care/Defining_OER|work=WikiEducator.org|publisher=[[Open Education Resource Foundation]]|access-date=18 April 2013}}</ref> Institutions emphasizing recognition of work with open educational resources in faculty promotion and tenure emphasize their use in research, scholarly and creative works as well.<ref>Essmiller, K, Daniel, J., Reiter, H., Colquhoun, C. (2022, April 26–28). ''You say tomato, I also say tomato'' [Conference presentation]. Association for Learning Technology OER22. London, England.</ref>

The above definitions expose some of the tensions that exist with OER:
*'''Nature of the resource:''' Several of the definitions above limit the definition of OER to digital resources, while others consider that any educational resource can be included in the definition.
*'''Source of the resource:''' While some of the definitions require a resource to be produced with an explicit educational aim in mind, others broaden this to include any resource which may potentially be used for learning.
*'''Level of openness:''' Most definitions require that a resource be placed in the public domain or under a fully open license. Others require only that free use to be granted for educational purposes, possibly excluding commercial uses.

These definitions also have common elements, namely they all:
*cover use and reuse, repurposing, and modification of the resources;
*include free use for educational purposes by teachers and learners
*encompass all types of digital media.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Camilleri |first1=Anthony F |last2=Ehlers |first2=Ulf |last3=Pawlowski|first3=Jan|year=2014 |title= State of the Art Review of Quality Issues related to Open Educational Resources (OER)|publisher=Publications Office of the European Union|location=Luxembourg |page=54 |url= http://www.pedocs.de/volltexte/2014/9101/|isbn=9789279379161 }}</ref>
Given the diversity of users, creators and sponsors of open educational resources, it is not surprising to find a variety of use cases and requirements. For this reason, it may be as helpful to consider the differences between descriptions of open educational resources as it is to consider the descriptions themselves. One of several tensions in reaching a consensus description of OER (as found in the above definitions) is whether there should be explicit emphasis placed on specific [[technology|technologies]]. For example, a [[video]] can be openly licensed and freely used without being a ''streaming'' video. A [[book]] can be openly licensed and freely used without being an ''electronic'' document. This technologically driven tension is deeply bound up with the discourse of [[Open-source license|open-source licensing]]. For more, see [[#Licensing and Types of OER|Licensing and Types of OER]] later in this article.

There is also a tension between entities which find value in quantifying usage of OER and those which see such [[Performance metric|metrics]] as themselves being irrelevant to free and open resources. Those requiring metrics associated with OER are often those with economic investment in the technologies needed to access or provide electronic OER, those with economic interests potentially threatened by OER,<ref>{{cite book|last=(CERI)|first=Center for Educational Research and Innovation|title=Giving Knowledge for Free: The Emergence of Open Educational Resources|year=2007|publisher=Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD)|location=Executive Summary (Policy implications and recommendations)|isbn=978-92-64-03174-6|page=15|url=http://www.oecd.org/edu/ceri/38654317.pdf}}</ref> or those requiring justification for the costs of implementing and maintaining the infrastructure or access to the freely available OER. While a semantic distinction can be made delineating the technologies used to access and host learning content from the content itself, these technologies are generally accepted as part of the collective of open educational resources.<ref>{{cite book|last=(CERI)|first=Center for Educational Research and Innovation|title=Giving Knowledge for Free: The Emergence of Open Educational Resources|year=2007|publisher=Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD)|location=Executive Summary (What are open educational resources?)|isbn=978-92-64-03174-6|page=10|url=http://www.oecd.org/edu/ceri/38654317.pdf}}</ref>

Since OER are intended to be available for a variety of educational purposes, some organizations using OER neither award degrees nor provide academic or administrative support to students seeking college credits towards a diploma from a degree granting [[Higher education accreditation|accredited institution]].<ref name="hafner">{{Cite news| last = Hafner| first = Katie| title = Higher Education Reimagined With Online Courseware| work = [[The New York Times]]| location = New York| access-date = 2010-12-19| date = 2010-04-16| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/education/edlife/18open-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all}}</ref><ref name="Johnstone">{{Cite journal | volume = 28 | issue = 3 | last = Johnstone | first = Sally M. | title = Open Educational Resources Serve the World | journal = Educause Quarterly | access-date = 2010-11-01 | year = 2005 | url = http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/OpenEducationalResourcesServet/157357 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100901161749/http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/OpenEducationalResourcesServet/157357 | archive-date = 2010-09-01 | url-status = dead }}</ref> However, many degree granting institutions have intentionally embraced the use of OER for research, teaching and learning, seeing their use and creation as in aligning with academic or institutional mission statements.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Connect OER – SPARC |url=https://connect.sparcopen.org/directory/?name=&city=&taskforce=&staff=&oerdegree_offered=&catalog=&country=&system_source_id=&congressional_district= |access-date=2022-06-29 |website=connect.sparcopen.org}}</ref> In [[open education]], there is an emerging effort by some accredited institutions to offer free certifications, or achievement badges, to document and acknowledge the accomplishments of participants.<ref>{{cite web |title=Home |url=https://www.ocolearnok.org/ |access-date=2022-06-29 |website=Online Consortium of Oklahoma |language=en-US}}</ref>

In order for educational resources to be OER, they must have an open license or otherwise communicate willingness for iterative reuse and/or modification. Many educational resources made available on the Internet are geared to allowing online access to digitalized educational content, but the materials themselves are restrictively licensed. These restrictions may complicate the reuse and modification considered characteristic of OER. Often, this is not intentional, as educators and researchers may lack familiarity with copyright law <ref>Perry, Anali M., "Building copyright confidence in instructional designers", in Coaching Copyright, edited by Kevin L. Smith and Erin L. Ellis (Chicago, ALA Editions, 2020) pp. 121–135.</ref> in their own jurisdictions, never mind internationally. International law and national laws of nearly all nations, and certainly of those who have signed onto the [[World Intellectual Property Organization]] (WIPO), restrict all content under strict copyright (unless the copyright owner specifically releases it under an open license). The [[Creative Commons license]] is a widely used licensing framework internationally used for OER.<ref name=":0" />