LibGuides: Open Education: Getting Started with Open Education

Important Definitions To Understand

For those new to Open Education, the terminology can be confusing. There are key differences that distinguish each term from the other. See the definitions below.

Affordable Learning Resources are quality, low- or no-cost educational resources that encourage student success while lowering student costs. These resources include library-licensed resources, Open Educational Resources, and items freely available or in the public domain on the web.

Open Educational Resources (OER), which are teaching, learning, and research resources that are free of cost and access barriers, and which also carry legal permission for open use.They include a multitude of formats, including textbooks, full courses, modules, videos, labs, assignments, and assessments.

Open Education "encompasses resources, tools and practices that are free of legal, financial and technical barriers and can be fully used, shared and adapted in the digital environment. Open Education maximizes the power of the Internet to make education more affordable, accessible and effective." ("Open Education", Sparc)

Where Do I Start?

Interested in Affordable Learning? OER? Open Education? -- Here are a few suggested options to get you started:

Option 1: Contact the OER Librarian, Jessica Cerny. The librarian can provide assistance in finding resources for your course(s) and/or provide guidance on where to find potential resources and answer questions you may have about the topic.

Jessica Cerny, OER Librarian - jessica.cerny@tridenttech.edu

Option 2: If you would like to see what type of resources are available, check out the available pages with links (left side menu): "OER Resources" and "PASCAL Affordable Learning Resources." If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact the OER librarian mentioned in Option 1 above.

Option 3: This guide provides links to suggested videos that might answer questions and/or provide insight about OER and Affordable Learning. Check out the page "Videos about OER" (left side menu).

Getting to Know Open Education

Below are a few links to sources that offer more information about what is Open Education and potential ideas to get started:

The OER Starter Kit
This starter kit has been created to provide instructors with an introduction to the use and creation of open educational resources (OER). The text is broken into five sections: Getting Started, Copyright, Finding OER, Teaching with OER, and Creating OER. Although some chapters contain more advanced content, the starter kit is primarily intended for users who are entirely new to Open Education.
OER Mythbusting
OER Mythbusting addresses the top seven myths about OER in North American higher education, as voted on my more than 100 faculty, librarians, students and other members of the OER community. This project grew out of a discussion during one of SPARC’s Libraries and OER Forum monthly calls, where a group of librarians from the U.S. and Canada identified a need for better resources to address misconceptions about OER.
7 Things You Should Know About Open Education
This publication is one in a three-part series from EDUCAUSE designed as a point of departure for conversations about all aspects of open education.