Open educational resources (OER)

Open educational resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research resources in the public domain or released with an open license (e.g., Creative Commons license). Anyone can freely use, copy, adapt, and reshare OER. The University of Arizona is an active member of the Open Education Network, which advances open education and resources.

Opencontent.org states that true OER are free to access and follow the 5R's of open content:

  1. Retain: make, own, and control copies of the content
  2. Reuse: use the content in a wide range of ways
  3. Revise: adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself
  4. Remix: combine original or revised content with other material to create something new
  5. Redistribute: share copies of the original content, revisions, or remixes with others

All kinds of materials can be released as OER. A few examples are:

  • Textbooks and lecture notes
  • Syllabi and full courses
  • Test questions and assignments
  • Software, videos, and games

Why OER?

OER provide students with more accessible and affordable educational opportunities. For instructors, using OER in your courses can lead to higher student satisfaction and better learning outcomes.

Since OER are free to access, these materials help address the negative impacts of high textbook prices.

Learn more about OER, their benefits, and how to use them:

These resources were created by Cheryl Casey and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY).

Get support

General OER support

Contact your librarian or open education librarian, Cheryl Casey:

Low-cost print versions of textbooks

Cindy Hawk, Assistant Director, UA BookStores

Dan Crosson, Buyer, UA BookStores

Campus partners

We partner with several departments on campus for OER initiatives: