What Open Educational Resources Look Like - by Adrian Stagg

"Students and teachers alike recognise that the learning landscape has shifted significantly with an abundance of learning materials available freely online. Previous educational systems, based on the expert knowledge residing in the teacher alone, and scarcity of educational opportunities have – in many parts of the world – been overturned by a democratisation of access to knowledge and the tools to create new knowledge. Whilst platforms such as TED, YouTube, Vimeo and Khan Academy provide free access to some of the leading minds globally, on almost any topic, the legality of reusing, sharing and even altering the content to suit your local area is a fraught space that leaves many teachers lamenting the complexities of copyright. This is where open educational resources (OER) plays an integral role in allowing more liberal, legal sharing of resources to reduce barriers to education, provide cost-effective and high-quality resources for learners and teachers, and create new opportunities for student learning. The following paragraphs describe specific instances of teachers and tertiary-level academics applying OER to learning and teaching...."