University of Belize Open Educational Resources
Empowering education through cost-effective and ethical use of open resources
About Open Educational Resources (OER)
Open Educational Resources (OER) are free, openly licensed educational materials that can be used for teaching, learning, research, and other purposes. They come in many formats, such as textbooks, full courses, videos, tests, and software.
Benefits of OER
- Cost Savings: OER materials are free, which can significantly reduce the cost burden on students.
- Flexibility: OER can be customized to fit the specific needs of your course, allowing you to adapt materials to suit your teaching style and your students' learning preferences.
- Up-to-Date Content: Unlike traditional textbooks, OER can be continuously updated to include the most recent information, ensuring your course materials stay current.
- Accessibility: OER can be easily accessed by students, regardless of their location or financial situation.
- Collaboration: OER promotes collaboration among educators, allowing them to share and improve resources collectively.
- Innovation: The open nature of OER encourages innovative teaching methods and content creation.
Faculty Guide to Using OER
As an educator, adopting open educational resources can enhance your teaching and benefit your students. Here's a guide to help you get started:
- Explore OER Repositories: Familiarize yourself with OER repositories like OER Commons, MERLOT, and OpenStax.
- Evaluate Quality: Assess the quality and relevance of OER materials for your course objectives.
- Adapt and Customize: Modify OER to fit your specific course needs and teaching style.
- Integrate with Existing Materials: Combine OER with your existing course materials for a comprehensive curriculum.
- Provide Clear Attribution: Ensure proper attribution for all OER materials used in your course.
- Gather Student Feedback: Collect feedback from students on the effectiveness of OER materials.
- Contribute Back: Consider creating and sharing your own OER to contribute to the community.
- Stay Informed: Keep up with OER trends and best practices through workshops and professional development opportunities.
OER Information
The 5Rs of Open Educational Resources
The 5Rs describe the permissions that are inherent in OER:
- Retain: The right to make, own, and control copies of the content.
- 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).
- 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).
Creative Commons Licenses
Creative Commons licenses allow content creators to communicate which rights they reserve and which rights they waive for the benefit of recipients or other creators.
- CC BY: This license allows others to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the work, even commercially, as long as they credit the original creation.
- CC BY-SA: This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit the original creator and license their new creations under identical terms.
- CC BY-NC: This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge the author, they don't have to license their derivative works on the same terms.
- CC BY-ND: This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to the author.
- CC BY-NC-SA: This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under identical terms.
- CC BY-NC-ND: This license is the most restrictive, allowing others to download the works and share them with others as long as they credit the author, but they can't change them in any way or use them commercially.
- CC0: This license waives all copyright and related rights. Anyone can use the work for any purpose, without restriction.
OER Repository
Filter by Category:
YouTube Channels for Educational Content
CrashCourse
Visit ChannelKhan Academy
Visit ChannelMIT OpenCourseWare
Visit ChannelTED-Ed
Visit ChannelNational Geographic
Visit ChannelSciShow
Visit ChannelVeritasium
Visit ChannelMinutePhysics
Visit ChannelAsapSCIENCE
Visit ChannelNumberphile
Visit ChannelOER Creation Tools
Contact Us
If you have any questions or need assistance with OER, please don't hesitate to contact us:
- Email: oer@ub.edu.bz
- Phone: +501 822-1000
- Address: University of Belize, Hummingbird Avenue, Belmopan, Belize
We're here to support your OER journey and answer any questions you may have about implementing OER in your courses.