Frequently Asked Questions

 

OER

When did the Open Education movement begin?

The term "open content" was coined in 1998 by David Wiley and was inspired by the open software movement.  The prevalence of open educational resources and the community supporting them has been growing since.

Are these resources quality?

Most OER are written by academics and experts in their field, like the textbooks from the big publishers.  Just like traditional textbooks, some will meet your pedagogical needs while others will not. The Open Textbook Library includes reviews from faculty with many of their textbooks on their site. See an example from OU author Chad Davis.

Why would I adopt OER for my course?

The most straightforward reason is to save your students money on textbooks. The cost of higher education has increased dramatilly over the last several decades and utilizing OER and other free resources is something that instructors can do the relieve the financial burden of earning a college degree. Since OER are openly licensed, you have the flexibility of remixing, rearranging, or adding to the materials do best meet your pedagogical needs. In addition, OU Libraries offers an Alternative Textbook Grant (ATG) each spring semester for instructors who would like to make the switch. Please see our ATG website for more information.

How is the creation of OER funded?

Funding to support the creation of OER typically comes from academic institutions, philanthropic organizations, and increasingly state and federal governments; however, some are created solely out of goodwill.  OU Libraries awards modest grants to instructors who adopt OER reducing what students spend on course materials via the Alternative Textbook Grant.

What about copyright?

OER authors retain full copyright of the resources they create.  In order to be considered OER a resources must have an open license. 

What is a license?

A license explicitly states what a copyright holder allows others to do with their work.  All rights reserved is a form of a license that limits the use of a resource to that which is allowed by fair use and nothing else. The non-profit Creative Commons has written and openly published a spectrum of legal statements explicitly permit various uses of a resource. Other license exist, the GNU Free Documentation License, for example, applies similar permissions to a work.

 

Alternative Textbook Grant

What is the Alternative Textbook Grant?

The Alternative Textbook Grant is an initiative of OU Libraries.  Its primary goal is to compensate instructors for the work required to abandon costly, traditional course materials in favor of free and open course materials.  The primary metric of success for this initiative is a reduction in what students spend on course materials.  The grant, which was started in 2014, accepts applications annually opening its call for applications in January of each year.  Award amounts range from $250 – $2500. 

What can the awards be spent on?

Anything the recipient likes.   Though Alternative Textbook Grant awards are intended to be supplemental income, some have been used for creative purposes including:

• Airfare and boarding for a recipient's colleague to visit OU and collaboratively develop an OER
• Wages for a graduate student who produces an OER under the supervision of the awardee
• The purchase of a classroom set of electronic tablets

Where can I learn more about OU Libraries' Alternative Textbook Grant?

guides.ou.edu/ATG

 

Creative Commons Licenses

What are Creative Commons Licenses?

Creative Commons Licenses are legal terms that supplement copyright –not an alternative to copyright.  They work alongside copyright and enable the modification of its terms to fit specific needs.  Applying a Creative Commons License to a work can be thought of as changing the familiar,

"All rights reserved"

to

"Some rights reserved."

How do I register my work with a CC license?

You don't.  To apply the terms of a CC license to a work, simply choose a license using this wizard and insert its icon and its declaration into your work where you would typically include "All Rights Reserved" or "©".  You'll find an example declaration at the bottom of this page. 

Where can I learn more about Creative Commons licenses?

guides.ou.edu/cc