Open Educational Resources

OER are freely accessible, openly licensed course material shared by educators that you can use to teach and learn. Some examples of OER are digital textbooks, lesson plans, audiovisual material, and complete courses.

Washington Online occasionally offers online classes to teach state faculty about OER.

Several guides to OER are available. These links don't contain OER, but provide commentary and ratings on databases that will help narrow your search.

Creative Commons is the most popular licensing option for OER. Each license uses simple icons to explain how you're allowed to use the material. For example, the license will indicate whether it's all right to integrate the material into a commercial product or remix the contents. Creative Commons licenses are legally binding, but provide more freedom to to user than conventional copyright.