Open Educational Resources (OER)
Open Educational Resources (OER) are web-based materials offered freely and openly for use and re-use in teaching, learning and research.
The term OER was first devised at a UNESCO conference in 2002. Since then UNESCO, through its International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), has been a leading researcher on this subject. As OER is an emerging concept, this research and debate is crucial - without adequate and accessible information on this promising concept, OER cannot be a proper part of education and research planning.
Visit UNESCO’s OER Wiki to learn more about OER, contribute to global discussions on OER issues, and to join the OER global community.
OER and the UK
The UK has an important role to play in the OER debate:
- the UK has some of the largest OER projects in the world, including Open University’s ‘Open Learn’
- the UK also has an extensive commercial educational publishing sector
- along with the US and Canada, the UK is a large exporter of e-learning services
The UK National Commission for UNESCO is using the UK’s important position in this area to focus debate and research on issues of access, the sustainability of OER, the impact of OER on local content production, and the quality of OER content.
Select from the events and publications sidebars to learn more about our work on Open Educational Resources.
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