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Open Educational Resources (OER)

Benefits of Open Educational Resources (OER)

  • OER are free or low-cost and affordable for students, making education more accessible.
  • OER can be customized and adapted to the course context and combined with other content and interactive or multimedia elements to provide richer teaching and learning opportunities.
  • OER offer remote and continued access since most OER are digital, do not require an access code and do not expire.
  • OER contribute to students’ success and completion by easing their financial burden without having a negative impact on their learning.
  • OER can be an opportunity to co-create knowledge with students in the form of renewable assignments rather than limiting their role to that of consumers of information.

The adaptation of existing open educational resources and the creation of new resources are also opportunities to make course materials more accessible, inclusive, and representative for learners. This kind of flexibility rarely exists in traditional textbooks. Because OER are not created to satisfy a commercial market, they can address topics and include perspectives that would otherwise be neglected (see below).

What Niagara College Libraries and Learning Commons can do to help

  • Provide advice on how to use and interpret Creative Commons licences

  • Work though copyright and fair dealing concerns

  • Provide guidance on basic accessibility concerns

  • Provide a platform for you to publish your OER through our repository

  • Help you add your OER to external repositories

What Niagara College Libraries and Learning Commons cannot do

  • Be completely knowledgeable about all OER in your subject area

  • Make the final decision about the appropriateness of a resource

  • Make the final decision about the quality of a resource

  • Choose your textbook or course material for you

  • Interfere with your academic freedom

OER@NC

Professional Communications: Canadian edition

No matter what your field is, having professional communication skills are essential to success in today's workplace. This book covers key business communications topics that will help you in your career, including intercultural communication, team work, professional writing, audience analysis and adapting messages, document formatting, oral communication, and more.

Used in COMM1140

Are you using OER in your class?  Tell us about it and we will feature it in this guide!