Open Educational Resources (OERs)

Creating OERs

There are some things to consider as you create your own Open Educational Resource (OER), such as what tools and software to use, accessibility, licensing and management of content and what support is available within the University.

Content and audience

When you make an OER, evaluate the content you already have. You may have appropriate content from your teaching, or you may want to create something new for a specific purpose. You can also remix existing OERs, just remember to make sure that all licences are compatible with your final OER.

Consider expanding your focus beyond your current students and think about how releasing high-quality content could benefit others. If you’re not sure where to start, then contact the Library for help with planning your OER.

Please read the University’s policy on audio and video recording for educational purposes so that you can get all the necessary permissions to enable sharing from the outset.

White Rose Libraries OER Toolkit

This White Rose OER Toolkit includes instructions, best practices and tools for creating high-quality, accessible educational materials. Whether you're new to OERs or looking to improve your existing ones, this toolkit will help you on your path to more open and inclusive education. The Toolkit is provided by the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York.

Software to create OERs

OERs don’t have to be complex to be useful. For example, a Microsoft Word document with a simple checklist or a presentation created in PowerPoint could be very helpful resources.

You can also use software such as Microsoft Sway and Evolve to create OERs that are engaging, dynamic and interactive. PebblePad’s features are great for creating online content.

The Digital Education Systems team can help you to design educational materials that are accessible, make them publicly available and integrate them into Minerva, our virtual learning environment.

File management

Effectively manage your OERs in Microsoft 365 by using a consistent file naming convention, such as YYYY-MM-DD_Subject-Resource-Type, to facilitate identification.

Save and organise your resources into well-structured folders, based subject or course, in SharePoint or OneDrive to help you to navigate, retrieve and maintain documents. Including metadata, such as course names and academic years, in folder titles will improve the searchability of your resources.

Enable version control and assign appropriate access permissions to limit who can view and edit the files.

Accessibility for OERs

When creating your own OERs, or using others, it is important to assess the accessibility of the resource before sharing. Check that the materials are compliant with WCAG 2.1 accessibility standards. If you need help with checking whether your OERs are accessible, please contact us.

Licensing OERs

As the creator of a piece of work, you automatically hold its copyright. To allow others to rework and reuse your resources, it’s essential that you give legal permissions. You do this by applying a Creative Commons Attribution licence. The following CC licences are OER compatible:

CC-BY enables you to circulate, adapt and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. It also allows for commercial use.
CC-BY-SA allows you to distribute and edit the material in your preferred medium or format, giving credit to the creator. The licence allows for commercial use. If you rework or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms.
CC-BY-NC enables you to share and build upon the material in any medium or format for non-commercial purposes only. It is required to give attribution to the creator.
CC-BY-NC-SA enables you to distribute, remix and add to the material in any medium or format so long as you license the modified material under the same terms as the original. This does not allow for commercial purposes and you must credit the original author.

Read the Creative Commons guidance for more information on types of licences and how to apply the licence to your work.

No-Derivatives licences, such as CC-BY-ND or CC-BY-NC-ND, are the most restrictive form of licenses because digital content with these licences cannot be adapted or reworked, though it can be shared. Despite the limits of NDs, there may be valid reasons to use them when creating OERs. For example, a video participant might not give permission for their words or image to be extracted from the context of the digital resource. Sometimes research funders require the use of these more restrictive licences.

Third-party content licensing

If you adapt or build upon other OERs then it is crucial that the licence that you apply to your final work is compatible with the licences of all the third-party resources that you have used.

You must verify that you have permission to use any third-party content by checking the licence the original creator applied to that content.