Educational Resources: Free vs. Open

Module 2: Part 3 - Open Educational Resources

image24.jpg

Open Educational Resources have recently been in the national spotlight, including the announcement that the US Government increased its commitment to OER Links to an external site.. Trying to define what an open educational resource is and what is not, is a challenging task and there is no "right" answer. Part of the challenge surrounds the word “open”. Pause for a moment and consider what “open” means to you. Have you heard this term before, and if you have, did people always use it the same way? Consider for a moment that you are currently enrolled in a Massive OPEN Online Course. How is this different from content that is “openly” available for public viewing online? Would you consider the results of a Google image search open? Would you consider Facebook to be open? What about other social media such as Twitter, Pinterest, or Blogger?

"Free" versus “Open”

Often words in this space are used in a variety of overlapping and even misleading ways. Most often we say “open”, when really we mean “free”, and even then we only mean “free” to mean “I did not pay cash” for goods or services. Social media platforms are one example of how we use “free” in this way. As there is no established definition of “open”, we should consider two characteristics we might consider in defining it for ourselves, that is Gratis vs Libre:

  • Gratis - resources are freely available - free to access and use - but are restricted in some way. Cost may not be a barrier to those who wish to access and use the materials, but other barriers may still be in place, such as the inability for you to make changes and redistribute the work.
  • Libre - resources are free, and can be re-used, modified, and redistributed. This removes the barrier of having to obtain permission from the creator to use and modify works.

Creative Commons: Gratis or Libre?

Consider the types of Creative Commons licenses discussed in Part 3. Which licenses would you consider to be gratis? Which ones would you consider to be libre? Are any of the licenses a mix of both gratis and libre? Are any licenses neither gratis nor libre?