What are OERs?
According to UNESCO, “Open Educational Resources (OER) are learning, teaching and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license, that permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others.”
Benefits for language teachers
OER provide many benefits for language teachers and students, including:
- Addressing gaps in materials
- Customization and adaptability
- Accessibility and equitability
- Authentic, diverse content
- Multimodal, interactive materials
- Less reliance on textbooks
- Collaboration
- Sustainability (updates)
- Integration into other technology
Creating your OER
Creating your own OER has several benefits, but it also requires resources, preparation, and guidance. Here are some recommendations:
- See the examples of OERs that have been created by Yale language instructors
- Review the CLS’s current set of standards for language OERs.
- Apply for resources to support development:
OER Authoring Tools and Platforms
Pressbooks
CampusPress
Yale Sites
Other OER Repositories
Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language and Literacy (CERCLL)
The Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning (COERLL)