Literature On OPEN EDUCATION RESOURCES

OER Africa keeps a moderated collection of resources relevant to everyone interested in the development of open education resources in education in Africa.
Theory on OER
  1. Basic Guide to OER
  2. Harnessing Openness to Improve Research, Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
  3. Guidelines for Open Educational Resources (OER) in Higher Education
  4. Open Educational Resources and Higher Education.
Copyright and Intellectual Property
  1. What is Creative Commons?
  2. Open Content Licensing (OCL) for Open Educational Resources.
  3. Applying Creative Commons Licenses to Your Educational Resources.
  4. How to Attribute Your Creative Commons Licensed Materials.
Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools.

Our free, easy-to-use copyright licenses provide a simple, standardized way to give the public permission to share and use your creative work — on conditions of your choice. CC licenses let you easily change your copyright terms from the default of “all rights reserved” to “some rights reserved.”

Creative Commons licenses are not an alternative to copyright. They work alongside copyright and enable you to modify your copyright terms to best suit your needs.

OER Policy Forum

UNESCO OER Policy Forum ‘Taking the Open Educational Resources (OER) beyond the OER Community: Policy and Capacity’ took place on 1 December 2010 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. The Forum was organized within the joint initiative focused on higher education institutions in Africa and Asia and the Pacific implemented by UNESCO and the Common wealth of Learning (COL). The Forum brought together decision makers in governments, institutions and funding agencies. The objectives of the Policy Forum were to:

Discuss and propose a way forward for UNESCO, COL and other relevant agencies to harness OER for the greatest benefit of education and explore related issues, in particular Open Licensing and their adoption in intergovernmental organisations’ policies.Presentations are available at: http://oerworkshop.weebly.com/policy-forum.html

UNESCO Paris Declaration

The 2012 World Open Educational Resources (OER) Congress will bring together global governments, OER experts, NGOs, and educators to discuss and share the world’s best examples of OER policies and initiatives.

By leveraging the resources and knowledge of the international OER community, the Congress will catalyze improvements in education across the globe. By forging new partnerships between major research universities, identifying new tools that will benefit learners in rural communities, and implementing OERs into national education policy, we expect the annual Congress to have a significant impact far beyond Paris.

The 2012 Congress will also celebrate the 10th anniversary of the UNESCO Forum on Open Courseware that created the term “open educational resources”, and to mark the progress we’ve made over the past decade. Finally, the 2012 Congress will also establish the Paris OER Declaration, which calls on governments to openly license educational materials produced with public funds.

  • Establish a common understanding of OER and their potential to promote access to quality higher education in developing countries.
  • Explore how OER can maximize the impact of investment on education.
  • Discuss the role of OER in advancing the Millennium Development Goals.
  • Review progress made in the Initiative ‘Taking OER beyond the OER Community’.