Open educational resources

These pages are updating

Definition of open educational resources

Open educational resources (OER) refer to various forms of digital material intended for teaching, learning and research. They are published with an open licence so that you can use, share and edit the material for your own purposes. OER may include, for example, course materials, video, audio, course literature, guidebooks, course modules, portals, applications, games, learning environments or various interactive materials. 

Advantages of OER

Since the turn of the millennium, UNESCO has aimed for open educational resources (OER) because they promote global educational equality. Everyone should have an opportunity to learn and find high-quality learning materials that support their learning. OER also enable new ways for flexible independent learning.

UNESCO has a new recommendation on open educational resources.

Also teachers benefit from widening OER. It pays to use existing OER and not to invent the wheel again. By adding their learning materials to OER, teachers can raise their own professional profile. In addition, these materials will remain available to them also in the future, for instance when changing jobs. 

OER also offer teachers possibilities to try out new and varied pedagogical practices and novel technical solutions.

The expert panel in Open Education has the task of promoting and discussing issues concerning Open Education in Finnish higher education by, for example, writing recommendations and policies and updating terminology and holding events on Open Education.

If you are interested in sharing your learning materials through OER, please contact the Open Science Centre. Let’s find out together the best way of sharing! Contact person: Service Manager Irene Ylönen