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Definitions

Open Educational Resources (OER) – are any educational resource that may be freely accessed, copied, reused, adapted and shared and which are available under an open licence or are in the public domain for use without paying licensing fees. OER can include lecture notes, slides, lesson plans, textbooks, handouts given to students, videos, online tutorials, podcasts, diagrams, entire courses, and any other material designed for use in teaching and learning.

Open Education – is a way of carrying out education, often using digital technologies. Its aim is to widen access and participation to everyone by removing barriers and making learning accessible, abundant, and customisable for all. It offers multiple ways of teaching and learning, building and sharing knowledge. It also provides a variety of access routes to formal and non-formal education, and connects the two.

Open Licence – is a licence that allows copyrighted materials to be used, adapted and redistributed without permission from the copyright holder. The best-known open licences are the Creative Commons Licences, which provide legal mechanisms to ensure that people retain copyright over and acknowledgement for their work while allowing it to be shared under the terms and conditions of their choice.

Public Domain – refers to materials for which the copyright has expired or whose author has relinquished.