open learningThe Open Educational Resources (OER) movement has grown substantially since the term was first adopted at UNESCO’s 2002 Forum on the Impact of Open Courseware for Higher Education in Developing Countries (UNESCO, 2002). Since then, there has been a significant increase in the development, use and sharing of OER as more and more governments and institutions come to realise their value. OER can been defined as teaching and learning resources in any medium, digital or otherwise, that permit no-cost access, use, reuse and repurposing by others with no or limited restrictions.
The editors of the book have identified 15 case studies that document the developments since the 2012 Paris Declaration on OER from the lens of policy, costs and transformation. While national policy development and adoption have been modest, the case studies show the preliminary successes and pitfalls in changing mindsets from a copyright-only regime to a more flexible and open licence practice.