-OER

=Open Educational Resources=

====William and Flora Hewlett Foundation proposed the following definition of OER: "OER are teaching, learning, and resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use or re-purposing by others. Open educational resources contain full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and other tools, materials, and techniques used to support access to knowledge."@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_educational_resources====

====OER can assist with the rising cost of education. Teachers now when developing and planning for their courses can either re-use material they find on the internet as is, or modify the content to fit their individual subject. This is saving the district money and the teachers time. In areas where access to learning has been limited (few teachers and/or materials), Open Educational Resources make it possible for learning to occur. OER are also motivating to the students, because the students can now have control over their learning by deciding when, how, what, and where they learn. In 2025 OER will be an integral part of teaching and learning because of all the benefits to students and teachers, and it will help to keep learning and teaching current and relevant.====

==== //2011 Horizon Report K-12 states, "Schools are beginning to feel a social responsibility to create and share their content. Utilizing and developing content are no longer about being experimental; it has become the mark of a world- class institution."// ====

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====The following handbook is a great guide to help teachers find, use, develop, and share Open Educational Resources. They can use ideas from the handbook to improve content, develop critical thinking skills, and promote open coursework for their learners.====

**Some Open Educational Resources include:**
Flat World Knowledge Open Learning Open High School of Utah Wisconsin Online MERLOT Index of Open Educational Resources

=**References**= ====Johnson, L., Adams, S., and Haywood, K., (2011). The NMC Horizon Report:2011 K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.[PDF]. Retrieved from: @http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2011-Horizon-Report-K12.pdf====

Wheeler, Steve (2010). What's so good about open educational resources? [slide presentation]. Retrieved from: @http://www.slideshare.net/timbuckteeth/whats-so-good-about-open-educational-resources

WikiEducator.org. //Open Educational Resources Educator Handbook.//[Website]. Retrieved from: @http://wikieducator.org/OER_Handbook/educator

Wikipedia- Open Educational Resources Retrieved from: @http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_educational_resources