Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research resources that are free of cost and access barriers, and which also carry legal permission for open use. They can include things like open textbooks, audio and video material, test questions, simulations, labs, slides, and anything else you might use in the course of teaching. 

Open Educational Resources must either be in the public domain or licensed in a manner that provides users with free and perpetual permission to engage in the 5R activities pictured above. 

Examples of using the Five Rs include...

• Controlling copies of the content (retain)
• Using the materials in a class or study group (reuse)
• Translating the content into another language (revise)
• Incorporating the content with other content (remix)
• Give a copy of the content to a friend (redistribute)

This video explains the basics of open education and explains why it is so important: 

Citation: Why Open Education Matters by Degreed