OERs are digital resources used in the context of teaching and learning that have been released by the copyright holder under an open licence permitting their use and re-purposing by others. OERs play an important role in supporting the University’s vision, purpose and values; to discover knowledge and make the world a better place, and to ensure our teaching and research is diverse, inclusive, accessible to all and relevant to society.
The new OER Policy revises and updates the previous 2016 policy. Approved by the University’s Education Committee and supported by the central OER Service, the policy encourages staff and students to use, create and publish OERs to enhance the quality of the student experience, expand provision of learning opportunities, and enrich our shared knowledge commons. Read the new Open Education Resources (OER) Policy.
Investing in OER and open licensing helps to improve the sustainability and longevity of educational resources, while encouraging colleagues to reuse and repurpose existing open materials, expands the pool of teaching and learning resources and helps to diversity the curriculum. As one of the few universities in the UK to have an OER policy, the new policy reiterates our strategic commitment to openness and achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.