Open educational resources (OER) are free digital materials that can be used and reused
for learning and teaching through open licenses. Under these open licenses, the creator retains
ownership rights to the material but allows others to reuse (and often remix) the content for their own
purposes. OER is a broad classification of materials including, but not limited to, the following:
- Single practice activities
- Individual lessons or modules
- Textbooks and related resources
- Entire courses
Open educational resources make learning and teaching materials available to anyone connected to the
Internet. The body of OER has grown rapidly in recent years, allowing seemingly limitless opportunities
for people to share, use, and reuse educational content for a variety of purposes. Furthermore, the OER
movement has a growing community of instructors and learners that create a natural means for sharing new
ideas and best practices related to learning.
Rio Commons is a collection of OER content created by Rio Salado College. Rio Commons is also a portal to other
established OER providers. Content provided within Rio Commons is selected by College faculty, managed
by Rio Salado Instructional Design Services, and maintained by Rio Salado Course Production. The Rio
Commons site serves many purposes including the following:
- Allows students access to practice basic skills
- Provides a means for remediation and enrichment
- Meets grant requirements that specify OER publication
- Links to other OER portals and repositories
- Contributes to the OER body of content