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OPEN FL: Home

Guide for the open and affordable learning community of Florida, OPEN FL.

The OPEN FL community's goal is to promote open and affordable learning in the state of Florida, in one way by encouraging the adoption, adaptation, and authoring of Open Educational Resources (OER).  But what exactly does OER mean?  Definitions vary among organizations, states, and key thinkers in the field.  

The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) defines Open Educational Resources (OER) as "teaching, learning, and research resources that are free of cost and access barriers, and which also carry legal permission for open use. Generally, this permission is granted by use of an open license (for example, Creative Commons licenses).”

In Florida, for material to be considered OER, it should be "high-quality teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits the free use and repurposing of such resources by others. The term may include other resources that are legally available and free of cost to students. Open educational resources include, but are not limited to, full courses; course materials; modules; textbooks; faculty-created content; streaming videos; exams; software; and other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge" (The 2023 Florida Statutes 1006.73). 

For more information on Florida's perspective of open content, see the Spectrum of Open tab in this guide.

By being available outside of paywalls and free of the necessity of interlibrary loan, OER has the potential to:

  • Showcase research to the widest possible audience.
  • Enhance a school’s reputation as well as that of the teacher or researcher.
  • Demonstrate social responsibility by providing education access for all.
  • Share best practice internationally.
  • Create additional opportunities for peer review.
  • Maximize the use and increases the availability of educational materials.
  • Raise the quality standards for educational resources by gathering more contributors
    • Source: Why OER / Benefits - Open Educational Resources (OER) - Library at Pace University

OER Bootcamp 2024--Spring Webinar Series

OER Bootcamp 2024--March 27, 28, and 29!

Thank you for joining us for spring OER Bootcamp, FLVC Library Services' popular, annual event!

We re-energized with three days of afternoon webinars (2 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET), covering topics in open educational resources, from basic to more advanced.

Day 1 (Basic): Creative Commons Licenses and the Spectrum of Open, Wednesday, March 27, 2024 (Speakers: Danielle Campbell, Palm Beach State College & Rebel Cummings-Sauls, Elisabeth Ball, FLVC Library Services). Recording

Day 2 (Intermediate): OER and Tenure & Promotion, Thursday, March 28, 2024 (Speaker: Abbey Elder, Iowa State University) Recording

Day 3 (Advanced): Peer Review in OER--A Panel Discussion, Friday, March 29, 2024 (Panelists: Anthony Palmiotto, OpenStax; John McLeod, Pressbooks; Anita Walz, Virginia Tech; and Kaitlin Schilling, Rebus Community; Moderator: Rebel Cummings-Sauls, Director, FLVC Library Services, Digital Services/OER) Recording

Thank you for joining us in providing and promoting
quality and affordable access to Florida higher education!

 

 

Adopt or Explore 

Select collections of Open Educational Resources (OER) available to anyone through the Student Open Access Resource Repository Course Collections:

https://openfl.digital.flvc.org/ 

Search collections based on the FL common course numbering system.

Can't find what you are looking for here? Try looking through additional repositories and indexes.

 

Connect to the Community 

Who can join?  In short, anyone is welcome.  Connect with fellow OER Advocates by joining the listserv, using available resources, and/or attending the monthly meeting.

Join us for the OPEN-FL Monthly Meeting!

For more information, click on this link to the event page.

Logo saying FLVC and OPEN FL