UNESCO defines Open Educational Resources (OER) as “teaching, learning and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits nocost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions."
Key to this definition is that OER are educational materials ("teaching, learning, and research materials") that are free ("no-cost') for anyone to use and change ("access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions"), which can be done because they are made open ("reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license").
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation has impacted the average cost of college textbooks even more than tuition itself. When compared to the costs for other standard living expenses, the differences in rising costs is that much more striking. Compared to the 200 goods followed by the national Consumer Price Index, which tracks inflation costs, the average cost of textbooks has increased by 812% since 1978. In comparison, medical expenses have increased by 575% over the same period of time, and new homes cost 325% more (bls.org). Affordability and equity are core tenets of OER. By incorporating OER and other affordable materials into their curriculum, you can reduce the costs of course materials, making higher education more accessible to a wider array of students.
Creative Commons (CC) licenses are at the very core of Open Educational Resources (OER). The benefits of OER are that you can use them in any way set forth by the 5Rs (retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute).
On the other hand, normal copyright protections do not allow for the sort of sharing and adaption that is intrinsic to OER, as they require you to actively seek permissions from the copyright owner to use or revise their materials. As such, OER are either shared with an open license such as Creative Commons or are part of the public domain.
By applying a CC license, creators allow their work to be used by others according to the 5Rs, and users know that as long as they follow the conditions of the license, they have perpetual permission to use the work. Keep in mind, though, that all OER with Creative Commons licenses require attribution to the original creator, unlike public domain works.
Boulden, Meredith Heath and Payne, Linda Ann, "University of Memphis Open Educational Resources (OER) Faculty Quick Start Guide" (2022). Open Access Textbooks. 2.
https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/oa-textbooks/2