What is the OER Logo?

The OER Logo is a way for people to clearly indicate their intention to release materials as "open educational resources," or OER. The purpose of the OER Logo is not to impose any particular standard or definition of OER, but rather to allow anyone who has created what they believe to be OER to label their resources as such in a clear, standardized manner. The Logo also functions as a link to the OpenEd website so that people who do not know what the Logo means, or what "OER" means, can find out easily.

When should I use the OER Logo?

The term "open educational resources" has been defined in a number of ways. Yet, all of those definitions share some fundamental values; namely, that OER are free for any individual to use, and licensed (via an open copyright license, such as Creative Commons (CC) licenses) for unrestricted distribution and the possibility of adaptation, translation, re-mix, and improvement. If you create or find educational materials that you believe fall into this space, you should mark them with the OER Logo in order to tell the world clearly what they are. Note that the OER Logo does not replace the need for a CC or other open license.

Why was the OER Logo created?

One of the problems facing the OER community is that it is often quite difficult to tell with certainty whether a particular resource is an OER (e.g., "What Status for Open" paper). Previously, there was no standard method for marking materials as OER.

To meet this challenge, ccLearn developed the OER Logo. We modeled this logo from a variety of similar logos that others in the OER community are already using. The hope is that having a clear, standard way to label OER will make OER in general easier to locate and use.

How is the use of the OER Logo enforced?

The OER Logo is not a trademark, and ccLearn does not claim any form of ownership of the Logo. We cannot guarantee that items marked with the OER Logo comply with any particular license terms, or educational standard. ccLearn is not liable for misunderstandings or problems stemming from use of the OER Logo. ccLearn is beginning work on an OER certification mark which will provide greater assurance that specific legal and technical criteria have been met. However, our ongoing work in this area should not delay the application of the logo as it currently exists.

To mark your work as OER, please click here.

For more information, read more about OER and/or browse other pages on this site.