OER Logo
| This is a work in progress and subject to change. If you have feedback please send an email to cclearn-info@creativecommons.org. |
The OER logo is a way for users to easily identify resources as being "open educational resources," or OER. Anyone can label resources with the OER logo - read about the OER Logo to learn more.
The OER logo leverages the the same technical standards as the Creative Commons licenses. This means that the logo, when properly applied, is both a link to the explanation of the logo and is also a machine-readable tag which enhances the discoverability of so-marked OER.
For marking a work as being an OER, please use the following metadata:
| <a xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
href="http://opened.creativecommons.org/OER_Logo_Explained " rel="dct:conformsTo"> <img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/d/oer/88x31.png" /> </a> This work is an <a xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" href="http://opened.creativecommons.org/OER_Logo_Explained" rel="dct:conformsTo">Open Educational Resource</a> |
Contents |
Behind the Logo
Why is an OER logo necessary? An OER logo is not truly necessary, but may prove very useful. Currently, the qualities of an "OER" consist of a combination of legal, technical, and educational characteristics, all of which must be understood simultaneously in order for a user to grasp the concept of an OER. By marking your open educational resources with an OER logo, you may make it easier for people to quickly determine the nature of your work.
In addition, an OER logo provides an easy way for people to learn more about OER generally, since the logo directs people to explanations of the concept. Furthermore, the logo itself is detectable by search engines, which will make it much more likely that people will be able to find your resources.
Standards for Applying the Logo
Currently, the OER logo can be applied to any resource that is thought to be an OER, which means that there is no arbitrating agency who is verifying compliance with the logo or monitoring its proper usage. Though there are no enforceable minimum qualifications for applying the OER Logo, we encourage the OER community to engage in dialog about what qualifies an educational resource as an "open" educational resource. For example, free public licenses (such as Creative Commons licenses) are commonly understood to be necessary for resources to be considered "open."
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.
Quality
One area of concern for many people involved in open education is the problem of distinguishing higher-quality resources from lower-quality resources. However, the question of "quality" is not objective... what constitutes "high quality" for one person may be of "low quality" for someone else. Nonetheless, some ability to identify and catalog resources according to some useful metric of quality would clearly be beneficial for time-limited teachers and learners.
ccLearn is hoping to develop an infrastructure that would make such determinations possible without undermining the fundamentally open characteristics of OER. This project is just in the beginning stages. Contact us if you are interested in further information.
Logo Downloads
Media:Oer-logo-300dpi.png
Media:Oer-logo.svg
Media:Oer-logo.eps
