The open movement, which extends beyond just CC licenses, is a global force of people committed to the idea that the world is better when we share and work together. The University of the Free State supports the open movement and has several platforms and projects supporting openness:
Open access literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. In contrast, the closed/subscription approach is slow, expensive, and ill-suited for research collaboration and discovery. And even though scholarly research is largely produced as a result of public funding, the results are often hidden behind technical, legal, and financial barriers or paywalls. Open access publishing is an alternative model — one that takes full advantage of digital technologies, the web, and open licensing to provide free access to scholarship.
Important components of the OA model include:
Read more on our Open Access guide.
OER comes in all shapes and sizes. An example of OER can be as small as a single video recording, or as large as an entire degree program.
With OER, learners not only save money, research has also shown that learners can have better outcomes when their teachers choose OER instead of education materials available under all rights reserved copyright.
See more on our OER guide.
Open textbook means a collection of OER that have been organised to look like a traditional textbook.
Examples of open textbooks:
OER can also be aggregated and presented as digital courseware. Here are some examples: