In addition to using OER, you can also share your own resources for others to reuse. This can take many forms, from simply sharing your own slides and lecture notes, to creating special assignments or courses, or even publishing your own open textbook.

Creating OER

When you create an OER, or want to share your existing materials, keep in mind two key factors:

• What is the copyright status of any third-party materials in your work (images, music, etc.), and are these statuses compatible with an open, Creative Commons license?

• How can you make your resource as easy to reuse or adapt by others as possible?

More detailed considerations for creating or adapting an OER can be found in our Library Guide:

Sharing OER

Once created, sharing an OER is done in a few simple steps:

• Choose and apply an open Creative Commons license

• Share your material via an OER repository
  (e.g. SURFsharekit, OER Commons or MERLOT)

• Optionally: Promote the shared material as widely as possible, to increase its outreach and impact

The University of Groningen works closely with SURF, the Dutch IT cooperation for higher education institutions, to help grow our joint OER platform Edusources, the front-end of the SURFsharekit repository. This collaboration has resulted in an easy way for UG teachers to share their materials via SURFsharekit and Edusources. Log in and start sharing your open materials with the rest of the world:

For more information on creating and sharing open educational resources, we invite you to read our Library Guide, or contact us.

Open Textbooks

For those interested in creating open textbooks, the University of Groningen Press (UGP) together with UB open education experts can help you create an open textbook using Pressbooks, our university’s open publishing platform for educational materials.