Defining the "Open" in Open Content and Open Educational Resources

The terms "open content" and "Open Educational Resources" describe any copyrightable work (traditionally excluding software, which is described by other terms like "open source") that is licensed in a manner that provides users with free and perpetual permission to engage in the 5R activities:

retain — the right to make, own, and control copies of the content (e.g., download, duplicate, store, and manage)
reuse — the right to use the content in a wide range of ways (e.g., in a class, in a study group, on a website, in a video)
revise — the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself (e.g., translate the content into another language)
remix — the right to combine the original or revised content with other material to create something new (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup)
redistribute — the right to share copies of the original content, your revisions, or your remixes with others (e.g., give a copy of the content to a friend)

Attributions

This material is an adaptation of Defining the "Open" in Open Content and Open Educational Resources, which was originally written by David Wiley and published freely under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.