THE OER KNOWLEDGE CLOUD
A SURVEY AND REPOSITORY OF OER RESEARCH
The OER Knowledge Cloud is a curated database and repository to identify, collect, preserve and disseminate documents related to open educational resources. There are currently 2879 published records by 4883 authors from 1017 sources, with 1731 file archives.

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LATEST EDITORIAL NOTES

DECREE ON THE DEVELOPMENT, USE, AND MANAGEMENT OF OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN HIGHER EDUCATION: VIETNAM
Dan Wilton · August 28, 2025

The Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has issued a Decree on the development, use, and management of Open Educational Resources (OER) in higher education in Vietnam. An unofficial English translation (for academic and reference purposes only) is now available on the OER Knowledge Cloud.

From Article 1:

This Decree regulates the development, evaluation, publication, sharing, use, and management of Open Educational Resources (OER) in higher education in Vietnam. It establishes policies, mechanisms, and technical standards to ensure the quality of materials, openness, fair and long-term access, and effective use across the higher education system.
...

OE WEEK AT CIDER CELEBRATES 25 YEARS OF OA INNOVATION
Dan Wilton · March 08, 2025

During Open Education Week 2025, CIDER hosted a special series of sessions to celebrate the 25th anniversary of The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning (IRRODL). Recordings of all three sessions are available.

March 3: Retrospective on Open Access Publishing
Rory McGreal
March 5: The Evolution of Open and Distributed Learning
Connie Blomgren and Terry Anderson
March 7: Emerging Technologies in International Education
Adnan Qayyum and Levina Yuen

Download the OE Week 2025 overview.

...

UNESCO RELEASES DUBAI DECLARATION ON OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Dan Wilton · January 02, 2025

UNESCO has released its Dubai Declaration on Open Educational Resources: Digital Public Goods and Emerging Technologies for Equitable and Inclusive Access to Knowledge. from the 3rd World Open Educational Resources Congress held in Dubai, 2024. The Declaration's recommendations are:

Emerging technologies, including AI, provide opportunities to advance the 2019 Recommendation. Beyond the creation of new openly licensed content, potential applications include: facilitating the detection of existing openly licensed content online; developing techniques for effective OER curation; translating OER into multiple languages; and facilitating content indexing through the recommendation of descriptive metadata. Other emerging technologies, such as decentralized and secure digital ledger systems, could potentially ensure the provenance, integrity and lawful use of OER.

Legal frameworks are not up to date with technological advancements such as these. In the realm of intellectual property rights (IPR), the key to OER, this can lead to ambiguities on what constitutes legal use as well as issues regarding how exceptions and limitations to copyright law may be used even when a work is not openly licensed. Developing clear guidelines and policies that address these issues can help protect the rights of content creators, ensure proper attribution and create innovative technology spaces for the public good.

The Global Digital Compact and UNESCO’s ROAM-X principles, which are rights-based, open, accessible and promote multi-stakeholder participation based on cross-cutting principles, in particular gender equity, can inform policies for OER by providing a comprehensive framework that ensures inclusivity, equity and collaboration in the development and implementation of open educational resources.

These frameworks and principles, alongside the 2019 Recommendation, provide a robust foundation for developing OER. The stakeholders addressed in this document are those in the 2019 Recommendation 4. With regard to generative AI, it is important to underscore that these recommendations apply both to the inputs and outputs of large language models (LLMs). Furthermore, the principle of human-centred use of technology prevails in all recommendations. The principles of transparency and knowledge-sharing are fundamental for the implementation of these recommendations. The guidelines below aim to provide actions to harness the opportunities posed by emerging technologies, such as AI, for expanding knowledge-sharing and creation through the implementation of the 2019 Recommendation.

Download the full Declaration ...


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PRESENTATION

September 2025 · UNESCO/ICDE Chair Professor Rory McGreal speaks to faculty at the University of Regina in Canada.


RECENT RECORDS

Open Educational Resources: Teachers’ Perception and Impact on Students’ Motivation and Meaningful Learning
Romero-Ariza, Marta; Quesada, Antonio; Abril, Ana M.; Rodríguez-Ortega, Pilar G.; Martín-Peciña, María
Open Educational Resources (OER) are increasingly recognized as key tools for promoting quality, inclusive, and equitable education. Their ease of access and the possibility of free adaptation to different contexts ...
Posted October 1, 2025

Open educational resources in epidemiology: a case study of student perceptions
Padamsey, Kiam
Textbooks are fundamental in epidemiological education, but their rising costs and static nature present challenges in an ever-evolving academic landscape. Open Educational Resources (OER) offer a potential solution by ...
Posted September 26, 2025

How to Maximize the Use of OER in 2025
McGreal, Rory
Dr. Rory McGreal discusses how to maximize the use of OER in courses using AI. Faculty can begin by identifying reputable OER repositories, such as BCcampus, OpenStax, MERLOT, and OER Commons, to locate relevant ...
Posted September 20, 2025

How Open Educational Resources (OER) can Transform Education for the 21st Century
McGreal, Rory
Education is a fundamental human right and a public good. However, many people around the world cannot access, afford, and benefit from quality education. Open Educational Resources (OER) are a solution to this ...
Posted September 20, 2025

Same Same or Different? OER und juristische Fachdidaktik
Rzadkowski, Nora
Der Artikel beleuchtet den Mehrwert offener Bildungsressourcen (OER) aus der Perspektive der rechtswissenschaftlichen Fachdidaktik. Es wird hervorgehoben, dass OER zum Experimentierfeld alternativer Lehr-/Lernmedien ...
Posted September 20, 2025

Mediated Deposit for IRs 
Sterman, Leila
Institutional Repositories hold valuable research, data, learning objects, theses, and dissertations. However, convincing authors to add their works, especially published works, has been an ongoing challenge for ...
Posted September 15, 2025

Got Resources? Bringing OER to the Community
Troutman, Nicole
This presentation focused on “Got Resources?,” a program developed to share Open Educational Resources (OERs) available on Tennessee State University Libraries and Media Center’s website with the general public. ...
Posted September 15, 2025