Champagne and Sparkling Wine: Understanding the Differences Between OER and OA

One of the most common questions I receive as an Open Educational Resources (OER) librarian is: What is the difference between OER and Open Access (OA)? 

Short answer: Not much. The differences between OER and OA are minor within the world of open resources. 

Long answer: There are few notable differences between OER and OA, but as the years progress, OER and OA are slowly converging to just become “Open” in general. One of the big reasons for the confusion between the two is that the OA movement and the OER movement began in two different contexts: the OA movement originated in the academic publishing sector, while the OER movement started within the educational resources community. For example, in 2002, the Open Society Institute released a public statement called the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI). During that time, the internet’s potential to rapidly share information was just beginning to be recognized by the public. The institute believed that with the use of the internet, “scientists, scholars, teachers, students, and other curious minds” should have access to peer-reviewed journal literature that was completely free and with unrestricted access:

Removing access barriers to this literature will accelerate research, enrich education, share the learning of the rich with the poor and the poor with the rich, make this literature as useful as it can be, and lay the foundation for uniting humanity in a common intellectual conversation and quest for knowledge. (BOAI, 2002)

While this was not the first time that the concept of open access was discussed openly, the BOAI was the first significant declaration to make research open to the public. Around the same time, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology launched MIT OpenCourseWare in 2001. Advocated by Provost Robert A. Brow and the MIT Council on Educational Technology (MITCET), the open courseware was designed to “develop an infrastructure and initiatives for the application of technology to education.” The result was a large collection of educational lectures and resources, created by MIT professors, that were freely available to the public. Again, while this was not the first time that open resources were discussed or made available to the public, a significant educational juggernaut releasing open content helped popularize the OER movement. During this period, the OA and OER movements were being fostered by different groups of people and organizations. Both sides believed in the concept of open, but one side sought openness for scientific and academic articles and the other side sought openness for education resources.

So What Does “Open” Exactly Mean? 

In the world of Open Access, for something to be considered open, it needs to meet the following criteria: 

• Free of Charge – When OA articles are published, they are free indefinitely
• Immediately Accessible – OA articles are immediately accessible without any sort of restrictions
• Provided in a Digital Format – An electronic format is required for all OA articles
• Free of Most Copyright Restrictions – Most OA articles use Creative Commons licensing. This type of licensing is less restrictive than traditional copyright, and it allows the public to retain, reuse, and redistribute the article as long as they provide credit to the original author(s).

In the world of Open Educational Resources, for something to be recognized as OER, it typically needs these 5 elements (aka the 5 Rs):   

• Retain – The right to make, own, and control copies of the content  
• Reuse – The right to reuse the content as verbatim or in its unaltered form  
• Revise – The right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself  
• Remix – The right to combine the original or revised content with other content to create something new  
• Redistribute – The right to make and share copies of the original content, as well as any revisions or remixes, with others

Simply put, these criteria for OA and OER are almost identical. OER also uses Creative Commons licensing, so as a whole, the fundamental differences between the two are negligible.

Why Don’t We Just Call Everything OER or OA? 

While it would be easier just to merge the two concepts into one, the small differences between OER and OA create a distinct identity: 

The world of academia and scientific publishing is familiar with the term Open Access and its mission to provide research openly to the public. At the same time, the educational world is familiar with how Open Educational Resources means free and accessible resources for students. Anecdotally, it’s like how people confuse Champagne with sparkling wine. All champagne is sparkling wine, but not all sparkling wine is champagne. The key difference is that for wine to be labeled champagne, it must be produced in the town of Champagne, France. Similarly, all OER is technically OA, since it is free, instantly accessible, and has a customizable copyright. However, not all OA is OER because not all open access articles are designed to educate students. For example, this OA article, Effects of online and offline trigeminal nerve stimulation on visuomotor learning, is more useful to neuroscientists than students.

It’s easy to confuse OER and OA, but their subtle differences are still differences. What is important is that both OER and OA are a part of the open movement: the pursuit to provide free and accessible knowledge to the public.