How to find & reuse OER
Where can I search? What can I reuse? How do I give proper credit?

Since anyone in the world can publish OER, there is no single, central global repository. Instead, OER materials are hosted in many different locations. We have compiled a list of the most important and widely used repositories and databases on our “Searching & Finding OER” subpage.

Each OER includes a clearly visible license that indicates the terms under which the material was published. These licenses tell you whether any restrictions apply and, if so, which ones. You can find an overview of available licenses, their meanings, and answers to additional legal and copyright-related questions on our “OER & Legal Aspects” subpage.

If you want to reuse an OER without making any changes, you can follow the TULLU rule to ensure proper attribution: T – Title of the OER, U – Name of the author, L – License type, L – Link to the license, U – URL of the original source.

If you want to modify and reuse an existing OER, please indicate this clearly when publishing your version. For slight modifications, a brief note is sufficient. You can refer to the “Recommended practices for attribution” entry in the Creative Commons Wiki for guidance. If you create a significantly modified version or a full adaptation, assign a new title and license, while still giving credit to the original OER. Here too, the CC Wiki provides helpful examples.

Sometimes, you may wish to combine several OER into a new work — for example, a reader or a presentation. In such cases, it is essential to apply the TULLU rule correctly for each source. If you merge different OER (including those by others) into a single new resource, additional rules apply. You can find detailed information about this on our “OER & Legal Aspects” subpage.

Creating OER
Which tools and formats are suitable? What design tips should I consider?

Of course, the tools and formats you choose depend on the type of material you want to create. Videos, texts, and interactive content each require different tools and come with their own considerations during the creation process. The Gold Standard for OER can support you here – it provides guidance on various types of materials, including where to place licenses, what to avoid, recommended tools, and other helpful tips.

If you have any further questions, we are happy to offer individual support and advice.

Adding Accurate Metadata to OER
Why metadata?

Metadata is data about data. For example, when you search for a title in our Primo catalog, you’ll find additional information under the “Details” section – such as author, publisher, format, publication year, and subject keywords. These are the metadata elements that make the resource findable and usable.

If you want to publish an OER in a repository, you’ll usually be asked to provide various types of information during the upload process. This is typically done via a form where you enter the required metadata. Be thorough here: the more accurate your metadata, the easier it will be for others to find your material.

Sometimes your files already contain embedded metadata — for instance, photos may include the date and time they were taken. In some tools, like H5P, you can also add metadata manually. If this is possible, you should always take advantage of the option and enter the information carefully.

Publishing OER with the Correct License
What licenses are available?

You can find information about the different licenses and what they mean, as well as answers to further questions regarding licenses and copyright, on our page “OER & Legal Aspects”.

Publishing OER
Where can I upload my OER? Which platforms are suitable?

If you want to publish your own OER, you have several options. At the University of Duisburg-Essen, we use the open-access publication server DuEPublico 2. You can find instructions on how to upload or link your materials on the DuEPublico page on OER. Once your OER materials are published on DuEPublico, they are also accessible through other OER portals, such as ORCA.nrw, twillo, and the OERSI search index.

Upon request, the university library staff will perform a license check on your materials before they are uploaded to DuEPublico.

If your OER is a Moodle course, it can be published in the “Open UDE” section of Moodle.

To ensure that your OER can be found by as many potential users as possible, it is also recommended to publish it on another open educational resource portal for higher education. Major OER portals include ORCA.nrw (Open Resources Campus NRW) and the Lower Saxony portal twillo. The ORCA.nrw platform allows for the upload of individual materials and offers useful features, such as automatic video subtitling. Information on how to upload OER to ORCA.nrw can be found in the upload area. Additionally, ORCA.nrw provides visibility for material collections on various topics through its OER library.

For materials related to teacher training, the portal digiLL is a suitable platform, specifically designed for the exchange of digital teaching and learning materials in teacher education.

We are happy to support you in finding the right platform for your materials!

Making OER accessible
What are the requirements? Tools & tips for accessibility

In order to make sure that open learning materials are accessible to all people regardless of possible impairments, it is crucial to remove as many barriers as possible when creating OER materials. Depending on the medium used, this can be challenging.

Some options for making OER accessible are:

• Provide visual elements with text alternatives (alt text) for use by screen readers
• Enrich videos and audio files with subtitles and transcriptions
• Provide texts in easy-to-read language
• Observe color design and sufficient contrast

An overview of aspects of accessible design of digital content can be found in the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). Further information on the accessible design of OER depending on the type of material can also be found in the Gold Standard for OER.

We are happy to provide initial support for making your project more accessible.

You can request further advice on accessibility from the Competence Center for Digital Accessibility, in which the University of Duisburg-Essen is a participating university.

On the website of the Competence Center, you can also find a compilation of information material on digital accessibility in the context of universities.

Quality Criteria for OER
How can I ensure my material is high-quality and up to date?

OER should deliver reliable, effective, and current information. Given the wide range of formats that OER can take, it can be challenging to define quality standards that apply universally to all types of materials.

To address this, the non-profit association ZLL21 e.V. (Center for Learning and Teaching in the 21st Century) initiated the publication of the “Gold Standard” for OER materials – a compendium of ten individual articles. These articles provide format-specific guidance for designing high-quality OER and outline the minimum criteria that should be met depending on the type of resource.

Keeping OER up to date is also crucial to maintaining their quality and relevance over time. Many OER include external links, which may become outdated or broken. It is therefore important to regularly review your materials for outdated content, examples, or faulty links and update them as needed.

When doing so, make sure that any updates comply with the licensing terms under which the OER was originally published.

One helpful strategy is to create versioned updates of your materials. This allows changes to be made transparently while giving users access to earlier versions of the resource.

OER & AI – How can AI be used effectively?
Which AI Tools Support the Creation of OER?

AI can influence the creation of Open Educational Resources (OER) in a variety of ways. It can assist in finding relevant materials and be used in the development and adaptation process to enable personalization, improve quality, or enhance the accessibility of OER.

Usage scenarios

Large Language Models (LLM) in particular, such as ChatGPT (OpenAI) or Gemini (Google), can provide support for text and image creation or verification. For work in a scientific context, we recommend the GWDG-LLM service of the Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Datenverarbeitung mbH Göttingen.

Application scenarios for AI in the creation of OER can be:

• Support in research
• Creation, supplementation and review of texts (e.g. also summaries or instructions)
• Development of case studies
• Creation of visualizations (supporting illustrations, illustrations of processes, presentations of results), e.g. with the Napkin AI
• Creation of charts and infographics, e.g. with the AI Infographics. e.g. with the AI infographic generator from Piktochart
• Recording audio tracks
• Creating subtitles or transcriptions, converting texts into plain language to increase accessibility

If you want to create parts of your OER using generative AI, your own data skills in dealing with AI are essential. This applies in particular to the creation of prompts, which serve to control the AI, but also to the ability to assess the truth value of the AI output and correct it accordingly. Although AI can already do many things, the results it generates are far from error-free.

Copyright, data protection, and data ethics

The use of AI in the context of Open Educational Resources (OER) raises important questions – especially with regard to copyright, data protection, and data ethics.

AI and Copyright

The legal framework surrounding the use of AI is still evolving, and there is currently no definitive consensus on many legal issues. This makes the proper licensing of AI-generated content particularly challenging. As of now, the relevant legal foundations in Germany and the EU include the German Copyright Act (UrhG) and the EU AI Act.

In general, purely AI-generated works are considered to be in the public domain, as copyright law typically protects only original intellectual creations made by humans. This applies to both texts and visual elements. A work involving AI might only be eligible for copyright protection if the input or source material itself is protected by copyright and the resulting output reaches a sufficient level of originality. In some cases, even a particularly creative prompt could be subject to copyright protection – though the same usually does not apply to the AI-generated output.

It is strongly recommended to clearly label content generated with the help of AI, for example by adding a note such as: “This content was created with the assistance of AI.”

AI and data protection

One recommendation for using LLM in an academic context is the GWDG-LLM service from the Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Datenverarbeitung mbH in Göttingen, as particular emphasis was placed on data privacy during the design phase. An AcademicCloud account is required for use.

When creating photorealistic images using AI, it is possible that the generated images may look like real people. It is therefore advisable to create images of people e.g. in comic style or in the form of (gender-neutral) stick figures.

AI and data ethics

Data ethics concerns regarding the use of AI are also becoming apparent in a societal context. These are primarily aimed at the training data used to train an AI, as the results are influenced by biases and can therefore be discriminatory. Here too, your expertise is required to check the accuracy of the AI results.

Note: This information on dealing with AI in the OER context is constantly being updated. (Status: 04.2025)