The benefits of open education include the following:
Free and Legal to Use, Improve and Share
Network and Collaborate with Peers
Lower Educational Cost and Improve Access to Information
OER are those teaching and learning materials that are available either in the public domain or under an open license. OER, particularly open textbooks, save students money while empowering faculty by giving them more control over their course content.
The power of open educational resources comes from a set of permissions known as the "5 Rs of OER", which allows you to:
These permissions are usually granted by the copyright holder of a work by licensing it under a Creative Commons license.