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By: Sandra Kalsbeek

In 2025, the global takes place from the 3rd until the 7th of March. During this week, you'll read a series of 5 daily posts, showcasing the wide range of Open Education aspects and initiatives at UU, and how you can contribute! 

As a teacher you might recognize this: you're designing a course, and you're thinking of new assignments. This takes time. Time you don't have, due to other obligations. You're wondering: how many colleagues have already given this course, or assignment? How many colleagues will come after you? Their teaching materials are not available, so you're working till midnight all by yourself.  

How cool would it be if you could use other educator's material, changing this to your need, and sharing it yourself so others can benefit from it? Good news: this is possible! Welcome to the world of Open Educational Resources (OERs): materials made by colleagues, shared under an open license, so it can be easily reused and adjusted. OERs can take any form: presentations, assignments, lesson plans, and even open textbooks. 

The practical benefits of open educational resources are evident: you don't have to reinvent the wheel, so you're saving money and time. Furthermore, by building on the work of others and resharing, you're improving the quality of educational resources. Educators can also inspire others with their work. Students, and other interested learners, (studying doesn't stop after graduating), can re-use materials to develop themselves. Above all, as an educator you can showcase your educational expertise by sharing materials openly. Through open educational resources, we train the open professionals of the future, and we contribute to Open Science.  

Enthusiastic? Browse through edusources, the national platform for open educational resources, and be inspired by the material of others. The ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ Library supports educators in publishing and reusing open educational resources and open textbooks. Contact library.learning@uu.nl to discuss the possibilities.

Want to learn more about Open Education? Read the 3rd Chapter of ‘ by Henk Kummeling, Manon Kluijtmans and Frank Miedema. Or join the (login required), March 18th!