Topic outline

  • Welcome

  • Introduction

    • Why this Unit?

      Accessing and using Open Educational Resources is essential for expanding your teaching toolkit with high-quality, freely available materials that align with your curriculum and learner's needs. When you integrate OER thoughtfully, you reduce costs, customise content for your context, and model responsible digital citizenship for your students. Recent national documents, such as the Education and Training Policy 2023, the National Digital Education Strategy, the National AI Guidelines in Education, the National Education Guidelines for Schools and Teacher Colleges, and others, encourage the adoption of open resources to promote equitable, innovative, and sustainable education across Tanzania. In this Unit, you will describe Open Educational Resources, access reliable OER repositories relevant to the Tanzanian curriculum, apply Creative Commons licensing principles, and integrate OER into your lesson planning and classroom practice. By the end of this unit, you will feel more confident finding, evaluating, customising, and legally using open resources to enrich your teaching and support diverse learners. This unit is designed to support you as a resourceful teacher who leverages the power of open education to create accessible, relevant, and impactful learning experiences.

      Unit Competencies

      By the end of this unit, you will be able to:

      1. Describe Open Educational Resources.
      2. Access reliable OER repositories relevant to the Tanzanian curriculum.
      3. Apply Creative Commons licensing principles.
      4. Integrate OER into lesson planning and classroom practice.


      Recommended time: 2 hours

  • Lesson 1: Introduction to Open Educational Resources (OER)

    • Introduction

      In this lesson, you will learn about Open Educational Resources , which are teaching and learning materials freely available for use, adaptation, and sharing under open licenses. You will explore the key principles of OER, including openness, accessibility, and the ability to reuse and remix content. You will  also explore the benefits of OER in teaching and learning, such as improving access to quality materials, reducing costs, and allowing content to be adapted to suit specific learning needs. Finally, you will examine the main types of OER, including open textbooks, open courseware, open journals, and open media, which provide a wide range of opportunities to support effective teaching and learning. Examples of OER are:
      • Open textbooks: Free, editable books for full courses (e.g. Biology textbook: OpenStax - https://openstax.org/details/books/biology-2e
      • Open courseware: Complete courses with lectures, assignments, and exams (e.g., MIT OCW - https://ocw.mit.edu).
      • Open journals: Peer-reviewed research available to everyone (e.g. An open-access journal article on digital learning or STEM education - https://doaj.org)
      • Open media: Videos, images, audio, and animations for teaching and learning (e.g., Images of the human heart, solar system diagrams, or laboratory equipment - https://commons.wikimedia.org ).


      Lesson outcomes

      On completion of this lesson, you will be able to describe OER.


       To start with, read the material provided in the link below and later watch the video provided.

    • To deepen your understanding of OER, OER benefits and guide, consider watching the following videos:

    • Discussion

      Using the Forum platform below to discuss on

      • How OER can be used to enhance teaching and learning.
      • Using AI tool to identify examples of open textbooks, courseware, journals, and media.
    • Discussion on OER Forum
      Make forum posts: 1

  • Lesson 2: Locating and Accessing OER

    • Introduction                                                                                                                                                                                 OER image

      In this lesson, you will explore how to locate and access Open Educational Resources (OER), which are freely available materials that support teaching, learning, and research. Understanding how to navigate popular OER repositories and effectively search, filter, and download materials will empower you to enhance your educational experience.

      Lesson outcomes.

      On completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

      1. Access OER materials.
      2. Download OER materials from popular repositories.

      The detailed handouts can be found in the link below.

    • Discussion

      After exploring the different methods for finding open content (AI tools, Google Advanced Search, YouTube Creative Commons filters, and Creative Commons Search), which approach worked best for you, and why?

  • Lesson 3: Open Licensing

    • Introduction

      With the rapid growth of open knowledge and freely accessible resources, understanding Creative Commons (CC) licenses has become a vital competence for learners. These licenses provide a clear framework on how Open Educational Resources (OER) can be used, shared, adapted, and remixed responsibly without infringing on copyright. Building this knowledge equips you to attribute sources correctly, adapt materials ethically, and contribute back to the learning community with confidence. 

      Lesson outcomes

      On completion of this lesson, you will be able to: 

           1. Describe Creative Commons licenses. 
           2. Apply Creative Commons licenses responsibly.

    • This short test checks your understanding of the different Creative Commons licences. It will help you see how much of the information you have remembered and can apply in your work.

  • Lesson 4: Practical Application of OER in Teaching

    • Introduction

      As a teacher, you already know that OER provides quality learning materials that can transform your classroom. The power of OER goes beyond simply finding and evaluating resources as it lies in how you can actively use, adapt, and even create OER to make your lessons more engaging and effective. 

      Lesson outcomes

      On completion of this lesson, you will be able to: 

           1. Create OER. 
           2. Integrate OER into lesson plans.
           3. Share OER.

      Now read the handout provided in the link to gain more insight in this lesson.

    • Assignment

      1. Choose one topic you will teach in the next week.
      2. Find one OER resource related to that topic (an image, video, diagram, slide deck, or worksheet).
      3. Check the licence (CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC BY-NC, etc.).
      4. Adapt the resource in a small way: translate it, simplify the text, change examples, or add a local context.
      5. Write one sentence explaining how your adapted version is more useful for your learners. Save and use it in your next lesson.
      6. Share your adapted resource with this class using the forum below and ask, “Would this be useful in your class? How could we improve it further?”
      1. Based on the feedback from your peers, revise your work, and submit your OER using the assignment tool below.

  • Unit Discussion

    • Forum Discussion - Reflecting on Your OER Journey

      At this point, you have covered how to describe Open Educational Resources (OER), access reliable OER repositories relevant to the Tanzanian curriculum, apply Creative Commons (CC) licensing principles, and integrate OER into your lesson planning and classroom practice. It is now time to engage in discussions with other teachers and share how you are finding, evaluating, customizing and using open resources to enrich your teaching. Click on the Discussion Forum below and read the instructions carefully. Click on Reply and post your answers based on your learning and classroom experience. Once you have shared your post, please read contributions from your fellow teachers and reply to at least two posts to exchange ideas, favorite OER sources, and practical tips for integrating open resources. Your participation helps us build a stronger community of practice and expands our collective access to high-quality, freely and openly available teaching materials.

  • Unit Assessment

    • It is time to check your understanding of this Unit. Take a quick quiz to see how well you can describe OER, access Tanzanian current relevant repositories, apply Creative Commons licensing, and integrate OER into your lesson planning and classroom practice.

    • Quiz: OER
      Receive a grade

  • Summary and Conclusion

    • In this Unit, you covered what Open Educational Resources are and why they matter for
      your teaching practice. You engaged in learning activities and participated in the discussion forum to share what you learned about accessing reliable OER repositories relevant to the Tanzanian curriculum. You also practised applying Creative Commons licensing principles and integrating OER into your lesson planning and classroom practice. By exploring these resources, you now have practical ways to enrich your lessons with high-quality, freely and openly available teaching and learning materials. You have done wonderful work discovering how OER can expand your teaching toolkit and support your learners. Now that you can find, evaluate, and legally use open resources, you are ready to create more diverse and accessible learning experiences. Keep sharing your favourite OER finds with colleagues to build a stronger community of practice. Congratulations on completing this unit and embracing the power of open education in your classroom.

  • Attribution and License