Guides

Find out more about OER at https://open.teachingandlearning.ie/oer/

What are OER

Find out more about OER and Copyright in Ireland at https://open.teachingandlearning.ie/oer-copyright-ireland/

OER and Copyright in Ireland

Frequently Asked Questions

The National Resource Hub is a searchable collection of open educational resources (OER) for teaching and learning. It brings together resources from across the Irish higher education sector—and beyond—to support educators and institutions in embracing open practices.

Any individual or institution involved in higher education is welcome to submit resources. The Hub accepts both original OER and adapted materials, provided proper attribution is given when using content from another source.

Submissions are made via an online form. You will need to provide key details such as the title of your OER, information about the creators (including names and affiliations), and details on licensing and attribution. The form also lets you choose your submission method—whether to upload a file directly, use FileSender for large files, or share a resource link.

Once you submit your resource, it is sent to our admin team for review. Typically, your resource will be approved within 3–5 working days, and you will receive a confirmation email once it goes live on the National Resource Hub. If any issues arise or further information is needed, a member of our team may contact you directly.

Creating an account on the Hub offers several advantages:

  • Resource Submission & Sharing: Easily contribute your own OER and immediately enhance their reach with custom short URLs and automatically generated QR codes.
  • Enhanced Visibility & Impact: Gain national (and international) exposure, increasing recognition and usage across the higher education community.
  • Easy Resource Bookmarks: Use built‑in bookmarking tools to quickly save and revisit your favorite resources.
  • Boost Your Professional Profile: Showcase your work in a nationally recognised repository and build your reputation in open educational practices.

The Hub welcomes a wide range of OER—including lecture slides, course notes, multimedia learning resources, interactive activities, case studies, research reports, and more. Whether your resource is a full learning module or a smaller reusable learning object, it can be submitted as long as it meets the open licensing requirements.

All submissions must be openly licensed—typically under a Creative Commons license (most commonly CC BY). This ensures that your resource can be freely used, shared, and adapted while still giving you proper credit. The submission form includes guidance on how to provide correct attribution if your resource is an adaptation.

Supporting open education involves both making educational resources freely accessible and promoting best practices that encourage collaboration and innovation. The National Resource Hub is part of the National Forum’s commitment to open education, which includes developing open policies, providing professional development resources, and ensuring that all National Forum-funded projects are published openly.

In addition to providing a platform for resource submission and discovery, the Hub offers links to a suite of digital resources such as guides, infographics, and webinars. These support materials help educators adopt open licensing, develop enabling policies, and stay current with best practices in digital and open teaching and learning.

The National Resource Hub supports OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting), which makes it easier for external systems and aggregators to access and integrate metadata about our resources. You can use the base URL (https://hub.teachingandlearning.ie/oai) to harvest metadata, ensuring your work can be discovered in broader open education networks.

We strive to maintain up-to-date and accurate details for every resource. If you encounter any broken links, discrepancies or outdated information, please report the issue using the “Report an Issue” option or contact our support team directly. Your feedback is important in helping us improve and update the Hub.

If you notice a broken link, incorrect information, or any other issue with a resource, simply click the “Report an Issue” link on the resource page to help us keep the Hub’s content accurate and reliable.

The Hub is coordinated by the National Forum, which is dedicated to fostering open education across Irish higher education. For further questions or assistance with your submission, you can contact the support team via the support page provided on the Hub.