In this article <http://wikieducator.org/User:Leighblackall/Open_educational_resources_and_practices> I take a look at what constitutes an open educational resource and consider the issues and benefits to an educational institution. An institution which is moving to participate in open educational resource development and adopt more open educational practices. There is a description of the initial steps being made by the Educational Development Centre at Otago Polytechnic - a tertiary education and vocational training institution in Southern New Zealand.