LibGuides: Open Educational Resources (OER): Evaluate OER

When evaluating OER, it is important to remember:

Improving Representation and Diversity in OER Materials
This resource includes a review framework as well as a set of prose guidelines for development. "OpenStax’s mission is to provide equity and access to education for everyone including proper representation of genders, gender identities, races, cultures, geographies, ethnic backgrounds,
disabilities, nationalities, ages, sexual orientations, socio-economic status, and diverse viewpoints in books."

The Process of Evaluating OER

Here are a few steps you might take in the evaluation process. If this process seems lengthy, think about the process you follow to review textbooks and other materials for your course. You can use a similar or modified evaluation process to that.

Does this OER cover the content you'd like your students to learn in this course or module?
How accessible is this content? Will it be accessible for your students or is it too technical? Or, vice versa, is it robust and challenging enough for your students?
How can you use the content? Verify the license that the resource is under (see OER 101 - Creative Commons tab for more info). Can you remix or revise the OER as long as it isn't for commercial purposes? Who do you have to recognize if you use it? Will you be able to do so? For more help with this, please contact the library.
Once you determine how you can use the OER, what would you like to do with it? Does only a portion of it apply to your class? Would you possibly want to combine this OER with another OER or resource? Does the library have access to articles that could act as supplemental readings?
As you collect more OER and other resources, save them in a central location. Take note of how you envision using them. Align these resources with the learning objectives and weekly lessons on your syllabus in order to identify gaps.

*This information was complied by the University Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Evaluation Rubrics, Checklists, and Tools

Achieve's OER Rubrics
Achieve.org has developed eight OER rubrics as well as an evaluation tool to help users determine the degree of alignment of OER to the Common Core standards, and aspects of quality of OER. More OER Rubrics training materials can be found through the achieve.org website.
Rubrics for Evaluating Open Education Resources Objects
This two page rubric is a synthesis version of the eight separate rubrics for the evaluation of OER created by Achieve.org. It is meant as a ready reference for quick evaluation.
(Credit: Created and shared by Rodney Birch of George Fox University: http://libguides.georgefox.edu/c.php?g=591097&p=4087471 )
Achieve Open Educational Resources Evaluation Tool Handbook
This handbook guides the user through the process of evaluating an online resource using the Achieve OER Evaluation Tool, which is hosted on OERcommons.org.
iRubric: Evaluating OER Rubric
Questions to ask about the OER you are thinking of using. This rubric was developed by Sarah Morehouse with help from Mark McBride, Kathleen Stone, and Beth Burns. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

BC Campus Checklist for Evaluating an Open Textbook

BC Campus Checklist for Accessibility From BC Campus Open Textbooks Accessibility Toolkit (2nd edition)

*This information was complied by the University Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with some additions