Evaluating OER
Is the source an OER?
As you are looking for OER, it is important to note that everything on the internet that is accessible, is not an OER. It is important to pay attention to the specific terms of a license on a resource to determine whether or not it is an OER.
Evaluating OER
Once you have determined that what you are using has an open license and can be used as an OER, the next step is to evaluate its quality, as you would for any other course materials. You can use the PDF linked below to extensively check the quality of the OER. It should be noted that this PDF is an example of an OER, which can be seen by the Creative Commons license, which is found at the bottom of each page of the PDF.
Rubrics for Evaluating Open Education Resource (OER) Objects was written by Achieve and is licensed under CC by 3.0
Evaluation Checklist for OER Textbooks
If you are specifically using an OER textbook for your course, consider the following checklist to ensure that you are choosing a resource that is beneficial to you and your students. If the OER textbook does not meet some of the below criteria, you are legally able to revise the material.
Comprehensiveness: The text covers all areas and ideas of the subject appropriately and provides an effective index and/or glossary.
Content Accuracy: Content, including diagrams and other supplementary material, is accurate, error-free and unbiased.
Relevance/Longevity: Content is up-to-date, but not in a way that will quickly make the text obsolete within a short period of time. The text is written and arranged in such a way that necessary updates will be relatively easy and straightforward to implement.
Clarity: The text is written in lucid, accessible prose, and provides adequate context for any jargon or technical terminology used.
Consistency: The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework.
Modularity: The text is easily and readily divisible into smaller reading sections that can be assigned at different points within the course. The text should not be overly self-referential, and should be easily reorganized and realigned with various subunits of a course without presenting much disruption to the reader.
Organization/Structure/Flow: The topics in the text are presented in a logical, clear fashion.
Interface: The text is free of significant interface issues, including navigation problems, distortion of images/charts, and any other display features that may distract or confuse the reader.
Grammatical Errors: The text contains no grammatical errors.
Cultural Relevance: The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. It should make use of examples that are inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds.
The text in the Textbook Evaluation Checklist for OER Textbooks is adapted from BC Open Textbooks Review Criteria, licensed under CC by 3.0
Evaluate OER for Social Justice Concerns
As in all areas, inclusivity and diversity are essential to consider when using OER. The OER movement can help contribute to the social justice movement because it removes the cost barriers to course materials for students. However, this is just one aspect of social justice. As you are evaluating an OER resource, consider the following table prior to committing to using a resource. In this table you will find guidelines for redistributive, recognitive, and representational justice within OERs. You can also use the “cultural relevance” criteria from the textbook evaluation list, which is above this section. Overall, it is important for all educators to build a more justice-oriented education landscape, and using these evaluation criteria for OERs is one of the ways that the field can move toward a more just education landscape.
| Social Justice Principle | Open Education Example |
|---|---|
| Redistributive Justice | Free educational resources, textbooks or courses to learners who by circumstance of socio-cultural position cannot afford them, particularly learners who could be excluded from education or be more likely to fail due to lack of access to learning materials. |
| Recognitive Justice | Socio-cultural diversity in the open curriculum. Inclusion of images, case studies, and knowledges of women, First Nations people and whomever is marginalised in any particular national, regional or learning context. Recognition of diverse views and experiences as legitimate within open assignments and feedback. |
| Representational Justice | Self-determination of marginalized people and groups to speak for themselves, and not have their stories told by others. Co-construction of OER texts and resources about learners of colour by learners of colour, about women’s experiences by women, about gay experiences by gay identifying people. Facilitation to ensure quiet and minority views have equal air-time in open online discussions. |
This table from Sarah Roslyn Lambert’s “Changing Our (Dis)Course: A Distinctive Social Justice Aligned Definition of Open Education.” Journal of Learning for Development 5 (3). Licensed by CC BY-SA 4.0.
OER and Accessibility
The last evaluation that you should consider for an OER is how accessible it is for people with disabilities. Follow NYU’s Digital Accessibility Checklist to ensure that the resources that you have chosen are accessible for all students to utilize and learn from.
Go to: What is an Open Educational Resource (OER)? ; OER and its Benefits, or Finding OER