OER and Other Zero-Cost Instructional Materials

A typical question asked about Open Educational Resources is: Are these quality materials?

Oxford defines quality as: the standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind; the degree of excellence of something.

Consider another approach from David Wiley, a significant figure in the open education movement: “For educational materials, the degree to which they support learning is the only meaning of quality we should care about.”

No matter which definition is more meaningful to you, as the instructor you are best suited to evaluate teaching materials for your course. Evaluating open content works in essentially the same way as evaluating any other content. You, as the instructor and subject expert, know best if a resource is appropriate for your needs.

• Are students able to access the materials in a quick, non-restrictive manner?
• Is it available as a downloadable file accessible without internet access?
• Is the interface stable and easy to navigate?
• Is the format accessible to students with visual or hearing impairments?

Here are a few rubrics you can use to evaluate OER.  The same evaluation principles can be applied to non-open resources as well.

• Achieve OER Rubrics
• Checklist for Evaluating Open Educational Resources (OER) (excerpt below)
• Open Textbooks Review Criteria
• Selecting Textbooks

"Checklist for Evaluating Open Educational Resources (OER)" by ACC Office of Instructional & Faculty Development is licensed under. This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0.