Evaluating OER
In the previous section, Finding OER, you focused on organizing your search and finding relevant OER. This section will focus on elements of evaluating OER.
Watch the last few minutes of this video which focuses on evaluating OER. {view snippet 4:06 -5:52}
The first part of evaluating an OER is asking yourself what you want to do with that OER. Do you want to adopt and use as is? Or, do you want to adapt and modify the content to meet your needs? If you found an OER that matched your learning outcomes perfectly, but some modification was required, does the license on that resource allow you to modify? Or, is it licensed in a way that does not allow for modifications or derivatives? If modifications are not allowed, you may want to consider another resource. So first, before diving into rubrics, consider the license for the OER and what the permissions allow.
The following questions can help guide you when selecting and evaluating OER. The list below is also available in PDF format from Affordable Learning Georgia.
Clarity, Comprehensibility, and Readability
Is the content, including any instructions, exercises, or supplemental material, clear and comprehensible to students?
Is the content well-categorized in terms of logic, sequencing, and flow?
Is the content consistent with its language and key terms?
Content Accuracy and Technical Accuracy
Is the content accurate based on both your expert knowledge and through external sources?
Are there any factual, grammatical, or typographical errors?
Is the interface easy to navigate? Are there broken links or obsolete formats?
Adaptability and Modularity
Is the resource in a file format which allows for adaptations, modifications, rearrangements, and updates?
Is the resource easily divided into modules, or sections, which can then be used or rearranged out of their original order?
Is the content licensed in a way which allows for adaptations and modifications?
Appropriateness
Is the content presented at a reading level appropriate for higher education students?
How is the content useful for instructors or students?
Is the content itself appropriate for higher education?
Does the content reflect a variety of perspectives?
Accessibility
Is the content accessible to students with disabilities?
If you are using Web resources, does each image have alternate text that can be read?
Do videos have accurate closed-captioning?
Are students able to access the materials in a quick, non-restrictive manner?
Supplementary Resources
Does the OER contain any supplementary materials, such as homework resources, study guides, tutorials, or assessments?
Have you reviewed these supplementary resources in the same manner as the original OER?
More on evaluating accessibility can be found at these supplementary resources
Affordable Learning Georgia Accessibility Rubric
Open Washington - Evaluation Module - Accessibility
BC Campus Accessibility Toolkit
There are plenty of rubrics and evaluation tools available. Your department already may use one for evaluating other course material or textbooks for adoption. If they do, use that! Outside of considering if you want to exercise the 5Rs and whether the licensing on the resources allows for it, evaluating OER should not be any different than evaluating other course material under consideration for adoption.
Suggestions for easy-to-use and widely-adopted rubrics and checklists for evaluation include:
Achieve OER Rubrics
DigiTex Checklist for Evaluating OER
Peralta Online Equity Rubric - while not specific to OER evaluation, this rubric can be applied to OER evaluation and serve as a holistic evaluation tool to make online course experiences more equitable for all students. It includes addressing technology access, instructor’s commitment to inclusion, common forms of bias, students making connections between course topics/material and their lives, and follows universal design for learning principles. The rubric is also openly licensed allowing for reuse and adaptation.
Version 3.0 October 2020
Another successful approach to evaluate an OER is to use a course map template to track course outcomes, activities, and teaching resources. A course map, also known as a curriculum map, is a record of teaching and learning that can provide faculty an opportunity to align OER with course learning outcomes. An added advantage to course mapping is unearthing unintentional gaps or redundancies in your learning outcomes. Additionally, you can use a course map to document the license for the resource, keep track of where the resource lives online, and organize comments as you compile more resources.
As you gather your resources and plan for aspects of course redesign when incorporating your OER, know there are tools available to help you. For example, DigiTex leads the statewide consortium of Quality Matters, a national nonprofit that provides research-based tools for implementation of quality assurance in course design, helping to facilitate the success of online learners. Your institution may be using Quality Matters and/or may be able to provide support for course redesign through an office of Distance Learning or Instructional Designers. If you are redesigning an online or hybrid course, we recommend faculty contact their instructional designers to help set up the course map before you begin. It will save time by organizing your map as you begin to compile OER.
The Texas Learn OER modules were developed by adapting several existing OER, and a course map was used to track, organize, and evaluate content. The Texas Learn OER template is available for use. Retrieve a copy below, as well as a sample course map:
Blank Course Map Template
Texas Learn OER Course Map Sample
GSC Open Ed Guide is largely derived from Texas Learn OER by Carrie Gits for DigiTex is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 2020
