Open Educational Resources and Affordable Learning

Evaluation Rubrics

OER come from a variety of sources, including university publishers, nonprofits, and individuals sharing their instructional content. As a result, there is a lack of consistent standards across the body of OER available online. This does mean that instructors may need to devote more time and attention when considering OER for their courses, though the flexibility of open licenses do allow instructors to adapt content for increased quality and accessibility, something that would be impossible with the vast majority of traditionally published material. Here are some resources to assist in the evaluation of OER:

Achieve Rubrics for Evaluating OER Objects

This comprehensive document offers eight rubrics for considering an OER, including Assurance of Accessibility, Degree of Alignment to Standards, Explanation of the Subject Matter, Utility of Materials Designed to Support Teaching, Assessment, Technological Interactivity, and Instructional and Practice Exercises Opportunities for Deeper Learning.

OER Accessibility Toolkit

This guide is intended to guide the creation of OER in ways that are accessible, and can offer great insight into universal design as well as the technical decision making necessary to determine whether a resource is accessible for your students. If you choose to adapt OER material, this is a useful tool to improve those resources when considering accessibility. 

Open Textbook Library Review Criteria

These are the factors that make up the OTL's rubric for instructor evaluations of OER textbooks. It can be a useful resource for considering the various factors of an OER's suitability for a particular course. 

Last Updated: Jul 18, 2023 4:56 PM