3 II E. Evaluating Open Resources
While many open materials are peer-reviewed by faculty or subject matter experts, the five rubrics compiled below offer a variety of criteria and guiding questions to support your curricular choices.
The following rubrics range from very detailed and specific to extremely general. Two criteria, accessibility and cultural relevance/appropriateness, are considered in every rubric; however, the rubrics’ criteria vary from there and include topics like cost, integration with existing LMS, and opportunities for deeper learning.
The table below lists these five rubrics: Column One includes links to the rubric and the creating institution; Column Two lists the assessment criteria; and Column Three identifies the method of assessment and amount of detail.
Rubrics |
Criteria Considered |
Assessment Style |
| OER Evaluation Rubric | Alignment to Course Objectives
Utility for Instruction Quality of Assessment Quality of Technological Interactivity Quality of Instructional and Practice Exercises Opportunities for Deeper Learning Accessibility |
Detailed rubric with 3 levels of scoring
Uses guiding question |
| OER RUBRIC | Accuracy
Relevance Production Quality Accessibility Interactivity Cultural Relevance |
Brief ordered Checklist
Uses guiding questions |
| OER Evaluation Criteria
by Affordable Learning Georgia
|
Clarity, Comprehensibility, Readability
Content and Technical Accuracy Adaptability and Modularity Appropriateness Accessibility Supplementary Resources |
Brief Ordered Checklist
Uses guiding questions |
| Faculty Guide for Evaluating OER | Accuracy
Relevance Production Quality Accessibility Interactivity Licensing |
Brief ordered Checklist
Uses guiding questions |
| Faculty Checklist for Evaluating OER | Flexibility
Cost Cultural Relevance Accessibility Data, Privacy, Ethical Business Practices Integration with Campus Technology Customer Support |
Detailed ordered checklist
Uses guiding questions |
Evaluation Questions
Some questions to consider when evaluating open content to include:
- Does the content under consideration cover the subject area appropriately?
- Is the OER content accurate and free of major errors and spelling mistakes?
- Can the license of the content be used or altered for the course’s needs?
- Is the OER clearly written and appropriate for the students’ level of understanding?
- How accessible is this content? Will it be accessible for your students, or is it too technical? Or is it robust and challenging enough for your students?
Licenses and Attributions
Some Questions to Ask While Evaluating and rubrics are adapted from “Evaluate OER” by Abbey Elder, Iowa State University Library under a Creative Commons License CC BY 4.0.
