Open Educational Resources (OER)

Like all course material and textbooks, you should evaluate the available OER materials to see if they are appropriate for your course. When evaluating OER, you should consider:

• Coverage - Does the material or textbook provide enough depth and breadth to your subject?
• Accuracy - Is the material correct and free of major errors (including grammar)?
• License - Which CC license is the material issued under? Can you use and remix it? (You can learn more about licensing in the Creative Commons and Copyright section of this guide.)
• Level - Is the text clearly written? Is it written at the level of your students?
• Accessibility - Can the material be used by all students with full consideration for their learning needs?

The rubrics below are examples of ways to evaluate if an OER material is appropriate for your class.

Most OER materials are peer-reviewed, just like other academic resources. If you are an expert in a field covered by OER resources, you can provide peer-review to those materials. Most OER platforms, which you can see in the Find OER section of this guide, offer information about how to provide your review. 

If you are interested in offering a professional, peer-review, the library is available to help. Contact us at ask@udc.libanswers.com.