Open Educational Resources (OERs)

Image by TeroVesalainen from Pixabay

Mythbusting

A common question is, are these free resources as effective or of the same quality as traditionally published textbooks? The research says yes. Check out the video below and see the author's other publications from his Google Scholar profile.

A Review of the Effectiveness & Perceptions of Open Educational Resources As Compared to Textbooks by Research Shorts available under a CCBY licence via YouTube.

Still not convinced about OERs?

OERpolicy's Mythbusting page might help answer some of your questions!

OER Evaluation Checklist

As with any resource, OERs should be evaluated to assess their suitability for use. This simple checklist can help you decide whether the OER is appropriate for your purposes.

☐ Licensed for open use

☐ The license allows for educational reuse

☐ If wanting to adapt, the license allows for modification and adaption Suitability

☐ Appropriately current. If not, consider whether it is worth updating the resource with current content

☐ Suitable for your students' level Quality

☐ The creator is identified and reputable

☐ Accurate content

☐ Any audio, video, and images are of high quality

☐ Clear and easy to understand

☐ Interface easy to navigate and accessible

☐ Audio and video resources have a transcript or subtitles

☐ Alternative formats are available if required (as Word document or PDF) 

☐ The resource exists in a format that you can edit if you intend to adapt

This checklist is adapted from the "OER evaluation checklist” by the University of Queensland Library which was adapted from “BCcampus Open Education Textbook Review Rubric” by BCcampus Open Education, CC BY 4.0 which is a derivative of the “Peer Review criteria” used by Saylor Academy which is a derivative of the review rubric by College Open Textbooks. It is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license.

Evaluating OERs using the CRAAP test

Evaluating resources with the CRAAP test by Schoology. Youtube.