Library Guides: Open educational resources (OER): Evaluate OER

Evaluate OERs

You may need to evaluate the Open Educational Resources (OER) to determine if they are suitable to use.

OER evaluation checklist

Use this simple checklist to quickly decide whether the OER is appropriate for your purposes. Refer to the evaluation tools in the next box if you want to comprehensively evaluate the OER.

Criteria	Appropriate	Not appropriate
Openly licensed	Creative Commons (CC) licence or Public domain	Closed licence
Allows reuse	CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-SA, CC BY-ND, CC BY-NC-ND, CC0, Public domain	Closed licence
Allows modification and adaptation	CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-SA, CC0, Public domain	CC BY-ND, CC BY-NC-ND
Content suitability	Aligns with course objectives Comprehensive coverage of subject matter Suitable for my students' level Content is current or kept up to date	Too basic Too advanced Out of date
Quality	Reputable author, professional affiliations are provided Accurate content - error-free, unbiased, no spelling or grammatical errors Video, diagrams and other supplementary materials are relevant and well-designed	No author details Content errors Content omissions
Ease of use	Interface is easy to navigate Structure is well-organised Organisation of topics is logical and clear Clear and consistent use of elements and terminology	Difficult to navigate No logical organisation Inconsistent content
Diversity and inclusion	Content is designed to meet accessibility standards Presents diverse perspectives and viewpoints, inclusive of different identities, ethnicities and backgrounds No insensitive or offensive viewpoints	Inaccessible Presents only one viewpoint Offensive content

“OER evaluation checklist” is 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. OER evaluation checklist” by the University of Queensland Library is shared under CC BY-NC 4.0.

OER evaluation checklist (DOCX, 60KB)
Downloadable version of the checklist

Comprehensive evaluation tools

Rubrics for evaluating OERs
An evaluation system for objects found within Open Education Resources, developed by Achieve, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit education reform organization dedicated to working with states to raise academic standards, improve assessments, and strengthen accountability. It can be applied across content areas and object types.
Achieve OER Rubrics
Evaluation system for OERs
Equity rubric for OER evaluation
Evaluate instructional materials for equity.
How to use the Equity rubric for OER evaluation and the EmpoweredOER site
Information on how to use the rubric to evaluate a resource you already have or fill an equity gap.