Open Educational Resources (OER): Selecting Resources

There are many ways of thinking about how to select classroom materials. On this page, you will find links to many tools that can help you with the process. Here are some ideas that can help you get started.

Suitability

Suitability has to do with how well the material matches up with your course and your students. Some key questions would be:

• Does the resource cover the material planned for the course?
• Is it comprehensive, or would it require supplemental resources? Which do you prefer?
• Is it pitched to the level at which the course is taught?
• Is the material organized in a way that suits your teaching style?
• Are the learning experiences well designed? Do they encourage deep learning?
• Is the material current, and is that important?
• Is the material culturally sensitive in its presentation?

Quality

Open access publishing breaks down many barriers to using and sharing information, but by its very nature, it has fewer gatekeepers. This means that the quality of the resources available can be uneven, and instructors need to exercise vigilance when selecting classroom materials.OER textbooks may not pass through the hands of professional editors and fact-checkers, as commercially published textbooks do. It is especially important to be aware that textbook sites that claim their material is 'peer reviewed' may be using quite a different process than is generally understood in the scholarly community (unlike open access journals, which adhere to the acknowledged standard).  Here are a few key questions to consider:

• Accuracy: Are there factual errors that have not been corrected? Does the material reflect recent scholarship?
• Readability: Do the spelling, grammar, and punctuation meet your standards? Is the language clear, and are the explanations enlightening?
• Authority: Who is the author, and what are his/her credentials? If the material has been reviewed, who are the reviewers, and what are their credentials? Is the material published/endorsed by an organization? If so, what is the organization's reputation?
• Production: Are the physical qualities of the text, like headings, fonts, images etc., clear and usable? Do interactive components work? If there are linked resources, are the links functional? Do media components work, and are the sound and image quality acceptable? Does media stream  or download well under ordinary internet conditions?
• Bias: Does the content display signs of bias, either in a social context, or in relation to the subject matter? How was the creation of the material funded/supported? Are there hidden agendas or conflicts of interest?

Accessibility and Inclusiveness

• Does the resource meet Atlantic Cape's standards for ADA compliance?
• Where appropriate to the subject matter, does the content reflect multiple voices and perspectives?

Usability

• Are there technological issues that would place obstacles in the path of students taking the course? Does the material require technology that is very old, very new, or expensive? Does it require more bandwidth than can reasonably be expected to be available where the students will be working?

Licensing

• Does the license attached to the material match with the way you intend to use it?

Sustainability

• How robust is the support system for the material? OER resources can go 'out of print' just as commercially published materials do. For essential teaching materials that will be used over the course of a whole semester, make sure that the resource can be downloaded by you and your students, and that the licensing agreement allows you to share your copy, in the event that the original is taken off-line.