Subject Guides: Open Educational Resources: Adopting and Evaluating OER

How Do I Evaluate OER?

As you consider OER, remember first your pedagogical objectives. If an entire resource doesn't work for you, could a portion of it be helpful? Because of the open license, you can consider combining large or small portions of multiple OER, in addition to considering fair use for small portions of other works.

Below are some checklists of items to consider when determining if an open resource will work for your course:

Faculty Evaluation Guide
From the BC Open Campus, this chapter provides criteria and suggestions for evaluating OERs in your course.
Faculty Checklist for Evaluating Course Materials
This 2-page checklist enables faculty to evaluate a broad range of course materials for a class, including open educational resources.
Open Textbook Library Review Criteria
Faculty who review open textbooks in the Open Textbook Library follow these criteria, which can also be a general guide for overall OER evaluation.

How Do I Adopt Open Textbooks?

How do I adopt an open textbook and include it in the SPU Bookstore listing for my course?

Start by searching the Open Textbook Sources listed in this Guide.

Review and evaluate the textbooks based on the content and whether it suits your teaching style and your students. You can also consult the Faculty Evaluation Guide below or this Faculty Checklist for Evaluating Course Materials.

Decide if you want to use the textbook as-is or if you want to modify the contents. One of the benefits of open textbooks is flexibility to customize them for specific course designs as much or as little as you desire. If you want to make edits or append content, make sure the licensing allows that. Different open textbooks will have different options for editing and publishing revised copies.

Distribute to your students by linking to the textbook or uploading into Canvas. You can select the best format to distribute to your class such as online or downloadable PDF.

Notify the SPU bookstore of your open textbook adoption through the faculty portal (if ISBN available). The bookstore can often provide low-cost print copies on hand for students who prefer a printed textbook.