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Introduction

Like other resources used in your teaching, OER will need to be evaluated to ensure they are suitable to use. Aspects you may need to consider could include:

  • Suitability: Does it align with course or program learning outcomes?
  • Licensing: Is the OER licensed for educational reuse, revision, remix or redistribution?
  • Quality: Who is the creator? Are they reputable? Is the content accurate and up-to-date?
  • Ease of use: Is the OER easy to use, accessible and available in alternative formats to assist a wide variety of learning preferences?

Evaluating OER

You will need to use the same criteria you use to evaluate all your course materials to ensure the suitability of OER for use in your courses. There are also a few additional criteria to think about when selecting OER. 3 things you may want to consider are: 

  • Quality
  • Accessibility
  • Copyright

Click on each of the criteria in the image below for more information.

Adapted from "Open Education Resources - Evaluate OERs" from NSU Florida.

Evaluate OER for equity

The following resources will help you evaluate OER for inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility.

Do I need to attribute OER?

You should acknowledge all third-party material you use, even if it is openly licensed.

Often sources will provide a suggested attribution you can use. If not, the links below contain all the information you need. 

OER checklist

Use this simple checklist, produced by The University of Queensland Library, to quickly decide whether the OER is appropriate for your purposes. OERs will need to be referenced like any other source of information.

Checklist Yes No
Licensed for open use    
CC license that allows for educational reuse    
CC license allows for modification and adaption    
Public domain    
Suitability    
Aligned with course objectives    
Appropriately current    
Suitable for your students' level    
Quality    
Creator is identified    
Creator is reputable    
Accurate content    
Audio, video, images are of high quality    
Ease of use    
Clear and easy to understand    
Interface easy to navigate    
Accessibility    
Audio and video resources have a transcript or subtitles    
Alternative formats are available if required (as Word document or PDF)    

 The Open educational resources (OER) guide by the University of Queensland Library is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.