Open Educational Resources (OER)

Academic rigor doesn't have to be locked behind insurmountable paywalls. Although OER are free to access, they can still be high quality, professional, and peer-reviewed. Even so, it's important to maintain critical scrutiny as you browse available OER content and consider it for your courses.

• Can you confirm that the license allows the 5Rs of Open Educational Resources?
• Is the material directly related to your course objectives?
• Is the reading level appropriate for your students?
• Does it avoid bias and factual errors?
• Has it been peer-reviewed?
• Is the content up-to-date? If not, would it take much effort to revise it so that it is up-to-date?
• Are there other substantial edits or changes required? Do you have the time and capacity to adapt it?

Several universities and non-profits have developed helpful tools and rubrics for assessing OER content:

No matter how Open your course materials are, they won't do your students much good unless they are accessible. The following links provide tools and information for making sure digital course content meets best practices for accessibility.