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Discovery, Metadata & Accessibility: Review & Quality Control: Home

Overview

Review & Quality Control
OER REVIEW processes often use established rubrics to ensure high standards in content QUALITY, alignment with learning outcomes, inclusivity, accessibility, and usability. Examples include the Achieve OER Rubric and BCcampus' Quality Assurance Process, which, for example, evaluate materials for accuracy, relevance, clarity, and engagement. Repositories like the Open Textbook Library encourage peer review of existing OER, providing detailed assessments by subject matter experts publicly available with the reviewers title and affiliation. These transparent evaluation frameworks help ensure OER made available publicly pass through review processes as robust as those used for traditional educational resources.

Review & Quality Control Topics

Just like with traditional educational materials, OER are not all of uniform quality, so it is valid to question how to evaluate, or trust others' evaluations, of OER. Similar to traditional educational materials, there are formal and informal methods of review OER are exposed to throughout their lifecycle. 

Explaining the OER Review ProcessExample of an OER textbook review in the Open Textbook Library

Acknowledge concerns: The instructor's concerns about quality are valid, and just like commercial textbooks, OER can vary in quality. Many OER undergo similar or even more transparent review processes than commercial textbooks.

Introduce peer-reviewed OER repositories: Many OER repositories feature peer-reviewed materials, similar to traditional academic publishing, and some, like Open Textbook Library, MERLOT, and OER Commons allow faculty and subject matter experts to review and rate resources for accuracy, relevance, and quality. Examples:

  • Open Textbook Library: Features reviews from faculty members across institutions who assess the textbooks for quality and usability. (right: screenshot from a review in the Open Textbook Library)
  • MERLOT: Offers a peer review process where materials are reviewed by educators for content accuracy, pedagogy, and effectiveness.
  • OER Commons: Allows users to add comments and reviews, while certain collections undergo formal peer review.

Some OER projects invite third-party experts to evaluate materials, adding credibility to the review process. OpenStax, for example, uses subject-matter experts to review textbooks before publication.

Explain the OER quality control frameworks: Established, standardized rubrics and frameworks are frequently used to evaluate the quality of OER materials. In addition to content quality, many OER are reviewed for accessibility, ensuring that they meet universal design principles and are available to all learners, including those with disabilities.

Support structures for OER review: Explain that the institution’s academic support staff (including librarians, instructional designers, and OER specialists) are available to assist with evaluating the quality of OER. Support staff can help with:

  • Reviewing materials for accuracy and alignment with course objectives.
  • Ensuring that OER meet accessibility and technical standards.
  • Offering guidance on how to customize materials to better suit the instructor’s course needs.

Participate in ​​​​​​OER communities: Connect the instructor with OER communities of practice or listservs where educators share resources, best practices, and feedback on the quality of various OER. The Open Education Network is one of many organizations that encourage textbook review as a professional development activity and part of training for instructors.

OER quality rubrics are used as part of the overall review before original publication or during revision; to assess alignment with learning outcomes; in peer-reviews of existing OER available in repositories and referatories; for evaluating an OER's accessibility and inclusivity; and to judge proposal applications and awards.

Example Rubrics

These are just examples and are not an exhaustive list:

  • Achieve OER Rubrics: Focuses on alignment with usability, assessment, quality of explanations, and standards.
  • BCcampus OER Equity Rubric: evaluation focuses on five areas: five areas of focus: access and usability, student engagement,
    language, representation, and ways of knowing and sources of authority.
  • BCcampus Open Textbook Quality Assurance Rubric: Assesses content accuracy, relevance, clarity, and interactivity.
  • BranchED Equity Rubric for OER Evaluation: Published by Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity, includes four broad dimensions (learner-centered, critical, culturally sustaining, universally designed for learning) and specific "look fors."
  • Equity Through OER Rubric: Published by DOERS3, this rubric is divided into three areas of focus and engagement, each with their own handful of dimensions: Students, Practitioners, and Leadership/Administrators.
  • OER Quality Framework: Oregon Open Learning Team created this rubric which elaborates indicators of high-quality OER. It consists of three tools for different situations and a glossary of terms.
  • Open Education Group’s COUP Framework: Evaluates OER materials based on cost savings, outcomes, use, and perceptions (faculty and student feedback).
  • Open Education Resources Evaluation Rubric: Amalgam of eight rubrics developed by ACHIEVE by The University of Texas Rio Grande's Center for Online Learning and Teaching Technology, and used to evaluate contenders for their OER Award.