Comprehensiveness
The text covers all areas and ideas of the subject appropriately and provides an effective index and/or glossary.
Content Accuracy
Content is accurate, error-free and unbiased.
Relevance Longevity
Content is up-to-date, but not in a way that will quickly make the text obsolete within a short period of time. The text is written and/or arranged in such a way that necessary updates will be relatively easy and straightforward to implement.
Clarity
The text is written in lucid, accessible prose, and provides adequate context for any jargon/technical terminology used.
Consistency
The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework.
Modularity
The text is easily and readily divisible into smaller reading sections that can be assigned at different points within the course (i.e., enormous blocks of text without subheadings should be avoided). The text should not be overly self-referential, and should be easily reorganized and realigned with various subunits of a course without presenting much disruption to the reader.
Organization Structure Flow
The topics in the text are presented in a logical, clear fashion.
Interface
The text is free of significant interface issues, including navigation problems, distortion of images/charts, and any other display features that may distract or confuse the reader.
Grammatical Errors
The text contains no grammatical errors.
Cultural Relevance
The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. It should make use of examples that are inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds.
This content was developed by BCcampus. It is a derivative of the Peer Review criteria used by Saylor.org, which is a derivative of the review rubric used by College Open Textbooks,which was adapted from the American Library Association Choice Selection Policy.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
*This content was copied from Furman's OER General Collections LibGuide page with permission.
A big question regarding OERs and Open Textbooks is quality. As those at the Open Textbook Network state, "...quality judgments [are best left] to faculty with expertise in the subject area."*
That said, the rubric to the left is a popular one used for evaluating open textbooks. In addition to the rubric, there are a few other items faculty might find useful in evaluating these types of resources.
1. Inclusion criteria
Some organizations like OpenStax and Open Textbook Network list specific requirements for inclusion. Many times this is found in an About Us or FAQs section on the site.
2. Reviews
Reviews and or a peer review as part of the submission process can also be found with some of this content. For instance, OpenStax makes peer-review an inclusion requirement, with a viewable list of contributors available for each book.