OER essentials guide offers a blueprint to provide students with open textbooks that are pedagogically sound, accessible and engaging
Open educational resources are transforming higher education — free textbooks and course materials that remove cost barriers and increase student access to learning while giving faculty more flexibility in how they teach.
But as OER adoption grows, so does an important question: How do we define quality in open textbooks?
Oregon State University’s Open Educational Resources Unit is leading the charge to answer that question through the development of A Guide to Open Textbook Essential and Exemplary Features. It is a resource created in collaboration with the Open Education Network and many other OER leaders from higher education institutions that publish open textbooks.
The OER essentials guide provides a clear, practical framework for faculty and others to evaluate open textbooks they are considering adopting and for those who want to create open textbooks that are pedagogically sound, accessible, inclusive and engaging for students.
“This guide gives faculty and institutions a shared language for what ‘quality’ means in open education. It contains examples of features that are considered essential to a quality open textbook and those that are considered exemplary,” said Stefanie Buck, the director of Oregon State’s Open Educational Resources Unit.
“Whether you are reviewing or selecting an open textbook for your course, adapting an existing resource or authoring something new, the guide offers concrete criteria and best practices to support your work. Published under a CC BY 4.0 license, it is free to use, adapt and share.”
Explore how to identify and create high-quality OER on our new webpage and start using the guide in your own teaching and decision-making.
