Open Educational Resources: A Primer

Open Textbook Review Program

The University of New Mexico is a member of the Open Education Network (OEN), a community of educational institutions and consortia working to make education more equitable, affordable, and inclusive. On Friday, April 7th from 2:30-4:00 p.m, the College of University Libraries and Learning Sciences will work with the OEN to offer an Open Textbook Review Program workshop.

UNM faculty can register here: https://open.umn.edu/network/workshops/open-textbook-review-program-workshop

Join facilitator Meggie Mapes, an Open Education Network (OEN) Presenter, for this workshop. Mapes is a faculty member and Introductory Course Director in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Kansas. The workshop introduces faculty to open textbooks andMeggie Mapes, Open Education Network Presenter the benefits they can bring to student learning, faculty pedagogical practice, and social justice on campus.

After attending the workshop, faculty are eligible to receive a $200 stipend for attending the workshop and writing a review of a textbook in the Open Textbook Library.

These OEN workshops have resulted in a 45% adoption rate by participating faculty. 

Sign up for the OER Initiative's Mailing List to receive more OER Initiative details as soon as they are available.

Qualifying for the Grants

To qualify for the Open Textbook Review Program, faculty must meet the following criteria:

  • Attend the Open Education Network workshop on Friday, April 7th.
  • Register early. Thirty textbook grants are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
  • Must be a full-time faculty member or a Teaching Assistant.
  • Faculty must write a review of an Open Textbook in the Open Textbook Library.
  • Faculty must also publish their reviews on the Open Textbook Library's website--details for how to do this are forthcoming and will be explained during the workshop.

Open Textbooks Review Criteria

The criteria down below are what faculty will use to evaluate the OER in the Open Textbook Library. These criteria are based on a rubric created by BC Open Campus. For more information about this program, you can contact the OER Librarian.

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 rubric was developed by BCcampus. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.