Getting Textbooks to Zero Student Cost: ZTC and OER

Consider Your Course Objectives & Discipline Standards

When it comes to evaluating Open Educational Resources, be sure to use an evaluation process similar to what you would use when evaluating a traditional textbook or any other resources you would normally wish to incorporate into a course.

Consider criteria such as: 

• Content and accuracy
• Relevance to the learning objectives of your course/ discipline standards
• Source and review process
• Production quality
• Accessibility and usability
• Formatting
• Cultural relevance and sensitivity
• Copyright and licensing permissions

Checklists

• "Evaluating Course Materials Checklist” by Stacy Katz and Abbey Elder is licensed under CC BY 4.0, a derivative from Affordable Learning Georgia OER Evaluation Criteria
• "Faculty Checklist for Evaluating Course Materials" by Open Oregon Educational Resources is licensed under CC BY 4.0 
• "Checklist for Evaluating Open Educational Resources (OER)" by ACC Office of Instructional & Faculty Development is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Copying/Downloading Checklists

To make copies of Google Docs using your Google account:

• log into your Google account 
• click on the title of the checklist you're interested in above
• click File on the top left
• select Make a Copy
• rename the file so you can retrieve it again in Google Drive, Google Docs, etc.

To make a Word version of any of the Google Doc worksheets above:

• click on the title of the checklist you're interested in above
• click File on the top left
• click Download
• select Microsoft Word (.docx)
• open the file in your downloads
• save the file to your chosen destination, so you can retrieve it easily again