Driving Awareness, Adoptions, and Affordability

Review

Peer review of open textbooks and other learning content provides the quality assurance necessary for making knowledge sharing viable. Experts contribute to Peer Reviews by 1) selecting appropriate content for review, 2) evaluating the content based on standard criteria, and 3) sharing their feedback.

Process

Peer Reviewers start by selecting open content to review based on established criteria. A list of 300+ open textbooks is provided by the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources.

Want to do your part to lower the cost of college textbooks?

Consider reviewing a chapter or two of an open textbook for the Community College Open Textbook Project.

See examples of peer-reviews of open textbooks in several disciplines.

Criteria for Selection of Open Textbooks for Review

(Criteria adapted from ALA Choice Selection Policy)

Principal Criteria

Readership Level: The subject matter is presented primarily at a reading level appropriate for undergraduate use, including community and two year colleges.
Content: The content of the work complements the undergraduate curriculum and is suitable for use in college courses.
Quality: The authors or producers display command of the subject matter, and the material is presented in a comprehensive, well-organized, and understandable manner.
Authorship: The author(s) is a recognized expert in the open textbook subject matter. Some evidence of recognized expert status includes employment at an educational institution as a faculty member, or authorship of a published textbook that has previously been adopted for college-level course use, among others.
Technical Considerations: The content is available in accessible, electronic formats.
Availability: The open textbook content is available for fair use under an open license without cost or site registration.

General Publication Criteria

Language: Only English-language publications are reviewed at this time.
Review Copy: Reviewsonly the finished version of a work, not a prepublication form such as page proofs, or beta test versions for electronic products.

Criteria Specific to Electronic Resources

Comparative Formats: The CCOT Project reviews resources available only in electronic format as well as electronic resources that have print counterparts.
Currency and Updates: The open textbook should show evidence that, when necessary and appropriate, the author(s) plans to update regularly.
Hardware and Software: Technical requirements of an open textbook should be compatible with standard and commonly available hardware/software in college campus student computer labs.
Stability of Content: There should be evidence that an electronic open textbook is available from an Internet site is stable in content and format.

Recommended Review Criteria

For each chapter of the textbook, provide feedback and ratings of the textbook's:

Clarity and comprehensibility - content, including the instructions and exercises
Accuracy
Readability - in terms of logic, sequencing, and flow
Consistency of course materials - consistency in the content language and use of key terms as is necessary to facilitate understanding by novice users
Appropriateness of content - appropriateness of the material for community college level courses
Interface - technological issues such as broken links, improperly displayed graphics, and ease of navigation
Content usefulness - the ways in which the content could be useful for teachers, students, and those with a general interest in the subject area
Modularity - the ability to adapt, rearrange, add, delete and modify the content by sections
Content errors - the presence or absence of factual errors, grammatical errors, and typographical errors in the content
Reading level - appropriate for community college level students
Cultural relevance - use of examples that are inclusive of diverse races and ethnicities

In addition, the review should include narrative explanations or justifications, with examples, for each of the ratings.

If the Peer Reviewer adopts the textbook that is under review for a course, then the Peer Reviewer is encouraged to:

Invite students to provide feedback (via an online survey) about the textbook, and
Provide feedback from the faculty perspective about actual use of the textbook in the course.