As faculty, you assess textbooks against a set of criteria that reflects your long experience and knowledge of student needs. You do the same with Open Textbooks, but there are a few additional considerations.
* Content
o Accuracy of material
o Richness
o Depth
o Breadth
o Timeliness
o Cultural context
* Presentation
o Writing quality and tone
o Reading level
o Organization
o Visual presentation
o Hierarchy of information
o Collateral materials
Additional Criteria
* Accessibility online
o Are the web pages for the textbook accessible?
* Production options
o Is the book available in more than one format? Printed? Bound? PDF?
* Platform compatibility
o Is the textbook viewable and usable on both MAC's and PC's?
* Delivery options
o Is a bound copy available at a very low price? Will your bookstore be able to carry the printed version?
* Interactivity
o If the online version includes interactive software or multi-media files, are they accessible and cross platform?
* Consistency between online and printed presentation
o Are the online and printed versions comparable in organization and basic appearance?
o Will you be able to identify locations in either with minimal confusion for students?
* Collateral material
o If there are test banks, interactives, or other enrichment materials, are they in a format you can use?
o Accessible?
o Free or very inexpensive?
Unless otherwise noted the content on this LibGuide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.