🌐Overview

The goal of Gap Analysis is to identify what you have to what you need. What topics are covered by existing resources (and how much adaptation is needed)? What topics are missing? This will help authors plan their workflow and timeline.

📖 Table of Contents

Aligning Resources to the Course
Evaluate Usability
Adding External Contributors

✔️ Aligning Resources to the Course

After the initial search for resources is complete, align them to the class where the OER will be used. In some cases, you might find a single book that meets nearly all your needs. The steps below are for situations where more remixing and creation is needed.

Using the OER you found and any materials you have already created, identify what resources you can use to create a new OER and where resources are missing. You can use this gap analysis sheet to help.

The process for gap analysis:

Topics. List all the topics in the course. This can be organized by course modules, outcomes, or lecture schedule. The goal here is to list all the "pieces" of the OER that are needed.
Sources. For each topic, identify the resources you found during the initial search.Evaluate the usability of each resource.
Alignment. How well is each topic covered by the resource(s)?
Gaps. Identify any gaps in content. These gaps can be used for a secondary search that's more focused on the specific content. If multiple resources are identified for a topic, note if they can be mixed or not.

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✔️ Evaluate Usability

Before remixing, make sure that the resource you've identified are remixable, accessible, and meet the course needs.

Format. Are the resources in an editable format or will you need to manually copy them into a different format?
Interactivity. Do the resources you found have interactive elements? What sorts of interactive elements are needed for the resource you are building?
Licenses. If there are multiple resources that will be remixed together, make sure the licenses are compatible.This page from the Creative Commons Certificate Resources explains the rules for adapting and remixing content.
Quality. How much editing will this resource need? Is the content well-aligned to the course? Is the writing clear an engaging? Rubrics such as the OERI Evaluation Rubric are helpful for giving faculty a framework for this work.
Accessibility. Use accessibility checkers, such as the WAVE checker for online resources, to identify how much accessibility remediation will be needed for each resource. For videos, ensure they have accurate captions.
IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism). Does the resource reflect your students' unique backgrounds, experiences, and needs? The ASCCC OERI IDEA Framework provides a useful framework for evaluating resources.

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✔️ Adding External Contributors

As the team works through the process, they may identify gaps that require external expertise. For example, they may need diagrams that require artistic abilities. If these materials are not openly licensed, or if they are created specifically for the project, be sure to obtain permission.

The team may also want to add student-created content. Important considerations for student work

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🛠️Toolkit: Use the Creative Commons Licensing Permission Form to document permissions or CC license use for all non-original content.

Use the Student Release form for student contributions.