Use a battery and a series resistor to control the LED side (turn it on/off).
Use a multimeter in Ω-range to check conduction of the transistor when LED is on, non-conduction when LED is off. That way you check the full photocoupler, not only one part of it.
If you want/need to qualify the photocoupler in more detail, make the LED curent controllable (controlled current source) and wire the transistor side with load resistor and voltage source. Measure collector current as a function of LED current and compute the current transfer ration Ic/Iled.
Get a datasheet for the photocoupler, these typically show recommended test setups for the component.