Addressing the question of the possible “misuse” of OER, Virginia Rodés (@vrodes) and Regina Motz (@Regina) instead explore how it can be put to “good use”.
Presented as a dialogue between two teachers, their discussion highlights key issues such as the need for supportive environments to adapt OER to diverse contexts and a collective responsibility to ensure quality.
According to the authors, the emergence of these questions is “a sign of the maturing of a field which, after decades focused on expanding access, is also beginning to ask about the pedagogical and social conditions in which that access becomes meaningful learning”.
Between openness and responsibility: how to make good use of Open Educational Resources by Virginia Rodés and Regina Motz
Virginia Rodés and Regina Motz (both from Uruguay, although Virginia is now employed by the Institute for the Future of Education and lives and works in Spain) examine the potential misuse of OER. Their analysis, based on very recent findings, shows above all that simply sharing is not enough. For things to go smoothly, one must share with care.
I very much appreciated how Virginia and Regina flipped the topic of its negative connotation as “misuse” to discussion about responsibility. But more so, the structure of the article as a conversation provided a meaningful narrative and even the arc of a story-- colleagues have a shared foundation of the value of openness and while they have different perspectives on the larger issues, they are able to dialogue about it, and move forward in collaboration.
We were fortunate on the day of this article’s publication to record audio for a new OEGlobal Voices podcast with its co-author, Virginia Rodés @vrodes with colleagues Colin de la Higuera @cdlh and Lucie Grasset plus our own Marcela Morales @marcela (author of the article on Legitmacy). We had a rich and deep conversation, and hopefully it can be published in timing for the wrap of of the series.
I can offer a quick preview with a quote from Virginia:
Also representation- this was a very important problem regarding the adaptation or regarding the conditions that have been considered. For example, the visuals, the languages. But what about representation in this context, which kind of adaptation we have to do?
I think it’s an opportunity for language translation. But there are languages that are not included now. And this is also a problem. It’s an opportunity, but it’s a problem regarding intentional design and review.
The other problem that everybody can experience every day is the enclosure of the platforms. We want to develop open content, but in closed platforms. And this should be approached, I don’t know how to do it. Because we were talking about this a lot with Colin and other partners that could be open. Artificial intelligence could be open. Can we continue being open in another year?
[A] landscape that is approached by artificial intelligence nowadays, and a lot of misuse being done in this new landscape. How can we know about the misuse that is being done in this new scenario? Misuse is structural in this context.