Enhancing Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) in Open Educational Resources (OER)

2022

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INTRODUCTION

Content advertised as “open access” and “freely accessible” may give the impression that open educational resources (OER) are universally accessible, but many users still face inequitable barriers to access. Additionally, access doesn’t equal inclusion. Textbooks often express sexism and racism contents and exclude marginalised voices. We need to consider how to contribute to a transformation and expand open access to resources to truly address diversity, equity, and inclusion. Dr Sarah Lambert (2018) provides a framework for this transition. Lambert (2018) identifies and expands on three principles of social justice that may be applied to OER: redistributive justice, recognitive justice, and representational justices. Lambert notes that providing free textbooks to learners of colour is redistributive justice in action. It reduces the costs and increases the chances of success for learners who “by circumstance have less” (Lambert, 2018, p.227)—i.e., they are marginalised in education, workplaces and more broadly in society. (…)

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