Topic 3 Blog Post

Firstly, I would like to talk about the benefits of Open Educational Resources (OERs) and the challenges it faces today. Many of my classmates may remember how difficult it is to write a research paper for class when the instructor requires that the readings used in the research paper need to be academic and/or peer-reviewed to be credible. And surprisingly, most academic and/or peer-reviewed articles are only available through the universities’ libraries. To access the universities’ libraries, especially the ones of prestigious universities, we have to be registered students there. See the obstacle here? Therefore, I believe that it is time not only for us to have more OERs, but also for schools to recognize these OERs as valid research materials a student can use in his or her research paper. Currently, we do not lack such OERs. We have many open textbook websites as well as articles for open access. However, it is not enough. The UN states that “higher education shall be equally accessible to all,” (as cited in Mays, 2017) but the truth is that even with writing a research paper there is so much discrimination against students who do not rely on academic/peer-reviewed articles only accessible through their schools. Many instructors also do not rely on open textbooks that are free and may be equally credible when selecting textbooks for their classes, despite the schools pushing for more open pedagogy.

My pod mate Valerie contends that she would not enroll in a class if the class requires a textbook over 100 dollars. However, most classes I have attended seldom have textbooks under 100 dollars. I have a friend who is financially challenged. He would never buy a single textbook. Instead, he would borrow the textbooks from the school library. However, most libraries only have a couple of textbooks on reserve, and many of the textbooks cannot be checked out. He then spent a lot of time in the school library learning the textbooks. His plan had to stop due to the COVID-19 pandemic that forced school libraries to be closed. He wanted to recycle textbooks from his friends who have taken the classes before him, but some textbooks have new editions every year. Such problems can be mitigated by the availability of more OERs, but we also need support from the relevant institutions in allowing students to use them in lieu of the regular, paid textbooks.

This same sentiment is shared by my other pod mate Ziyu, who also feels that institutions should evaluate their policies to support open-access education. As Gilliard and Culik (2016) mentioned, it is important for institutions to not create walls and internalize discrimination when it comes to education.

My teammate Alex also mentioned another form of discrimination in the workplace when a job seeker does not have certifications from a school. Therefore, even though we all look forward to the bright future of open pedagogy, we still need to change the perspectives of society as a whole. It is not enough to just make education alone open and free. We need the entire infrastructure in support of such openness. Would it be possible that one day, jobs credit job seekers on their skills through a skill test rather than looking at their GPAs and degrees written on their resumes?

References

Gilliard, C., & Culik, H. (2016). Digital redlining, access, and privacy. Common Sense Education.

Mays, E. (Ed.). (2017). A guide to making open textbooks with students. Rebus Community.