Panel Title: Is equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in Open Education everyone’s business? Introduction to the discussionEquity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) have been significant topics within the Open Education (OE) community. However, simply providing free and online resources, such as Open Educational Resources (OER), does not guarantee equitable, diverse, and inclusive access to these resources. The vast majority of OER is only available in the English language, making it challenging for many learners worldwide to access them, especially those in the Global South. This example highlights that openness may not reach everyone and underscores the need for more efforts to ensure that openness is equitable, diverse, and inclusive.
Other instances where EDI in OE might not reach or even be applicable for everyone are:
- Resistance to change – as not everyone may be open to embracing EDI principles and practices. Individuals or institutions with entrenched biases or outdated beliefs may resist efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in open education.
- Cultural beliefs - cultural differences and norms can influence the acceptance and implementation of openness, such as indigenous knowledge. Some communities or institutions may have cultural traditions or beliefs that need to be respected, but also clash with certain aspects of openness, posing challenges to its widespread adoption.
- Lack of awareness - some open practitioners may not fully grasp the importance of EDI or may be unaware of the impact of systemic inequalities on marginalized groups. This lack of awareness can impede efforts to promote EDI across all educational contexts, in particular in open education.
This panel aims to provide a venue to further discuss the issues above and hopefully together we can come up with solutions to create conditions and an environment where OE is more equitable, diverse, and inclusive to those who need the most. To address these aims, our panel members will answer the following questions:
In your context, what are other examples where open education might not reach learners and users?Also withing our context, what can we do, on an individual, community, institutional and/or even sector levels to make sure the EDI in OE is everyone’s business?Panel members will have 5 minutes to answer both questions. After that, panel members will then answer questions from the audience.
Our Panel Members are: Prof María Soledad Ramírez Montoya - solramirez@tec.mx
María Soledad Ramírez-Montoya is a research professor at Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey. Her work is focused on developing local and global initiatives for education, involving research and innovation, as a means of social transformation and impact for lifelong learning and sustainable development. She coordinates an Interdisciplinary Research Group, which includes the implementation of training systems supported with Open Science and Technologies 4.0 strategies. Marisol is also a UNESCO Chair on "Open Education Movement for Latin America", and mobilises training, production and research initiatives for open education.
Dr Johanna Funk - johannafunk@hotmail.com
Jo Funk is an experienced Teacher, Researcher and Lecturer with a demonstrated history of working in the independent, higher and public education sectors. Johanna has a background in intercultural education in compulsory, private, flexible, second language and higher education sectors. Her research interests include open educational practices that support learner confidence and participation. She is currently teaching at Ipswich Flexible Learning Centre and a research fellow at Deakin University.
Melody Chin - melodychin@smu.edu.sg
Melody is Senior Librarian for Instruction & Learning at Singapore Management University, where she currently leads the OER initiative at SMU Libraries. She is passionate about Open Education, and is currently Co-Chair of the OER Special Interest Group for ASEAN. Melody has previously served as Asst. Hon. Secretary and Chair of the Library Association of Singapore (LAS) Membership Committee, and was also instructor for the ASEAN University Network’s AUNILO Train-the-Trainer OER workshop. She has recently won the OE Award for Excellence – Catalyst Award 2024.
Steven Chang - S.Chang@latrobe.edu.au
Steven Chang coordinates open education programs at the La Trobe eBureau. His focus is on empowering teaching academics and professional staff as emerging open practitioners through collaborative 'Third Space' projects. Steven is a Co-Convenor of the Open Educational Practices special interest group of ASCILITE. His current role is Coordinator, Open Education & Scholarship at La Trobe University.
Dr Glenda Cox - glenda.cox@uct.ac.za
Glenda is an associate professor in the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT) at the University of Cape Town and her portfolio includes Teaching in post graduate courses, supervision, Teaching innovation grants, Open Education Resources and Staff development. Her research focused on using the theoretical approach of Social Realism to explain why academic staff choose to contribute or not to contribute their teaching resources as open educational resources. Glenda is passionate about the role of Open Education in the changing world of Higher Education. Dr she is currently the Principal Investigator in the Digital Open Textbooks for Development (DOT4D) project, funded by the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
Dr Mais Fatayer - mais.fatayer@uts.edu.au
Mais is the learner experience design manager at the University of Technology, Sydney. She completed her PhD in the area of educational technology with focus on Open Educational Resources in learning and teaching. Following on from her doctoral work, Mais work has been focused on transforming the adoption of educational technology. Mais led many initiatives for educational professional development, participated in multidisciplinary research and designed innovative and award winning learning and teaching solutions. Currently she is part of the education portfolio at UTS working on transforming learning and teaching.
Chair: Dr Carina Bossu - carina.bossu@open.ac.uk
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[Session 4D]: Diversity Equity and InclusionAuthor KeywordsEDI, Equity diversity and inclusion in Open Education, EDI guidelines, EDI strategies for open education
