Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Who Gets to Wield Academic Mjolnir?: On Worthiness, Knowledge Curation, and Using the Power of the People to Diversify OER

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

"In principle, OER should be more diverse than their commercial peers," write the authors, "However, there is no concrete evidence that OER are any better than commercial texts at addressing issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion." So they conducted this study to test and evaluate the process of diversifying an OpenStax psychology textbook. Which is in my view a great idea. The evaluation considered the question of whether the 'belongingness' of the students was improved through the exercise. It was, according to the study. And "if diverse textbooks help marginalized students feel like they belong more and thus are more likely to stay at the university, the money that is put towards grant programs could come back to the university in the form of higher student retention rates." Oh, and the term 'Mjolnir' isn't used anywhere in the article. Probably just as well.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
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Last Updated: Nov 21, 2024 9:26 p.m.

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