Open educational resources and rhetorical paradox in the neoliberal univers(ity)
Published | June 2017 |
Type of work | Inaugural Issue |
Journal | Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies Issue 1, Pages 1-19 |
ABSTRACT
As a phenomenon and a quandary, openness has provoked conversations about inequities within higher education systems, particularly in regards to information access, social inclusion, and pedagogical practice. But whether or not open education can address these inequities, and to what effect, depends on what we mean by “open” and specifically, whether openness reflexively acknowledges the fraught political, economic, and ethical dimensions of higher education and of knowledge production processes. This essay explores the ideological and rhetorical underpinnings of the open educational resource (OER) movement in the context of the neoliberal university. This essay also addresses the conflation of value and values in higher education—particularly how OER production processes and scholarship labor are valued. Lastly, this essay explores whether OER initiatives provide an opportunity to reimagine pedagogical practices, to reconsider authority paradigms, and potentially, to dismantle and redress exclusionary educational practices in and outside of the classroom. Through a critique of neoliberalism as critically limiting, an exploration of autonomy, and a refutation of the precept that OER can magically solve social inequalities in higher education, the author ultimately advocates for a reconsideration of OER in context and argues that educators should prioritize conversations about what openness means within their local educational communities.Keywords | digital education · information access · Neoliberalism · Open Educational Resources · pedagogy · social justice |
ISSN | 2572-1364 |
Refereed | Yes |
Rights | JCLIS is open access in publication, politics, and philosophy. In a world where paywalls are the norm for access to scholarly research, the Journal recognizes that removal of barriers to accessing information is key to the production and sharing of knowledge. Authors retain intellectual property and copyright of manuscripts published in JCLIS, and JCLIS applies a Creative Commons (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike) license to published articles. If an article is republished after initially publication in JCLIS, the republished article should indicate that it was first published by JCLIS. |
URL | http://libraryjuicepress.com/journals/index.php/jclis/article/view/16 |
Export options | BibTex · EndNote · Tagged XML · Google Scholar |
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