Due to the very high cost of commercial publishing compagnies materials, the Open Educational Resource movement, or OER, gains more momentum every year. Despite, or because of, the growing popularity of OER, its character as a free source of educational material is under fire, being more and more commodified, and less open. This decline in the open nature of OER will continue unless it is accompanied by a more open approach to pedagogy. In our mind, The OER movement suffers from two main problems. First, its focus is mainly on economic inclusion. While this is not undesirable, we would argue that OER should also be culturally inclusive. Students cannot succeed educationally if they are excluded culturally from the materials they use. Students must become more involved with the creation of curriculum that reflects the cultural experience of all our students. Second, OER is already becoming commodified, indeed, losing the essential part of its utility- price. Companies are now copyrighting and selling material that they term OER, but it is not. Open pedagogy offers one solution to this dilemma. Open pedagogy involves students creating materials, opening students to developing educational awareness, as well as establishing far-reaching relationships among members of the educational community. This is why we argue that open pedagogy will save the essence of the OER movement and that OER users, advocates, and activists should promote a definition of OER which incorporates economic inclusiveness, but also stresses social and cultural awareness, one that can be best served through the practices of open pedagogy.
Learning Outcomes: 1) OER is being commodified and it is a concern for the movement. 2) Open Pedagogy is a useful tool in the ongoing struggle to keep OER by promoting social and cultural, as well as economic, inclusion.
