International Journal of Open Educational Resources Volume 2, Issue 1, Fall 2019/Winter 2020 | Page 151

A Community-Based Collaborative of OER programs
Virtual Campus 2019). However, with
textbook costs continuing to rise and
publishers of academic texts changing
models from rights of first purchase to
short-term licensing, the barriers in access
to education not only continue to
exist, but widen (McKenzie, 2019). UN-
ESCO (2012) acknowledged that OER
and open pedagogy increase access to
education and empower students in the
learning process. International support
and state and community activities lend
more weight to new projects.
Open Education has the continued
ability to impact higher education.
Addressing access and affordability
for students is just one area of impact.
Open educational practices in the classroom
can improve student success
and student retention rates (Clovard,
Watson, & Park, 2017). Open practices,
from open pedagogy to more finely
designed courses, are making waves in
student learning (DeRosa & Jhangiani,
2018). Engaging students in their own
learning environment has been a focus
of academia for decades, through
elements of instructional design and
course quality review. Utilization of
OER in courses does more than make
materials affordable. It also provides
instructors with a platform to customize
content specific to their course
and style of teaching and provides students
with the opportunity to learn in
a less overwhelming environment that
is more about content and less about
information absorption (Lashley, Wesolek,
& Langley, 2018). Further, open
pedagogical practices are designed to
increase application and engagement
in the material, while creating understanding
in students about their role in
scholarly communication and academic
publication practices (Bliss & Smith,
2017). All of these elements make participation
in open education a necessity
for academic institutions.
Recently, publishing and library
vendors have attempted to step into the
OER field with less than open products.
These attempts to colonize OER initiatives
are often referred to as openwashing
and diminish the impact that grassroots
efforts can have. Openwashing as
a term is derived from the idea of greenwashing.
An openwashed item has
the appearance of being open sourced
or openly licensed, while continuing to
involve proprietary practices (https://
openwashing.org). A recent event in
the U.S. Pacific Northwest asked participants
what open meant to them. Many
respondents wrote, “free” or “nothing.”
Another common theme was on access
(Duell, 2019). The wide variety of
responses and lack of knowledge could
stymie efforts, but in many cases, they
offer an opportunity to grow and spread
the word more (Wang & Towey, 2017).
Librarians and libraries have many opportunities
(and challenges) to support
and develop OER (Smith & Lee, 2016).
In the case of Open Oregon Educational
Resources, many, if not most, advisory
committee members are librarians
from universities or colleges represented
on the steering committee.
Academic libraries have proven
to be important partners and leaders
in the field. Already purveyors of social
justice in their conduction of access to
information and academic resources,
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