Why Use

Open

Educational

Resources

Template use and presentation in honor of

Leonard Nimoy who Passed On 2/27/2015

I view education and educational resources as a public

right, rather than an economic privilege. There are

many arguments against this line of thinking:

● Education costs, and so it is something that must be

purchased in order to be valued.

● Public education offers no choice of content, only

private education offers true choice.

Education should be a public right

2 significant arguments:

● Practical: well

functioning

communities need

educated members.

● Legal: mandated by

international law.

Why Education Should be Considered a Basic

Human Right

Image: "Declaration des droits de l'homme AE-II-3701 original" uploaded by

Christoph Braun - In the Public Domain.

Societies function better when

filled with educated members

who are vested in it’s success.

This investment starts with

education.

● Image: "Campaigning for the

2013 University of Nottingham

Students' Union elections" by

mattbuck Offered as CC as

3.0.

Practical Considerations

In order for a society to function well and in the best interest of the

majority, a principle of liberty is need - including equal access to

education and quality educational resources. According to

philosopher John Rawls, a principle of liberty "maintains that

everyone is to have as much liberty as possible, consonant with

everyone else’s having the same amount of liberty (Steinbock 19).

A principle of liberty promotes a principle of equality and

distribution. With these principles firmly established, with regard to

education, we have a better chance of collectively creating a well

balanced society, one that functions optimally and smoothly, and in

the interest of humanity as a whole.

Investment: John Rawls

Although the US Constitution does not guarantee a right to an

education, Article 26 of the international Universal Declaration of

Human Rights, does. As does Articles 13 and 14 of the International

Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

“Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at

least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary

education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional

education shall be made generally available and higher education

shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit” (Article 26).

Legal Arguments For Education as a Right

● Rights: Open Educational Resources (OER) promote

our basic right to a free and quality education.

● Liberty: In a world where liberty, distribution, and

equality is nonexistent, OER encourages a principle

of liberty, leveling the playing field for humans

globally.

● Law: Offering more Open Educational Resources

help us better reach the ideals laid out by the United

Nations, and encourages a direction toward equality

and equal distribution.

Benefits of OER - and rights to Education

2 main Challenges to OER:

● Quality Content that is

truly free and open.

● Equal access to

content.

Challenges to Open Educational Resources

Image: “Global Open Educational Resources Logo” Uploaded by Jonathasmello

licensed under CC BY 3.0

Defined by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation:

"OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in

the public domain or have been released under an intellectual

property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by

others. Open educational resources include full courses, course

materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software,

and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support

access to knowledge."

Definition of OER

Most OER are not totally free and open,

because they use Creative Commons

restrictions that limit use and distribution.

The two main culprits are:

● NonCommercial Use Restriction

● NoDerivatives Restriction

Truly Free and Open Quality Content

Encourage all OER use of the open

CC license. This License allows for:

● “Share — copy and redistribute

the material in any medium or

format

● Adapt — remix, transform, and

build upon the material for any

purpose, even commercially”

(Creative Commons).

Solution?

Image: “Wikipedystka Nova (Agnieszka Kwiecień)

promujaca Creative Commons podczas obchodów

5.” Uploaded by Lestath CC BY-SA 2.5

Approximately only 42.3% of the world has

access to the Internet, and this number does

not concern itself with the type of access

(dial up vs cable, for example) people have

to the Internet, and thereby to digital content

such as such as OER (Internet World Stats).

Equal Access to Content

Access is a problem of humanity. We must widely

promote:

● The principal of liberty

● The principle of equality

● The principle of equal distribution

People must be put before profit. It is as simple as

that.

Solution?

● Badash, David. "Fox News: 'There Really Shouldn't be Public School' Anymore, Kids Taught 'Meaningless

Liberal Crap.'" (2/20/2015). in http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com. Retrieved February 27, 2015 at

http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/fox_news_there_really_shouldn_t_be_public_sch

ools_anymore_kids_taught_meaningless_liberal_crap

● Creative Commons. "CC Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States." (ND). At

Creativecommons.org. retrieved February 27, 2015, from http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/

● Creative Commons. "NoDerivatives" (10/24/2013). At Creativecommons.org. Retrieved February 27,

2015, from http://creativecommons.org/tag/noderivatives

● Creative Commons. "Defining Noncommercial." (9/14/2009). at Wiki.Creativecommons.org. Retrieved

February 27, 2015, from https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Defining_Noncommercial

Citations

● Internet World Stats. "Internet Users in the World Distribution by World Regions - 2014 Q2." (2014). In

Internetworldstats.com. Retrieved February 27, 2015, from http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

● Lurie, Stephen. "Why Doesn't the Constitution Guarantee the Right to Education?" (10/16/2013). in

TheAtlantic.com. Retrieved February 27, 2015, from

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/10/why-doesnt-the-constitution-guarantee-the-right-to-

education/280583/

● Right to education. (2015, February 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 19:23, February

27, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Right_to_education&oldid=648765661

● United Nations, "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights." (1948/2015). In UN.org. Retrieved February

27, 2015, from http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml#ap

Citations Continued

● United Nations, "International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights." (1966/2015). in

www.ohchr.org. Retrieved February 27, 2015 from

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CESCR.aspx

● Steinbock, Bonnie. Ethical Issues in Modern Medicine, 8th Edition. McGraw-Hill Learning Solutions, 2012-

03-29. VitalBook file.

● William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. "Open Educational Resources." (ND). In Hewlett.org. Retrieved

February 27, 2015 from http://www.hewlett.org/programs/education/open-educational-resources

Citations Continued

This presentation is distributed under CC by

4.0 by Rebecca Lea McCarthy

Thank you for Watching