As an academic librarian, I am often driven to see issues like OER in a very localized context, so I appreciated reading about “openness” in education from a less restricted perspective.

The Almeida article and Pomerantz video really hit on some of things I worry about in regards to OER and its future success.  “OER do have value….In a vacuum, OER are impotent and so is abstract, decontextualized rhetoric about the promise of the OER movement.” (Almeida, P. 15).  In my particular professional setting, I feel there is a real opportunity for “openness” to make a positive impact in the educational experience of students and faculty, but how do you effectively and incrementally change your local culture so that OER and openness begin to take root?

I don’t have the magic answer, but I am working with other campus true believers so that we can  (hopefully) make a difference.