Dimension 3: Culturally Sustaining
Evaluating OER against the Pluralism criterion
Culturally Sustaining
OER challenge historic methods of legitimising academia and recognise and celebrate each learner’s culture, inviting learners to engage with a topic through the richness of their own lens.
The Equity Rubric for OER Evaluation gives a resource a high rating for Pluralism if it “perpetuates and fosters linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism for positive social transformation and revitalization (Paris and Alim, 2017).”
The Rubric suggests looking for “content from a scholar or experienced professional of color or representing the plurality of thought on contemporary educational pedagogy and practice.”
Key Examples and Suggestions
Knowing Home: Braiding Indigenous Science with Western Science, Book 1 and Book 2
Snively & Williams
These volumes demonstrate a respectful and valuable weave of Indigenous and Western knowledges to grow ethical environmental science as a reciprocal practice.
Note: These texts are based in Canada and so are created by and focus on Indigenous peoples and ways of knowing and being of that region.
Learning Resource: Guide to Evaluating and Selecting Education Resources
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS)
Use this resource to guide the evaluation of OER to ensure resources are inclusive of and not harmful to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Access: The Guide
Learning Resource: Pulling Together: A Guide for Teachers and Instructors
Allan et al.
This book is part of a series of guides developed through BCcampus to promote systemic change in higher education through Indigenisation, decolonisation and reconciliation.
Note: This book was created in Canada and focuses on the Indigenous peoples in the British Columbia region.
Access: Pulling Together
Download this page (pdf)
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