Name: Hard Choices, Moral Decisions, and Democracy: Overcoming the “Moral Deficit” Assumption by Building OER Texts
Start: 2026-10-09T11:50:00-0400
End: 2026-10-09T12:20:00-0400

All sessions are available online except round tables, special activities, and workshops.

Hard Choices, Moral Decisions, and Democracy: Overcoming the “Moral Deficit” Assumption by Building OER Texts

Friday October 9, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT

6 DR4

ID: 33863

After two decades of teaching philosophy, one thing stands out: students show up knowing far more about ethics than standard textbooks give them credit for. They make moral choices long before they set foot in a philosophy classroom. Yet ethics textbooks often neglect this prior experience, tacitly assuming that students’ lack of philosophical knowledge and skill is not only an academic issue, but a moral deficit to be corrected. In other words, students cannot make real moral choices until they have studied philosophy.This presentation argues that this "moral deficit" assumption is wrong on two counts. First, it is morally wrong because it fails to recognize that students are already engaged in authentic moral reasoning. Community college students regularly navigate moral complexity in balancing work, family, and academic issues. Second, it is pedagogically wrong; good teaching does not begin by implicitly insulting students. It begins grounded in the experiences they bring to the classroom. Democratic education holds that the classroom is the place where students' own concerns are connected to larger issues and traditions; the teacher functions as a bridge between student experience and broader concerns. A curious teacher, genuinely interested in students' lives, is better positioned to build that bridge. In philosophical ethics, this means that concepts like supererogatory — actions that are morally good but not required — are introduced not as technical vocabulary, but as names for things students already understand. The concept illuminates existing student experience; it is not positioned as correcting some sort of deficit. Ideally, it also sparks curiosity about how philosophical resources might be acquired and deployed in ways that make students’ lives richer.OER content is uniquely positioned to contribute to this democratic vision. Freed from the cost and profit concerns of commercial publishing, OER can be focused and grounded in student experiences. As editable, living texts, they can be flexible — capable of functioning as part of a learning ecosystem rather than a static authoritative text. Additionally, because OER is accessible, it can serve students beyond the classroom — as a resource they return to beyond college. For many community college students, this may be their only philosophy course; OER designed around their experiences gives philosophical ethics its best chance of sticking.This presentation draws on the ongoing development of an OER ethics textbook to ground the discussion, before inviting participants to collaboratively build a practical Framework for Experience-First OER Ethics Design — a set of core design principles and guiding questions that can be used to audit existing content or construct new materials that treats student experience as a resource. This framework might be applied for content well beyond a course in philosophical ethics, given ethical concerns permeate throughout the curriculum. The presenter will bring draft framework elements drawn from this ongoing textbook development, which participants will critically engage with, refine, and expand together. Participants leave with materials they helped shape and can apply in their own contexts.

Speakers

Nakia S. Pope

Associate Professor, Northwest Vista College

Nakia is an Associate Professor in philosophy at Northwest Vista College, where he has taught ethics and other philosophy courses for over seven years. He's been involved in faculty development, curriculum design, assessment, and other administrative pursuits at a variety of institutions... Read More →

Friday October 9, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

Presentation

Speaker Modality In-person
Track Innovating Open Content to Democratize Knowledge

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OEGlobal 2026

Nakia S. Pope

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OEGlobal 2026

Nakia S. Pope

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