Name: Democratizing Knowledge Through the Localization of OER at the School and Classroom Level in Lebanon
Start: 2026-10-09T10:30:00-0400
End: 2026-10-09T11:00:00-0400

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

Democratizing Knowledge Through the Localization of OER at the School and Classroom Level in Lebanon

Friday October 9, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT

7 DR5

ID: 33951

Relevancy:OER can facilitate the democratization of education because they are freely available for both receiving and sharing knowledge (Ossiannilsson, 2023). The open education community can use OER to invite more knowledge holders to contribute to the production and development of relevant resources that reflect those who will use them and that support their goals. However, the ways in which local knowledge holders, especially in the Global South, engage with OER is understudied. Arinto et al. (2017) have developed levels of social inclusion to understand and support the local participants in the Global South to engage with OER. Therefore, this presentation will show an example of how theory and participatory research can be used by the open education community to support innovative, inclusive open content. Research Design and Goals:I used the model from Arinto et al. (2017) as a framework to further understand the possibilities of localized OER. I conducted a case study of Lebanese Alternative Learning (LAL), a grassroots nonprofit organization in Beirut, Lebanon, which had created a digital platform called Tabshoura aligned with the Lebanese curriculum. LAL’s goal is to use this platform to support teachers and students navigating challenging and changing circumstances like the economic and refugee crises in 2023. LAL sought to understand how and why teachers engaged with Tabshoura to grow the platform, so I used a photovoice approach to understand teachers’ experiences with this OER (Wang and Burris, 1997). Teachers submitted photos and brief captions in response to a prompt, and I interviewed teachers and observed their classrooms while they taught with Tabshoura. Research Takeaways:This case study offered the opportunity to study how open content can facilitate the democratization of education by focusing on a particular use of localized OER by teachers in the Global South at the classroom and school level. The teachers reported the decisions they made about how to use Tabshoura to implement the appropriate pedagogical approaches to enable students to direct their own learning and to collaborate with other students. They used the platform to:Facilitate alternative learning outside the classroom with the use of a mobile app.Reorder lessons, simplify activities, and combine Tabshoura with additional activities to meet students’ individual needs. Edit and create content on the platform with support from LAL. Overall, the teachers expressed confidence in Tabshoura’s reliability for their goals. Many teachers also reported they felt encouraged and supported through their community with LAL, within their schools, with parents, and with students. From this case, I created a supplemental model to Arinto et al. (2017) to showcase how Lebanese teachers developed agency by engaging with OER to support their students. Presentation Takeaways:Conducting participatory research in this study showed how centering teachers helped to further define how OER can support democratizing education at the classroom and school level. The open education community can advance open content by studying and supporting those who are already sharing and receiving knowledge through OER in order to meet their goals, even in challenging circumstances.

Speakers

Bethany Eldridge

Research Associate, University of Michigan

Bethany Eldridge recently completed her PhD in Educational Studies at the University of Michigan. Her research focused on understanding how teachers of vulnerable students in Lebanon engaged with an open digital platform called Tabshoura, which was developed by a grassroots nonprofit... Read More →

Friday October 9, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
7 DR5 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

Presentation

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

Tickets

Success you have shared X tickets.

OEGlobal 2026

Bethany Eldridge

Get help with the event

Success you have shared X tickets.

OEGlobal 2026

Bethany Eldridge

Sign up or log in to save this to your schedule, view media, leave feedback and see who's attending!

Get help with the event