Open Education Week is a global celebration of Open practices that expand access to education, research, and knowledge sharing. At Memorial University, Open approaches, including open access publishing, open educational resources (OERs), and open pedagogy, are helping to remove barriers to learning and create more inclusive, accessible, and community-engaged scholarship.
As part of Open at Memorial, a new video series profiling instructors and staff integrating Open practices into their work, Ami had the opportunity to share how Open Education supports her research and teaching in social work. Social work as a discipline requires collaboration and knowledge-sharing beyond academia, particularly with practitioners and people with lived experiences. Open access helps remove economic and institutional barriers to research, making vital information available to those who need it most, including community organizations, policymakers, and individuals directly impacted by social work practice.
Open Education is also a critical tool for disability inclusion and accessibility in higher education. Traditional publishing and closed educational resources often create barriers for disabled students and scholars, whether due to cost, format limitations, or inaccessible platforms. By embracing Open approaches, we can ensure that knowledge is freely available in multiple formats, adaptable to different learning needs, and designed with accessibility in mind. Open Educational Resources (OERs), for example, allow for text-to-speech compatibility, captioned video content, and customizable formats that meet diverse learning needs.
You can view Ami’s interview, along with other Memorial educators, in the Open at Memorial series to learn more about how Open Education is supporting inclusion, accessibility, and knowledge-sharing at Memorial University and beyond. Watch the video series here: https://www.mun.ca/citl/open/profiles/
Learn more about Open Education Week and how Open is shaping research and teaching at Memorial: https://www.mun.ca/citl/open/