Marking Open Education Week in March, COL hosted a webinar to explore how the process of localising Open Educational Resources (OER) can transform global ideals into genuine and local learning experiences. Facilitated by Dr Jako Olivier, Adviser: Higher Education at COL and Professor Lynne Bowker of Laval University, Canada, the session brought together speakers from Canada, India and South Africa and teased perspectives from Dr Olivier’s and Professor Bowker’s forthcoming edited volume, Localisation of Open Educational Resources in Higher Education.
In the spirit of the week’s “town square” of open education, the session positioned OER localisation as a living, communal practice — one in which knowledge is gathered, debated, reshaped and shared, rather than a finished product exported from elsewhere and used in its original form. Framed by the theme of “global to local,” OER localisation was also conceptualised as an act that goes beyond translation to account for language, culture, epistemology, and power.
“With these definitions, OER localisation supports COL’s aim of opening up access to education through ongoing policy and capacity building on OER throughout the Commonwealth,” says Dr Olivier.
Across four presentations, panelists explored human-centred uses of generative AI, Ubuntu as an ethical lens for integrating Indigenous knowledge, policy logics that reshape openness, as well as “local-born” student co-creation.
In contemplating how institutions can use AI to strengthen equity and cultural responsiveness instead of reinforcing pre-existing hierarchies, Professor Adit Gupta from MIER College of Education in India highlighted the need for AI use to be underpinned by quality assurance and governance. He also warned that while generative AI can accelerate adaptation, outsourcing localisation to technology comes with its consequences. In his work, AI is just one component of a broader, human-led localisation process that involves cultural mapping, careful tool selection, community validation and iterative improvement.
Professor Napjadi Letsoalo from the University of South Africa, presented on the concept of employing Ubuntu as an ethical lens for open knowledge. According to Professor Letsaolo, Ubuntu leans into the idea of “I am because you are, and you are because we are,” implying that “human beings are interdependent and rely on each other.” Instead of treating local languages as containers for imported concepts, localisation should be co-created with communities through their languages and worldviews so that OER carry Indigenous epistemologies.
Offering a different perspective, Mara De Giusti Bordignon of Western University in Canada delivered a policy analysis of Ontario’s Virtual Learning Strategy to highlight that “openness” can be rhetorically celebrated through managerial logics like quantified impact, performance measures and narratives of competition. Her address invited the critical question of whose openness is being insitutionalised and to what end.
Finally, Michelle Willmers, representing a team from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, showcased an open textbook, “Science is Tough, But So Are You.” The resource was developed in collaboration with students through a “born-local” process involving open licensing and student authorship rooted in lived experience. Through this process, quality is defined by resonance, belonging and authenticity and students are seen as experts in OER creation.
A thread connecting all the presentations was the view that OER localisation should not be synonymous with translation. Together, the panelists demonstrated that localisation is not a technical afterthought, but instead central to sustaining quality open education. As institutions continue to expand access through OER, the challenge, and opportunity lies in ensuring that openness is not only scalable but genuinely inclusive and culturally responsive.
Watch the webinar: https://youtu.be/nu7rDx4cBvA?si=KkXKLsnjfwObVbyB
