Title: OER in Elder Refugee ESL Contexts: Instructor and Administrator Perspectives

Program: Interdisciplinary Studies MA

Committee Chair: Casey Iezzi

Committee: Casey Iezzi, Kelly Arispe, Gail Shuck

Abstract: Open Educational Resources (OER) offer a promising solution to educational disparities through their free, adaptable, and shareable nature, fostering collaboration and innovation in pedagogy. While OER, alongside Open Educational Practices (OEP), has seen a vibrant and growing integration within K-16 foreign language contexts, its application within adult English as a Second Language (ESL) education remains significantly under-researched. Adult ESL contexts, especially those serving refugees, present unique challenges: learners have experienced trauma, interrupted education, and have urgent practical English needs, while adult educators contend with inconsistent training, demanding part-time workloads, and a fragmented professional ecosystem that limits professional development and research collaboration.
Recognizing both the gap in OER research and the need within refugee contexts for high quality, accessible materials, the present study investigated the potential of OER to support ESL instruction for elder refugees. Employing semi-structured interviews in two phases (needs assessment and OER evaluation), the study sought to understand the perspectives of six instructors and administrators with experience teaching elder refugees in a Pacific Northwest language school. Participants were asked about their teaching contexts, current methods, and their views on the usability and adaptability of a curated set of OER materials. The study aimed to prioritize the voices of adult educators and gain a comprehensive understanding of their institutional environments and experiences with OER.
Practitioners identified several limitations of existing OER materials and frameworks, including assumptions of higher literacy, insufficient attention to age-appropriate design, and a critical absence of trauma-informed and culturally-responsive practices. This notable disconnect between OER’s theoretical benefits and its practical application underscores the necessity for a more tailored and carefully managed approach. The findings of this study suggest that successful integration of OER in elder refugee contexts will require moving beyond retain, revise, remix, reuse, and redistribute (Wiley, 2014). Instead, it is essential to engage instructors, administrators, and the communities they serve directly in the OER design process itself. This approach involves taking a few steps back, not assuming existing OER is usable, but engaging practitioners in a critical examination of current platforms and the collaborative planning of new, context-specific OER frameworks and resources.
Ultimately, this study contributes to bridging a crucial void in understanding open educational practices in under-researched and under-resourced contexts, laying groundwork for developing OER approaches that are truly responsive, respectful, and relevant to the specific needs of elder refugee ESL learners.