I found this article, "The World Is Not Flat", on a link on the "OER Knowledge Cloud " site. (retrieved from:https://oerknowledgecloud.org)
First of all, I loved the OER Knowledge Cloud" site. It had all kinds of links out to other sites that are related to OER. It has a searchable data base for pretty well anything related to OERs, including research data and research. I highly recommend you take a look.
Getting back to the article by Ry Rivard (April 25, 2013), "The World Is Not Flat" that I found within the "OER Knowledge Cloud". (retrieved from: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/04/25/moocs-may-eye-world-market-does-world-want-them) I was, at first, really excited about how OERs can be global and provide a rich and invigorating platform for peoples of all cultures to get together and learn from each other as well as the content on which they are working. I then realized after perusing the article, that it is not as easy as we think. There are a lot of impediments in the way. One such impediment that Ry Rivard (2013) discusses is that the language barrier is not the only problem with developing a global OER platform, it is also cultural learning styles. We can have translators to translate the material so that people from different language bases can access the content, however, it is much more difficult to accommodate the different cultural learning styles. For example, Ry Rivard (2013) mentions how Arab students seem to need more structure and interaction with their instructor, whereas North American students tend to be more comfortable with asynchronous learning. The other difficulty I perceive is how to communicate with others from different language bases. The ideal is great, but to overcome the language and cultural barriers can be a daunting one. I would hate to say or post something that may offend someone from a different country. A case in point, is when I was doing my BEd, I met a person from Germany. I ended up offending her on numerous occasions. My sense of humour was way different than hers. What I thought was funny offended her.
In conclusion as Ry Rivard (2013) states, "We need to look at what the rest of the world needs." When we overcome the language and cultural barriers, I think that we are well on our way to an enormously enriching and mind-blowing journey in OERs.