“Women and girls are at the center of my work, and they will continue to be until their right to education is fully valued and encouraged.”

Bethany Eldridge is a PhD candidate in Educational Studies whose research focuses on the use of open educational resources (OER). Bethany began learning about how OER can support women’s and girls’ access to quality education when she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study in the Netherlands, where she conducted case studies on teachers’ use of OER to increase access to education and meet vulnerable students’ needs. As a master’s student at the University of Cambridge, Bethany built on her growing expertise in this subject by researching how OER can assist access to education in emergency situations, including for female teachers in Afghanistan.

Now, Bethany is expanding her research to Lebanon, where, in the midst of the country’s severe economic crisis, over one million students are out of school. Girls are particularly vulnerable to both learning loss and exploitation, and in response to this crisis, the grassroots organization Lebanese Alternative Learning (LAL) has created a repository of OER called Tabshoura that allow Lebanese and refugee students, especially girls, to continue learning out of school and develop skills to empower themselves. With the support of organizations like Malala Fund, LAL developed Tabshoura, and they are now focused on scaling their work. Bethany is supporting the program’s expansion by conducting mixed methods research on teachers’ experiences with Tabshoura. Bethany reflects, “Women and girls are at the center of my work, and they will continue to be until their right to education is fully valued and encouraged.”

Bethany has additionally supported women’s education and development through extensive hands-on volunteer work and consultation with nonprofit organizations across the globe including Vision Fund and Poornatha. Recognized for her “collaborative and inspiring spirit” and “commitment to working for education for all,” Bethany is poised to make an ever greater impact on women and girls.

CEW+ celebrates Bethany’s vision for the education of girls and women and names her a Riecker Graduate Student Research Fellow.