diff --git a/xblock/core.py b/xblock/core.py
index f2f06ac85..37cab9d21 100644
--- a/xblock/core.py
+++ b/xblock/core.py
@@ -161,8 +161,12 @@ def open_local_resource(cls, uri):
 
     @classmethod
     def _open_resource(cls, uri):
-        return importlib.resources.files(inspect.getmodule(cls).__package__).joinpath(
-            os.path.join(cls.resources_dir, uri)
+        return importlib.resources.files(
+            inspect.getmodule(cls).__package__
+        ).joinpath(
+            cls.resources_dir
+        ).joinpath(
+            uri
         ).open('rb')
 
     @classmethod
diff --git a/xblock/plugin.py b/xblock/plugin.py
index bc10c3347..6b5888d0c 100644
--- a/xblock/plugin.py
+++ b/xblock/plugin.py
@@ -100,11 +100,7 @@ def select(identifier, all_entry_points):
             if select is None:
                 select = default_select
 
-            all_entry_points = [
-                entry_point
-                for entry_point in importlib.metadata.entry_points(group=cls.entry_point)
-                if entry_point.name == identifier
-            ]
+            all_entry_points = importlib.metadata.entry_points(group=cls.entry_point, name=identifier)
             for extra_identifier, extra_entry_point in iter(cls.extra_entry_points):
                 if identifier == extra_identifier:
                     all_entry_points.append(extra_entry_point)
diff --git a/xblock/utils/resources.py b/xblock/utils/resources.py
index b870e2bd2..778007cd1 100644
--- a/xblock/utils/resources.py
+++ b/xblock/utils/resources.py
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@ def load_unicode(self, resource_path):
         Gets the content of a resource
         """
         package_name = importlib.import_module(self.module_name).__package__
-        return importlib.resources.files(package_name).joinpath(resource_path.lstrip('/')).read_text()
+        # Strip leading slash to avoid importlib exception with absolute paths
+        return importlib.resources.files(package_name).joinpath(resource_path.lstrip('/')).read_text(encoding="utf-8")
 
     def render_django_template(self, template_path, context=None, i18n_service=None):
         """
@@ -56,7 +57,9 @@ def render_mako_template(self, template_path, context=None):
         )
         context = context or {}
         template_str = self.load_unicode(template_path)
-        directory = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(sys.modules[self.module_name].__file__))
+
+        package_name = importlib.import_module(self.module_name).__package__
+        directory = str(importlib.resources.files(package_name))
         lookup = MakoTemplateLookup(directories=[directory])
         template = MakoTemplate(template_str, lookup=lookup)
         return template.render(**context)