I was really privileged to work with Brett Shelton on editing this new book, and now it’s available! While we weren’t able to convince the publishers to use a Creative Commons license for the book, they did agree to provide perpetual access to a free electronic copy of the book. So download yours today, kick the tires, and if you want something to curl up in bed with then consider picking up a printed copy.
I have posted the first draft of the syllabus for my fall course, called Introduction to Open Education. I would absolutely love your feedback on important literature I’ve missed (especially your own papers!), topics that you think deserve their own dedicated week’s worth of time, etc. Feel free to either edit the syllabus directly or to use the discussion tab at the top of the page. I’m also very happy to say that this class will be completely online, run completely in the open, and is welcome to all comers. If you would like to take the course for credit, just sign up for an independent study at your university and find a supervising faculty member to whom I can send a grade at the end of term. Be sure to contact me directly to let me know you’re taking the course for credit and send contact info for your supervising faculty member. Then add your info to the syllabus as directed (Name :: School :: Email :: Blog) so the rest of us can find you. ...
Well, it appears I’m playing catch up again! For all my ranting about the problems with ShareAlike lately, I have missed Leigh’s eerily similar criticisms that predate me by several months. The writing is so similar, in fact, that I expect an online plagiarism detector would convict me hands down. Here’s Leigh’s commentary from May: ...
The final pre-print of my upcoming chapter reviewing the learning objects literature is now available.
The final pre-print of my upcoming chapter reviewing the learning objects literature is now available.
Still working on my Introduction to Open Education class for the fall… In digging around for resources, I was pointed to the free content tutorial on Wikieductaor, which reads in part: Free content, for the Wikieducator community, refers to the liberty to adapt, modify and use content without restrictions. However, because the free content promoters are also strong promoters of copyleft licenses, there is a clear restriction placed on a person’s liberty to adapt and modify free content - they do not have the right to choose how to license the adapted or modified work. ...
There have been a number of comments on my recent post about license compatibility problems. I want to address two specific, related comments… ...
Preparing for my fall course “Introduction to Open Education” (more about that coming soon in another post), I’ve been thinking hard about licensing and the “pro-freedom” camp. Wikeducator and FreedomDefined.org have several interesting pieces, including WikiEducator’s Free Content Defined and FreedomDefined.org’s The Case for Free Use: Reasons Not to Use a Creative Commons -NC License. I found myself in complete agreement with statements such as, “Sadly, much of the world’s knowledge is locked behind copyright and consequently access to this knowledge is restricted, especially for the majority of citizens in the developing world… The definition of Free Cultural works is based on the premise that the easier it is to re-use and derive works, the richer our cultures become.” But then I was particularly struck by the section on “Permissible Restrictions” from the Wikieducator tutorial… ...
Preparing for my fall course “Introduction to Open Education” (more about that coming soon in another post), I’ve been thinking hard about licensing and the “pro-freedom” camp. Wikeducator and FreedomDefined.org have several interesting pieces, including WikiEducator’s Free Content Defined and FreedomDefined.org’s The Case for Free Use: Reasons Not to Use a Creative Commons -NC License. I found myself in complete agreement with statements such as, “Sadly, much of the world’s knowledge is locked behind copyright and consequently access to this knowledge is restricted, especially for the majority of citizens in the developing world… The definition of Free Cultural works is based on the premise that the easier it is to re-use and derive works, the richer our cultures become.” But then I was particularly struck by the section on “Permissible Restrictions” from the Wikieducator tutorial… ...