July 11, 2012
Majority of Canadian universities sign licence with Access Copyright
Peggy Berkowitz,
University Affairs, July 11, 2012.
University Affairs is trying to put the best spin possible on a bad situation. "Only about 14 Canadian universities have announced publicly that they wouldn't be signing the model copyright licence with Access Copyright." Still, the institutions that have not signed represent about 40 percent of the student population. "We’re concerned that 35 percent of the institutions are not covered," says Maureen Cavan, executive director of Access Copyright. She adds, "that represents a larger number... who do not have access to the Access Copyright repertoire of material." Quelle dommage!Of course, this misrepresents the fact that the students could access the same material by other means for much less (and often for free). It's interesting, though, to read why some universities actually agreed to the terms: "Several cited the large amount of copyrighted material for which they already hold digital licences." If they don't sign the new terms, they lose their existing collections - which (it seems to me) sets them up for even more brutal cost-pressure in the future.
Open — it ain’t what it used to be…
Brian Lamb,
Abject, July 11, 2012.
Brian Lamb riffs on the commodification of the term 'open', including bespecially the Monterey Institute for Technology's redefinition, which asserts: "MITE understands that the Noncommercial (NC) restriction on this Creative Commons license precludes institutional use of the materials, including by governments, corporations, public entities, and businesses, whether for-profit or non-profit." That's just wrong, of course - it's a definition that ignores the meaning of "noncommercial". On the other, more enlightened, side: Teemu Leinonen: "Open education can only happen with free knowledge. Free knowledge does not exist without open data (and information). Open education should focus on wisdom, truth, beauty, love and music (art)."
Courses As Commodities
Alan Levine,
CogDogBlog, July 11, 2012.
Alan Levine has a good take on "what are called the “AI-MOOCs” or better, Cathy Finn-Derecki’s delicious acronyum 'EdUCKA'." They are, he writes, "to me, the offering of courses as some sort of product." The criticism is, of course, that while "the focus is on the product the course, the numbers… what part of the educational experience is being left out? It’s the personal attention, the guidance, the social fabric for the students." I think you can push back too far in this direction - the argument begins to sound like the defense of traditional in-class education. Sure, just throwing up some videos and onlize quizzes doesd not constitute education - we all knew that. But what's missing isn't "the personal attention, the guidance" - if you need that, get a dog. Community, interaction, activities, expression - these are what transform content into education, and these are what the connectivist MOOCs add to the mix.
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Traditional and Online Courses, Interaction, Video, Experience, Online Learning]
CETA is the new ACTA: Leaked intellectual property chapter sparks angst
Stewart Trew,
Rabble, July 10, 2012.
Remember how last week I wrote that "if the European Commission wants ACTA passed, it will find a way to do it, as part of a farm bill or something?" This week we read that "Canada and the European Union are trying to ratify the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement through the backdoor, by including almost all its Internet and enforcement provisions in the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)." People tell me not to be so cynical. I can't see why not.
[Link] [Comment][Tags: European Union, Patents, Copyrights, Canada]
Introduction to K-12 Online Learning
Michael Barbour,
Virtual School MOOC, July 10, 2012.
This is MOOC being started by Michael Barbour. "This massive online open course (MOOC) provides a broad overview of the field of K-12 online learning, specifically what is currently known based on the research that has been conducted in the field." The MOOC runs 10 September-07 October 2012. Thanks to John Mak for the link.
a MobiMOOC hello!
Inge de Waard,
MobiMOOC, July 10, 2012.
Inge de Waard writes, "MobiMOOC is a free, open, online course on mobile learning (mLearning) which will be running between 8 and 30 September 2012. The course wiki is gradually taking shape. Covered mLearning topics: augmented learning, mobile gaming, corporate mLearning, train-the-trainer, building a mLearning curriculum, global mLearning issues, ICT for development, mlearning strategies/pedagogies and we will start with a look at the basics of mLearning including how to set up a mobile learning project. Interested? Join the free course by becoming a member of the MobiMOOC google group(registration point of the course) at https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroupsforum/mobimooc2012"
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Traditional and Online Courses, Project Based Learning, Google, Online Learning]
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