May 8, 2003

Open education thoughts from Lessig

From An interview with Lawrence Lessig  http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/lessig.htm Open Education (a grassroots organization advocating for open educational content - developed by individual educators or as part of a community of practice) recently interviewed Professor Lawrence Lessig from Stanford Law School. Professor Lessig is a recognized leader in cyberlaw, promoting a balance of fairness in content creation and public use - a vision often in conflict with large media/content corporations. ... Open Education: The education field has, in many ways, been the birthplace of innovation and creativity. Much of the debate of public commons has been focused on video, audio – almost a consumeristic evaluation of the impact of copyright. How does this translate into education? "Education has to become part of this debate. Unless it makes its interests apparent, people will not think about the significant costs to education that increased copyright protection will produce." Lessig: Education is dramatically affected by copyright regulation, in ways that have become so second nature that people take for granted and don’t see. The high cost of educational materials – libraries – a large part of the function of the copyright system; if we would have won the Eldred case, then a ton of material would begin to pass into the public domain that would be made available for almost free on the Internet. This would dramatically reduce the cost of libraries all across the world. Now they have to continue to buy books and acquire expensive physical objects in order to give people access content. Similarly the ability of people to use the technology to get access to and reproduce content is dramatically affected by copyright rules. Imagine film schools that want to allow students to take film clips from old films and put them into their new films. That’s hard under the existing system. In a more balanced system, it should be a lot easier. Education has to become part of this debate. Unless it makes its interests apparent, people will not think about the significant costs to education that increased copyright protection will produce. 2:51:05 PM  [Permanent Link]    comment []

Here's a quote from an article on weblogs from an educational perspective.  Includes links to various blogs and illustrates types of blogs. MORE THAN PERSONAL: THE IMPACT OF WEBLOGS by: Stephen Downes  May 8 2003 ... Educators have been quick to seize the potential of weblogs for learning. They first used the format to exchange information among themsleves, developing such sites as elearningpost, Serious Instructional Technology, elearnspace and my own OLDaily. But a far more interesting use evolved when blogs were applied to classroom learning. Blogs are an ideal platform for student writing. As the authors of SchoolBlogs write, "SchoolBlogs can give children their own soapbox, their own voice. They become habitual writers. They are in control." This feature is attractive not only to school children but to learners at all levels, as the quick uptake by staff and students at the Harvard Blogs website shows. According to SchoolBlogs, weblogs also foster communication between students. "Working projects between schools across the globe can be provided with an online platform in a matter of seconds. SchoolBlogs can also produce discussion and information flows within an individual educational establishment that are far more dynamic and effective than a traditional 'intranet'. Teachers and students are motivated to share information because they have ownership of it." (http://www.schoolblogs.com/stories/storyReader$265) 2:44:32 PM  [Permanent Link]    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Johan Ragetli.