Richard, that's insightful - thanks mate.
I'd like to combine the wiki and RSS framework models together. This way we get the benefits of collaborative authoring combined with an easy way to get the content out for remix. I will table these ideas at the Tectonic Shift Think Tank gathering next week.
Clearly we will need a holistic approach. At the micro-level remix must be painless and easy to do. That is overcoming the problem of using “someone else's lecture notes”. Even with text books - institution A will choose one textbook above another. This is part of academic autonomy and must be respected. You're right- when dealing with textbooks - the students pay, so there is no institutional incentive to reduce cost here.
However, in the development of eLearning courses - this is a cost addition in most face-to-face institutions. (Even if its a hidden cost - that is academic time used to develop eLearning materials instead of doing something else like research or teaching.) So there is conceptually a motivation to share development costs but I suspect in the early phases this will be at the personal motivation level of the individual academic. How do I save time yet improve my eTeaching?. The trouble is that institutional reward and incentive systems don't recognise time spent authoring materials (in f-t-f institutions).
In single-mode distance education institutions - there is a strong value proposition. About 80% of the costs of producing DE materials is academic authoring time. So it makes economic sense to share.
In single-mode distance education institutions - there is a strong value proposition. About 80% of the costs of producing DE materials is academic authoring time. So it makes economic sense to share.
There are a number of countries in the Commonwealth where authors are commissioned to develop school textbooks - unfortunately under closed copyright. I have no problems whatsoever in ministerial funding of free content development. This is a classic win-win scenario. Authors earn a living and can pay their bills. The ministry still gets the textbooks and over the medium term costs will be reduced through mass collaboration. The use of a free content license provides the freedom for local adaptations. Revisions are easier and content can be updated more frequently. There are also examples of nationally funded projects to develop online support materials for learners in identified subject areas. Again - these examples are under all rights reserved. This coming year - I'm hoping to find one or more Education ministries that will invest
in a free-text book and/or development of free content web resources as a pilot so we can evaluate and build the costing models using this approach. We must find hard evidence of the value proposition. Just thinking aloud here - you know all this stuff.
Cheers
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