Tony Hirst has a new post about accessing iTunes through a browser. Hirst finds a solution by Boris Fritscher. At issue is the ability to access iTunes U content.
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Monthly Archives: February 2010
North Carolina U. Physics Dept. Pays For Textbooks
Jill Laster at The Chronicle of Higher Education is reporting that North Carolina University is paying a site license for an online physics book (with traditional copyright). The article does note that it also hopes to offer a textbook written by the department head online as well. No word on licensing. North Carolina’s model is interesting in that it eliminates the student burden argument, but does not offer the ability to remix. From the post:
North Carolina State University Libraries paid about $1,500 to purchase the site license for the textbook, published by Physics Curriculum & Instruction. Greg Raschke, who managed the physics project for the libraries, said the libraries would like to make more textbooks available online for students.
Posted in Open Education
Tagged e-learning, online learning, open content, Open Education, open textbook, open textbooks
Cultural Justice
Gavin Baker, formerly of Open Access News fame, has written a blog post on “cultural justice.” From the post:
The term is obviously coined by analogy to “environmental justice”, an incredibly powerful idea that succeeds at articulating the costs of environmental degradation.
Posted in Open Education
Tagged commons, copy right, copyright, Internet, open access, open content, openness
Google Book Settlement News 2/15/2010
- Open Book Alliance continues to express opposition to the revised settlement.
- Washington Post article on Google’s defense.
Posted in Open Education
Tagged commons, fair use, google, Google's Settlement, Internet, library, openness, public domain
Open Textbooks “Without Safeguards”
Heather Liggitt at Texas Insider has a new post asserting that open textbooks are “without safeguards.” From the post:
Texas House Bill 2488, “The Open Source Textbook Bill”, will allow on-line material to be bought and used without review by the state board of education or parents.
What good are having safe guards if we are not going to use them?
OEN covered a previous post at Texas Insider on the same topic.
Posted in Open Education
Tagged commons, K-12, open content, Open Education, open textbook, open textbooks, openness, policy
California State University’s Affordable Learning Solutions Campaign
Gerald L. Hanley has written an article on California State University’s Affordable Learning Solutions. From the article:
The Affordable Learning Solutions Campaign will deploy a multi-pronged approach to ease the financial burden for students by leveraging access to high-quality online instructional materials that are free or low cost through its projects such as Digital Library Services, MERLOT, and the Digital Marketplace.
Thanks to Cable Green for the link. Note: A reader pointed out that the author is actually Gerard L. Hanley. OEN went by the name posted with article; nonetheless, it regrets the error.
Posted in Open Education
Tagged higher education, ocw, oer, open content, Open Education, open textbook, open textbooks
Google Book Settlement News 2/12/2010
Larry Lessig has written an article for The New Republic on the Google Books Settlement. From the article:
To grasp the problem, you must actually open up the 165-page-long settlement and read a bit of the language. (The first twenty or so pages are definitions, so skim those.) Very quickly, one sees that the Twitter version of this settlement sounds better than the actual document reads. For rather than a relatively simple rule about how much of a book you get for free, and when you have to pay, the actual terms are enormously complex. Whether a book is “free” depends upon the kind of book it is. Journals have a different rule from regular books. Books with pictures have a different rule again.
Posted in Open Education
Tagged commons, copy right, copyright, google, Google's Settlement, openness, policy, public domain
Openness to Promote Engineering Education
Mel Chua has a new post on how “the open source way” might promote Engineering Education. From the post:
The great hope nurtured by many of us who spend our days in the open source software communities is that the fundamental principles upon which open source software is built — The Open Source Way — will permeate other industries and walks of life over time, allowing all sorts of new and exciting problems to be solved using methods that value transparency, collaboration, and a meritocracy of ideas.
Posted in Open Education
Tagged e-learning, higher education, Open Education, open source, openness
NSF Launches Open Government Initiative
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has launched a new page on open government. From the announcement:
NSF’s Open Government Web page will allow members of the public to submit ideas, comment on and vote for ideas proposed, and flag posts that are off-topic. In addition to welcoming general ideas and comments, NSF specifically seeks input regarding access to large data sets and collaborations that aim to facilitate transformative research.
Posted in Open Education
Tagged commons, copy right, copyright, government, open government, openness
Debating the Value of OER
Martin Weller has a new post outlining his debate about the value of OER. From the post:
I think most of the argument I’m going to put have been said elsewhere, so there’s nothing particularly new in this post for people who follow the OER movement, but having been through the process of collating the arguments, I thought I’d put them here too.
“Patrick” has posted a rebuttal to Weller’s points. Thanks to Michelle A. Hoyle for the link.
