Preliminary reflections on copyright

Thoughts on

Copyright

 Prior to undertaking this course, I had noted the nexus between copyright and property – it permeates our society.  That is what we produce or make become our property, from which other people are excluded.  However this topic area is somewhat new to me and I don’t think I have clear thoughts on it as yet.

 Authors should be able to control their own creative works.  However it is usually in their interests to share their works or I would think that most authors would make their works available to research and learning.

I think I can appreciate both sides of the question.  If I were an author of a creative right – I would want control over my work.  That control could mean the relinquishing of control for the benefit of the sharing of ideas, scholarship and learning.

 

The internet’s use as an educational tool impacts through enabling the replication, dissemination and altering of a creative work.  I am not sure that the altering of a creative work – without acknowledgement or the replication without benefit to the creator of the work is a good thing.  

 

Creative works as property

Without going into a materialist analysis of capitalism – many things in this world are subject to ‘ownership’. 

Should creative works be the ‘property’ of an author?  I am not sure.  Author’s generally share their works – but there may be some that don’t.  I wonder if it matters that there are some that don’t.  Usually there is more than one person with great ideas and therefore there is more than one person responsible and willing to share their works, rather than lock them up under copyright.

Creative works as property implies rights of ownership, transaction and disposal.  Pretty much what I feel we currently have. 

Reflective Practice 2

Reflection 2 –

+ Ideas by their very nature are mutable, subject to interpretation and arrangement, so to speak, into theories and sustained thought.  So theft is not appropriate in such a context.

v  Ideas have become a commodity and because of this producers and distributors have interests in what happens to ideas (books, applications etc)

+  Values- ideas in education?   Education has become a global commodity too.  Even though it should be a human right – along with food, shelter and water.

v  Educators and learners should acknowledge when they incorporate as part of their own thinking and work, ideas of others.  This is part of acting respectfully towards what makes up ‘education’

 

The depicted rhetoric of Moglen is very appealing, but I think ultimately simplistic.  Democracy doesn’t just happen – nor does sharing.  It is hard work.

The consideration of approaches from both sides of politics (left and right) means that Lawrence has given pragmatic consideration to how to achieve ‘open’ ness and respect for the ‘creator’.

 

I like that there is respect for the creator.  In extreme examples the distributor of texts makes lots of money – however this is not always the case. 

 

I am impressed with OER’s which are, it seems, revolutionising learning now practices now. And soon,   I should like to participate more, and discover more about what is already sitting in repositories as objects or open textbooks. 

I am impressed by the enhanced possibilities of using and creating texts and creating full stop!

 I don’t think the technology or the OER’s per se make learning collaborative.  Collaborative learning has always been around ….. since I was first teaching in a traditional classroom. 

 

Reflective Practice 2

Reflection 2 –

+ Ideas by their very nature are mutable, subject to interpretation and arrangement, so to speak, into theories and sustained thought.  So theft is not appropriate in such a context.

v  Ideas have become a commodity and because of this producers and distributors have interests in what happens to ideas (books, applications etc)

+  Values- ideas in education?   Education has become a global commodity too.  Even though it should be a human right – along with food, shelter and water.

v  Educators and learners should acknowledge when they incorporate as part of their own thinking and work, ideas of others.  This is part of acting respectfully towards what makes up ‘education’

 

The depicted rhetoric of Moglen is very appealing, but I think ultimately simplistic.  Democracy doesn’t just happen – nor does sharing.  It is hard work.

The consideration of approaches from both sides of politics (left and right) means that Lawrence has given pragmatic consideration to how to achieve ‘open’ ness and respect for the ‘creator’.

 

I like that there is respect for the creator.  In extreme examples the distributor of texts makes lots of money – however this is not always the case. 

 

I am impressed with OER’s which are, it seems, revolutionising learning now practices now. And soon,   I should like to participate more, and discover more about what is already sitting in repositories as objects or open textbooks. 

I am impressed by the enhanced possibilities of using and creating texts and creating full stop!

 I don’t think the technology or the OER’s per se make learning collaborative.  Collaborative learning has always been around ….. since I was first teaching in a traditional classroom. 

 

Reflective Practice 1

Reflective Practice
The value of reflective practice has been researched and theorised about with regards to workplace learning for example – see Dr J McManus in ‘Transforming productive reflection in the workplace into productive learning: a practical approach’. I have embedded reflective practice in my learning and development professional work and am interested in thinking through this exercise for this course.

Globalisation
Is open educational practice a mechanism for the globalisation of learning?
If it is, it needs to avoid the worst aspects of globalisation and focus on the benefits.
If it is, I am not sure that the diffusion of open educational practice as part of the globalisation of learning –- will lead to, for example:
– the adoption of learning content which is not excessively value laden and hence potentially imperalist;
– appropriate or adequate pedagogy (and hence real freedom to learn).
The absence or presence of pedagogy is a quality issue.
Without adequate pedagogy, there is no learning and freedom to learn becomes an illusionary concept.

Practices I am observing now
I have watched how young people in secondary school learning with bring your own devices –(BYOD) – (laptops iPads etc.) and am not at all convinced that they are provided through open educational resources – the framework and guidance adequate to facilitating vigorous thinking and deep engagement with their materials or subject matter. Rather there are a plethora of apps and programs and digital resources that they do not know how to identify as important, let alone start to integrate and achieve deep learning from using.

I am curious about..
Some further questions I should like to ponder –and these I guess relate to great people from western learning tradition – (as this is the tradition in which I am schooled):
What would Paolo Freire, Socrates or Plato have said about open educational resources?

Teaching – vocation or profession ?

‘ser docente es dejar el alma en cada clase’ –

to be a teacher is to bring soul to every class (virtual or otherwise)

The ‘soul’ or passion is the vocation aspect of teaching. The skill and depth of knowledge, also critical, could be the ‘profession’ aspect of teaching.

Learning about blog experience and course to date

Hi Course participants and followers –
The range of materials SO FAR are new to me – impressively comprehensive – but not dissimilar – I guess to FB – (which I use very minimally).
I am finding the course interesting but frustrating and have wasted some time trying to see whether the blog was working etc.. I think it is now – especially tagging posts.

I love reading and could see how a blog would be useful especially with regards to sharing perspectives about new books (fiction & non fiction). The quote I have published in my first attempt is interesting in the context of learning and ideas – but it relates to ownership and materialism in the novel which incidentally is a great read.

I am not used to public postings so this is somewhat different to the way I would envisage learning. I think you need to be trusting of your environment -PLE- if you like – to build trust and therefore to gain maximum benefit from this sort of context.

Some of this is ‘new wine in old bottles’ . But perhaps that reflects my perspective and experience on teaching and learning.

Thats all for now. Caterina

Following the OER Blogs – now looking to see if I have visibility. Cheers C

‘ I could not shake the feeling that I’d crossed some line over which I could never return, but maybe I’d crossed it years earlier, or maybe the line had never existed. There was nothing you could take that did not belong to some other person..” p491