development of an education license or license option for Creative Commons

[George Siemens <GSiemens AT rrc.mb.ca>]

Hi David (and group):

Before I respond to the details, a quick comment: I think you've done a
great job moving this discussion forward...and listening (incorporating)
group comments. Nicely done!


David: "1. Are members of this list interested in seeing more educational
content
released under cc licenses?"

GS: I'm interested in seeing more content sharing in education. CC is the
current incarnation of this...but my commitment is to the concept of open
education...not limited to only a type of license. The distinction may be
small...but my commitment to CC only extends to the degree that it fosters
the greater view - namely an environment where educators freely share
resources.

David: "2. Do members of this list think that in order to get more
educational
content licensed by a cc license we need more educators to understand the
cc message  and how it relates to education?"

GS: I think the main message that should be presented to educators is how
sharing resources benefits the learner, educator, and institution. The CC
license is a subset of that discussion. Promoting CC without promoting open
sharing of content first seems backwards. Licensing under CC is a message
that is largely geared to the end content creator. In education, for many,
the challenge will be to get administration to by into the concept of
sharing (instructors often do not own the copyright to their work - it's the
institution). CC is an enabler of the process...not the process itself.

David: "3. Do members of this list think that someone has to purposefully
intervene in order to efficiently and effectively help a significant
number of educators understand the cc message and how it relates to
education?"

GS: I'm a little unsure of how you mean intervene. Could you please detail
what that would look like? 
Again, understanding the CC message is secondary to understanding the value
of sharing content. It's cultural. Promoting CC assumes people understand
the "Internet age" (the value of networking, sharing, collaborating). I
don't think we are there yet. We have work to do before we are even at a
point to promote CC. To promote CC without having first advocating for open
education/content will be a huge challenge (I'm sure the message can be
packaged to pitch both concepts at the same time...just as long as the CC
part of the conversation comes after the conversion...:)).

David: "4. Do members of this list think that a branding of a cc license
configuration as an "Education License" and an awareness campaign are a
good way to bring about this understanding, and hence, more cc-licensed
educational materials?"

GS: As stated, I think the awareness campaign should focus on the openness
of content creation, sharing, collaborating. CC is a subset. There are many
more components and aspects to openness than simply a license format (though
that is certainly needed). If we end up thinking that creating and marketing
a license is the next needed step, I think we could well position ourselves
for failure. Our message has to be on openness. What if someone, somewhere
comes up with a far better concept than CC (unlikely, the way it looks
now...but, you never know...)? If our focus is CC, our success rises and
falls with CC adoption. If it's openness...we can respond to trends and
occurrences beyond our current views.

George