According to Atenas, there are three ways MOOC content can fit within a Creative Commons license:
1. Opening the contents as OER: Each individual object can be added to OER repositories, so the materials in the courses (photographs, videos, exercises and assessments) can be deposited in these repositories under Creative Commons licenses. In this case, notes Atenas, the intellectual property attribution must be syndicated both for the individual authors of the resources and the university where the MOOC originated, allowing the reuse of resources individually by not only those who have participated in the course, but also by academics who are interested in the subject.
2. Opening the contents as packages or unites of data: This means that content (text, images, videos, exercises, and assessments) for each week or unit can become downloadable—and, therefore, translatable and profile customizable by those who need it—as data packages and stored in OER repositories under Creative Commons licenses. Those interested in accessing the materials can download the resources contextualized as packages of learning units with a structure, a schedule, and a final evaluation. Each packet should be attributed to the authors of the unit and/or individual materials and to the university that hosted the course.
3. Transforming the MOOCs into OpenCourseWare courses: Once the course are finished, MOOCs can be converted into OCW courses as unguided open courses within the Creative Commons licenses, allowing anyone to access them, and download materials and evaluation exercises. These courses do not require registration to access them, and materials can be reused by the users. “One advantage of this model is that data use and content downloads can be analyzed and there is no need to transfer the resources into OER repositories, so the efforts by the team of authors would be minimal and they would only need to remove the personal data of the registered participants from the course,” says Atenas.
“…access to the resources [provided in MOOCs] should be considered a right for all citizens who are interested in increasing their knowledge and improving their skills,” Atenas concludes. “To promote democratic access to these courses and to their resources, universities must use platforms that allow free access to, and use of, contents and avoid offering these courses on closed commercial platforms that impose restrictive clauses regarding the use of resources…”
For more information on Atenas’ research, read “Model for democratization of the contents hosted in MOOCs” here.
- 25 education trends for 2018 - January 1, 2018
- IT #1: 6 essential technologies on the higher ed horizon - December 27, 2017
- #3: 3 big ways today’s college students are different from just a decade ago - December 27, 2017