| These ancient questions
are now of urgent concern to higher education.
As the unprecedented power of electronic communication
transforms the creation and delivery of courses,
intellectual property policy is central to ensuring
that the best academic traditions survive and
thrive.
Traditionally, faculty
publications brought royalties to faculty and
prestige to their institutions. Today, that
custom is in question as digital publication
by faculty — online courses, learning objects,
simulations, interactive spreadsheets, video
lectures and more — extends institutional
influence to much wider markets. When faculty
in for-profit schools act as purveyors rather
than creators of knowledge, they "work for hire."
Does undervaluation of digital work threaten
faculty in non-profits with a similar kind of
deprofessionalization? Does undervaluation of
faculty work online threaten the quality of
online learning?
Sloan-C View's answer
is that the creative spirit of the academy resides
with the faculty: it makes sense to accord faculty
rights in proportion to the additional work
that produces online learning. "Control and
revenue are two sides of the coin," write Kim
Bonner and Kim Kelley of the University of Maryland's
Center for Intellectual Property. Their insight
explains how the best thinking about IP supports
faculty parity and insures that the quality
of education is consistent in all the delivery
modes that institutions develop. To understand
who gets the glory and who gets the money, read
on. . . .
|
PDF
version