Open Educational Resources

Open Educational Resources

Open Educational Resources is a controversial topic because it lies in the crossroads between the right to be prosperous and free knowledge-share. In the TED NYED video, David Wiley talks about how the great thing about sharing information is that we don’t have to give up the information we have in order to pass it on to another person.  We can learn from each other.  We can learn collaboratively and collectively by passing on the information that we have to others.  Wiley argues that all educational information should be passed on freely for the betterment of society. 

Although this sounds ideal, what about the people that worked extremely hard to publish their stories, research, knowledge, etc.? Are they supposed to give up that information to society for free? I believe if people are not getting compensated for the work they are producing they will stop doing the work and a lesser amount of research will be performed.  However, on the flip side, if charging money for written materials s a large deterrent for knowledge-share, than we are doing ourselves a disservice.  Open source content supports the idea that people should share materials fairly whereas our capitalist society dictates that people should get paid for the materials they publish if they so choose. 

Personally, I see both sides and feel there has to be some kind of balance between both sides.  Right now it is common to see open source application offer a free version plus a paid version.  The free version is basic while the paid version offers more features, functionality and possibly more access to other resources.  Google supports allowing the publishers to determine if they need to get paid or not be paid.  Some books on Google are free and can be rented like a library book.  Others must be purchased or rented.  On the Google Books website it states, “Copyright law is supposed to ensure that authors and publishers have an incentive to create new work, not stop people from finding out that the work exists. By helping people find books, we believe we can increase the incentive to publish them. After all, if a book isn't discovered, it won't be bought.”

To me this is probably the best compromise.  This allows teachers to gain access to most common knowledge basic information.  Plus it allows teachers to gain access to additional resources at a cost, so that the developers, publishers, writers, etc.…will still be encouraged to produce more materials.  

Wiley, David, (2010, March 6), TEDxNYED, Open Education and the Future [Video File], Retrieved from https://blackboard.utdl.edu/webapps/blackboard/execute/displayLearningUnit?course_id=_138141_1&content_id=_4445941_1

Google Books, Retrieved February 06, 2016 from 

            http:www.google.com/googlebooks.com/perspective