MESSAGE
| DATE | 2015-11-08 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout-NYLXS] Open for Comments
|
http://opensource.com/education/15/11/department-education-open-licensing-requirements
This is something I think we might me on an write up a comment for the
department of education
Ruben
Department of Education seeks comments on open licensing requirements
Posted 06 Nov 2015 by
Ben Cotton
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opensource.com
One of the more effective ways to advance an agenda is to attach
requirements to grant funding. The U.S. Department of Education has an
interest in broadening the impact of its grants, so it announced a
notice of proposed rule making (NPRM) on October 29. The proposed rule
would require intellectual property created with Department of Education
grant funding to be openly licensed to the public. This includes both
software and instructional materials.
Under current regulations, creators of grant-funded work retain
unlimited copyright and rights to royalty income. The Department of
Education is granted a royalty-free, non-exclusive, irrevocable right to
publish, use, and reproduce the work. This means that the public can
request copies from the Department, however practice has shown that this
rarely happens.
By requiring an open license, the Department of Education hopes to
reduce barriers to public access. This would allow for greater equality
in education, allow schools to save money, and make updating content
easier. The notice of proposed rule making does not mention any specific
licenses, but does include requirements that the license be:
worldwide
non-exclusive
royalty-free
perpetual
irrevocable
The use, reproduction, performance, display, and distribution of
materials must be unrestricted, so long as proper attribution is given.
Financial concerns drive much of the justification, both on the
production and consumption sides. Underprivileged students and teachers
often lack the resources to purchase the funded works commercially or to
make the appropriate requests from the Department of Education. The
costs of updating textbooks and other classroom materials to keep pace
with the state of current knowledge in a field can be particularly
burdensome. Additionally, the Department has limited funding, so
broadening the reach of the funded materials allows for greater impact
per dollar spent.
The proposed regulations are not the Department of Education's first
foray into open content. The First in the World grant program adopted
similar rules in 2014. The Department is not stopping at the license
requirement, either. The #GoOpen campaign, announced the same day as the
NPRM, encourages schools to adopt open educational materials. #GoOpen
Ambassador Districts currently use open materials and are tasked with
helping other districs do the same.
Of course, the Department of Education is not the first entity to
advocate openly-licensed educational materials. Several states have
looked to open educational resources (OER) to drive down the cost of
college. States like New York have used OER in K-12 as well. Massive
open online courses (MOOCs) have been growing for the past decade. Sites
like MERLOT and OER Commons provide their own wealth of OER. California
State University has developed its own Affordable Learning Solutions
program designed to provide free and low-cost materials for students.
All of this points to an encouraging trend for students, teachers, and
the open source way.
The Department of Education invites general comments, as well as on five
specific questions:
Should the Department require that copyrightable works be openly
licensed prior to the end of the grant period as opposed to after the
grant period is over? If yes, what impact would this have on the quality
of the final product?
Should the Department include a requirement that grantees distribute
copyrightable works created under a direct competitive grant program? If
yes, what suggestions do you have on how the Department should implement
such a requirement?
What further activities would increase public knowledge about the
materials and resources that are created using the Department's grant
funds and broaden their dissemination?
What technical assistance should the Department provide to grantees to
promote broad dissemination of their grant-funded intellectual property?
What experiences do you have implementing requirements of open licensing
policy with other Federal agencies? Please share your experiences with
these different approaches, including lessons learned and
recommendations that might be related to this notice.
Comments can be submitted by December 3, 2015 online or mail to:
Sharon Leu
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Room 6W252
Washington, DC 20202-5900
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