Chalk up another victory up for the Society to Halt All Innovation and Change in Education. Someone said that teachers using videos in online classes at UCLA was illegal, so they had to shut all videos down. Even though these videos were used the exact same way that they were being legally used in face-to-face courses. So I ask: why is the same video clip and the same usage legal in face-to-face classes, but illegal in the same online course? Well, I now have to print one of the saddest, most ignorant quotes I have heard in a long while:
the trade group is arguing that a password-protected space on the Web is not a classroom
Give me a second to remove my palm from my forehead. Welcome to the 1800’s folks. We can’t grow or change our definitions of anything. Online classes: learning takes place there, students are there, instructors are there, content is there, but by golly…. it is not a classroom because there isn’t a door or even a single brick!
I can probably go online and find a free, illegal copy of any movie in the theaters now in about 5 minutes or so and the sites that would help me do that will still be here next week. But an instructor tries to use a clip of an old movie to teach (and inspires a few students to go out and buy that movie from my experience)… and they are clamped down on brutally.
I dream of a day when we get the idiots out of education and legal policy and make it actually desirable to be a teacher.
Matt is currently an Instructional Designer II at Orbis Education and a Part-Time Instructor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Previously he worked as a Learning Innovation Researcher with the UT Arlington LINK Research Lab. His work focuses on learning theory, Heutagogy, and learner agency. Matt holds a Ph.D. in Learning Technologies from the University of North Texas, a Master of Education in Educational Technology from UT Brownsville, and a Bachelors of Science in Education from Baylor University. His research interests include instructional design, learning pathways, sociocultural theory, heutagogy, virtual reality, and open networked learning. He has a background in instructional design and teaching at both the secondary and university levels and has been an active blogger and conference presenter. He also enjoys networking and collaborative efforts involving faculty, students, administration, and anyone involved in the education process.