Obviously, I'm grateful to be at an institution that graciously shares teaching materials among peers, but at times, I do feel guilty for assimilating somebody else's assignments or exercises into my own lessons. So what do you think? In case you missed the link up top: Selling Lessons Online Raises Cash and Questions
15 November 2009
The Commodification of Lore
Upon opening my Sunday Dallas Morning News, I discovered a very interesting article about the recent emergence of lesson plans for sale on sites like craigslist.com. Coincidentally enough, the article had been purchased by the DMN from the New York Times, another occurrence of purchased intellectual property. The article addresses several viewpoints in the debate: 1) should we share teaching materials with each other? 2) is it ethical to sell these materials to others? and 3) should the teacher's institution get some of the profits from selling these materials?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I feel terribly guilty when I use someone else's work, even if I get permission. But I just try to look at it as a "pay it forward" type thing, and that makes me feel a wee bit better.
I saw this article, and my initial response was that the instructors selling the lesson plans should be able to keep every dime of the money they earn doing it. Especially if they are at a school that isn't as supportive as TCU is, and especially when you think about how little teachers make, and how often they spend their own money to fix up their rooms, or buy school supplies, or whatnot.
Then again, I've always been one of those "stick it to The Man" sort of people. :-)
Post a Comment